American University Skills Institute on Civil Resistance

Posted on February 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

This past weekend my colleague, Maciej and I co-faciliated a skills institute at American University titled, “People Power: How and Why Civil Resistance Works.”  We had 15 participants from a variety of backgrounds and covered a range of topics: history of civil resistance, conceptions of power, the role of media in civil resistance, frameworks for deciding how one considers what is violent vs. nonviolent,  tactical innovation, backfire, and dilemma actions.

Click here to download the full course syllabus.

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11th Annual Democracy Matters Summit

Posted on February 6, 2012 | 1 comment

This past weekend I was in Albany, NY attending my sixth Democracy Matters summit.  This year the summit brought together over 90 students from across the country to learn more about the role of money in politics, grassroots organizing, and to strategize about ways to engage other students and community member in the campaign to get big money out of politic and put people back in.  Continue reading to learn more…

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USIP/ICNC Online Course on Civil Resistance

Posted on December 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

From October 20th – December 8th, ICNC partnered with the United States Institute of Peace to deliver an online course, Civil Resistance and Dynamics of Nonviolent Conflict.  I was the primary designer of the course and, with the help of three of my colleagues, co-facilitated the eight-week course for 15 participants from all over the world and from a variety of professional backgrounds.  We had participants from Italy, Spain, Ghana, Egypt, West Papua, and the United States.  We had participants working for small NGOs, large international institutions, and graduate students.

This was the first fully online course that ICNC and USIP had ever facilitated and I can say with confidence that it was a success.  One of the participants, who is an educator herself, in their final evaluation shared that her experience taking this course was, “adult learning at it’s best.”  To highlight some of the ways the course was designed I reference a blog posting titled, 5 Ways to Enhance Your Social Presence in Online Courses.  I came across this article soon after the course ended and was pleased to see that we incorporated pretty much all of these suggestions.  Continue reading to learn more…

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Peace Education Master Class

Posted on December 6, 2011 | Leave a comment

From December 2-4, I was one of 8 participants in a peace education master class facilitated by two of most prominent peace educators in the world – Betty Reardon and Tony Jenkins.  The class was held at the La Casa de Maria Retreat and Conference Center located in the coastal mountains of Santa Barbara, CA.  I had first met Tony Jenkins at the National Peace Academy’s Peacebuilding Peacelearning Intensive back in July of this year.  As my blog posting from that intensive describes, it was a inspirational and transformative experience where I got to learn from and work with a number of peacebuilders.  I had met Betty Reardon briefly at the Gandhi-King Conference back in October, but this was the first time that I had an opportunity to actually take a class with her.  So needless to say this opportunity was a dream come true and it did not disappoint.   If you want a quick, tweeted, overview of some what we covered and discussed throughout the class, check out my Bundle of key tweets and resources.  Continue reading to learn more…

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American University Alumni Human Rights Panel

Posted on November 12, 2011 | Leave a comment

On Thursday, November 10th I was a panelist for an alumni panel at American University.  I was joined Maryanne Yerkes who is a Democracy Officer at USAID.  We spoke about our respective careers, how they are related to the field of human rights, how our American University experience helped prepare us professionally, and any advice or tips for students interested in pursuing similar professions.

I felt that the work I do at ICNC and Maryanne’s work at USAID had a lot of similar components, which turned the conversation into an interesting look at nonviolent civil resistance as a method to demand and win rights, freedom, and democratic self-rule.

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2011 Gandhi-King Conference

Posted on October 25, 2011 | 3 comments

From Thursday, October 20 to Sunday, October 23 I attended the Gandhi-King Conference in Memphis, TN. This was my third time attending and presenting at the conference and, like always, it remains one of the highlights of my year. This year the conference was organized in partnership with the Peace and Justice Studies Association, which brought in even more outstanding presenters and scholars. I was part of two sessions this year. The first was a panel organized by Michael Nagler, president and founder of the Metta Center for Nonviolence. The topic was, “Nonviolence: Principled and Strategic,” which looked at the ongoing conversation that seeks to clarify the distinctions and commonalities between the two orientations to the practice of nonviolence. The second session was a participatory workshop I designed and facilitated called, “Teach the Struggle: Nonviolence in the Classroom,” which engaged participants in a variety of activities and exercises they can use with their own students to explore various concepts related to nonviolent action and civil resistance. The amazing thing about that workshop is that about ten minutes into it, Dolores Huerta walked in to join us!!! More on that later. Continue reading to learn more…

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Peace Pedagogy Presentation for City Year Leaders

Posted on October 17, 2011 | 10 comments

Today I gave a Prezi presentation and facilitated a discussion on peace pedagogy for a group of City Year Corps Leaders.  City Year is an education focused, nonprofit organization that unites young people of all backgrounds for a year of full-time service to keep students in school and on track to graduation.  My presentation focused on the work I have been doing within the field of peace education, looking holistically at how one can teach peace, no matter the subject or age level, in order to cultivate peaceable classrooms and communities.  My presentation was part of a larger program American University organized for City Year and involved presentations by several other American University professors.  Continue reading to learn more…

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Global Innovations for Digital Organizing

Posted on October 14, 2011 | Leave a comment

For the past three weeks I was moderator and guest expert for the Tech Change online course, Global Innovations for Digital Organizing.  The course explores how technological innovation has resulted in the development of new channels of communication which are democratizing access to and production of media. The impact on social dynamics is evident from the Obama campaign’s youth mobilization efforts to the ongoing uprisings across the Middle East and North Africa. The three-week online professional development certificate course evaluates case studies where new technologies have been used for activism and what factors and contexts are most influential on outcomes. It also provides participants with strategies for maximizing the impact of new media and train them in the effective use of analysis and message management tools.  This was a fascinating experience that put me right in the middle of an innovative organization that is truly advancing both content related to technology and peacebuilding and the creative ways to engage people in learning experiences online.  Continue reading to learn more…

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Occupy DC Nonviolence Workshop

Posted on October 8, 2011 | 1 comment

This past Tuesday I co-facilitated a three-hour workshop on nonviolence for approximately 40 people who were in town to participate in the Occupy DC demonstrations.  The campaign is organized by a coalition of groups whose agenda and vision can be found on the website, October2011.org.  As the call to action states on the campaign’s website, “October 2011 is the 10th anniversary of the invasion of Afghanistan and the beginning of the 2012 federal austerity budget. It is time to light the spark that sets off a true democratic, nonviolent transition to a world in which people are freed to create just and sustainable solutions.  We call on people of conscience and courage—all who seek peace, economic justice, human rights and a healthy environment—to join together in Washington, D.C., beginning on Oct. 6, 2011, in nonviolent resistance similar to the Arab Spring and the Midwest awakening.  Continue reading to learn more about my co-facilitators and to see the entire outline of the workshop.

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Fall 2011 Semester Begins at American University

Posted on September 8, 2011 | 2 comments

Link to Peace Pedagogy course website

The Fall 2011 semester at American University began on August 31st.  This semester I am teaching two different courses: Education for International Development (EDU285), which meets on Wednesdays from 2:35pm – 5:15pm and Peace Pedagogy (EDU596), which meets right after from 5:30pm – 8:00pm.  This is the first time that I have taught two courses in one semester, let alone back to back on the same day, so I would be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling a bit overwhelmed taking on this course load on top of my full time job.  That being said, the first few weeks have been going well.  I have great groups of students, interesting subject matter, and a “manageable” schedule.  There are also some new teaching tools and methods that I am trying out this semester and I am looking forward to seeing how they pan out.

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