We are excited to share the news and pedagogical insights of a recent publication by our colleagues Meghan Grosse (Chair of Communication and Media Studies) and Sara Clarke-De Reza (Chair of Education).
“The Hashtag Syllabus as Class Assignment: From Information Literacy to Cultural Critique.” College Teaching (July 2023).
Abstract: In recent years, scholar-activists have used hashtag syllabus movements to organize and share curricular resources related to pressing social and cultural issues in a widely accessible format. These collaboratively designed readings lists have provided many classroom-based educators with diverse and far-reaching texts with which to engage students on issues of social injustice and structural inequality. In this paper, we argue that having students develop hashtag syllabi in the context of interdisciplinary social science courses not only provides access to a breadth and depth of content knowledge and a range of perspectives on these topics but creates the conditions in which students can develop and strengthen critical information literacy skills. Using example assignments from introductory and upper-level undergraduate courses, we demonstrate the potential of these assignments to promote deep learning, challenge hegemonic knowledge production, address the personal and affective components of research, and connect our students’ work in the classroom to problems that exist outside of it.