Dual Campus Course

The Associate in Arts Program (AAP) at the University of Delaware is a two year program on three satellite campuses that allows students to transition in their junior year to the main Newark Campus. AAP students tend to be first generation (~33%), under-represented minorities (~30-40%), and Pell Grant eligible. AAP students are commuters and often express trepidation about the transition to Newark. Moreover, AAP students often do not have access to the same level of resources as their Newark counterparts and Newark students are frequently under-informed about the existence and experiences of AAP students.

This course was designed so that the two sections (Newark & AAP-Dover ) meet simultaneously via Zoom and distance learning technology. There is a UD faculty member and an undergraduate teaching assistant on each campus and students are able to see their opposite campus classmates and instructors at all times during the class meeting. Our goals in relation to the dual campus course experience are as follows

1. To improve analytical and writing skills for first and second year AAP students who have limited access to courses beyond the introductory level
2. To expose AAP and main campus students to the issues faced on each campus
3. To promote understanding and knowledge of the AAP among UD Newark students who take the course
4. To introduce AAP students to the possibilities of pursuing education as a career
5. To familiarize AAP students with main campus students in order to help ease difficulties in their eventual transition to Newark
6. To provide opportunities for students on both campuses to interact with community members who have been involved in civic engagement.

How do we accomplish these goals?

Assigning rigorous essay assignments that require the critical analysis of primary source and secondary source opposing view readings.

Providing guidance in the forms of concept maps, employing in-class activities that reinforce skills required for papers, supplying tips for crafting strong discussion questions, and assigning jigsaw reading assignments that demand that students teach other group members about the materials they’ve read.

Utilizing groups for weekly in-class assignments, leading class discussion, and developing and executing the practicum visits in fourth and eight grade classrooms. Much of this interaction is accomplished via zoom breakout groups, google docs, and other technologies. By establishing consistent, frequent interaction between students on each campus, they build good working relationships and view each other as valued teammates and peers.

Employing our “It’s Common Sense!” project. In a variation from our normal practice, twice during the semester, we place students in groups on their own campuses. We challenge these groups to complete the same task they’ve just completed with fourth or eight graders: to identify and propose a solution for a problem on their campus. The groups then create a google slide poster outlining their issue and possible solutions. These posters are presented to the class as a whole and to university administrators (one attending on each campus). As a result of this assignment, students on each campus become more aware of the issues for their classmates on the other campus. For AAP Dover students, it provides important insight into the issues that are significant on the campus where will spend their junior and senior years. For UD Newark students, it creates greater awareness of intra-university inequities in regards to resources.

Inviting guest speakers to attend our class meetings and, most importantly, to participate in our breakout room discussions. Community members who are featured in our readings not only speak to our students about the ways in which they have worked to change their communities through civic engagement strategies, but they complete the same readings and discuss them with our students on both campuses.

Prioritizing our service learning component. Student groups (with members from both campuses) work together to create presentations for fourth and eighth grade classrooms and to guide those fourth and eighth graders in creating their own civic engagement proposals. These experiences place students from both campuses into Delaware schools and in an environment in which they are assuming significant leadership roles.