International Center on Nonviolent Conflict

Curriculum Fellowships for Online Courses

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Applicants interested in developing and teaching online seminars

ICNC is strongly interested in supporting the expansion of online teaching on civil resistance, particularly in situations where it is difficult or impossible to develop a formal classroom-based course at a local academic institution. In such cases, ICNC Curriculum Fellowships aims to encourage and support interested instructors to set up an online seminar on civil resistance and offer it to a select group of interested learners.

Interested also in teaching classroom-based courses? Check this curriculum fellowship for classroom-based courses.

Online seminar consists of a minimum of 5 weekly sessions on civil resistance where participants are asked to review relevant session notes, videos, and readings and then engage in forum discussions moderated by a seminar instructor.

The curriculum fellowship is designed to plant a seed for continued education on civil resistance. Applicants should therefore be able to demonstrate that their curriculum is part of a long-term, sustainable teaching plan, as opposed to being a one-off course offering.

Application deadline: April 30, 2017.

Click the links to learn more:

Eligibility

  • Scholars, and instructors from colleges and universities around the world who are interested in expanding their institutions’ existing curriculum to cover civil resistance.
  • Educators and trainers who might be loosely affiliated with academic institutions at home or abroad but have academic-based training or pedagogical and teaching experience, particularly in regions and countries with restrictive civic spaces or conflicts.

Award Details

In 2017, up to seven curriculum fellowships, each in the amount of $1,300, will be offered on open, merit and competitive bases to qualified applicants to develop:

  • an online seminar on civil resistance that will be offered to students and interested learners from applicant’s university, town, district, country or the region. The online seminar would be given through the designated ICNC’s online platform.

In addition to a curriculum fellowship grant, awardees will receive a package with academic books and documentaries on civil resistance. ICNC provides these resources free of charge as part of its curriculum fellowship package to help its fellows develop the content on and teach civil resistance.

Teaching for 2017/2018 ICNC Curriculum Fellowships is expected to take place either in  Summer, Fall 2017 or Winter, Spring 2018.

As part of the fellowship it is expected that:

a.    Perspective applicant will access and review the Curriculum Fellowship Template for an Online Seminar [enrollment key: Onlinetemplate2017]. Once selected, fellow will be expected to develop a similar online seminar, though customized to fit their own teaching environment, learning objectives and audience.

b.    Limited technical assistance from ICNC will be available to help fellows learn basic ICNC Moodle or Open edX functionality to be able to build their own courses.

c.    fellow is expected to develop original content for and run an online seminar

d.    proposal for the online seminar will, at minimum, include teachable content (such as audio/videos, readings, exercises, forum discussions) on:

  • what civil resistance is, including prevailing misconceptions
  • historical record and effectiveness of civil resistance
  • strategies and tactics of civil resistance
  • dynamics of civil resistance including but not limited to the phenomenon of backfire, defections, movement mobilization, sustainability and/or tactical innovation and sequencing

e.   fellow moderates the course online in its different forums where learners comment on the materials reviewed and exchange ideas about specific topics and respond to moderator’s questions.

f.    fellow interacts with learners via regular, live video-conferencing and creative online content (e.g. case studies/exercises) to ensure learners’ active engagement and to reduce attrition from the online course once it begins

g.    no less than 10 and no more than 20 students per fellow are actively engaged throughout the online seminar to ensure effective course moderation and supervision

h.    materials on civil resistance that a fellow selects, develops and uploads into online seminar can be in language other than English (check recommended resources) though the initial curriculum proposal for ICNC consideration must be in English

i.    forum conversations and moderation can be conducted in a language other than English

j.    fellow prepares and shares with ICNC bi-weekly English-language reports on the progress of the online seminar, including participants’ interactions in discussion forums and their work on seminar assignments

k.    fellow is encouraged to arrange an online guest speaker who will present on a selected topic on civil resistance

l.    fellow develops online evaluation instrument to be used to assess progress in students’ learning about civil resistance

Review:

m.    fellow develops online final course evaluation to solicit students’ feedback on the course content on civil resistance

Review:

n.  fellow submits a final report to ICNC soon after the course or curriculum unit ends. The report will summarize content on civil resistance delivered, including any innovative teaching tools used, completed assignments, aggregate results from the students’ learning gains surveys, results from the final evaluation and general lessons learnt

How to Apply

To be considered applicants should review ICNC recommended list of resources, fill out the online application form, submit CV and curriculum proposal, and other information as requested.

APPLY for the Online Seminar Fellowship

The curriculum proposal should include a detailed description of the content for at least five weekly-based online sessions on civil resistance where participants are asked to review a relevant session description, videos, and readings and engage in forum discussions moderated by a seminar instructor. Once the applicant is selected and becomes familiar with the ICNC online learning management system, s/he will set up the proposed curriculum (with any requested modifications) on the designed space in the ICNC online learning platform.

Application deadline: April 30, 2017 for online courses that will be offered in Summer or Fall 2017 or Winter and Spring 2018.

Recommended List of Resources for Curriculum Proposal Development

In developing the curriculum proposal on civil resistance for either a classroom-based course or online seminar, applicants are strongly encouraged to review the ICNC universal e-classroom for ideas on curriculum content as well as sample syllabi. In addition, applicants may wish to consider integrating into the sessions on civil resistance the following resources:

  • ICNC translations: if a proposed course is taught in a language different than English, a fellow will be expected to incorporate translations of civil resistance literature available in the ICNC library, which houses materials on civil resistance in 55 languages.
  • Erica Chenoweth and Maria Stephan, Why Civil Resistance Works. The Strategic Logic of Nonviolent Conflict (New York: Columbia University Press, 2011)
  • Peter Ackerman, and Jack DuVall, A Force More Powerful: A Century of Nonviolent Conflict (New York: Macmillan, 2000)
  • Shaazka Beyerle, Curtailing Corruption. People Power for Accountability and Justice (Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers, 2014)
  • Veronique Dudouet, ed. Civil Resistance and Conflict Transformation. Transition from Armed to Nonviolent Struggle (London: Routledge, 2015)
  • A Diplomat’s Handbook for Democracy Development Support

Check also Selected Bibliography on Civil Resistance (2016)

Applicants’ curriculum proposal – to be submitted as part of the application process – is expected to include a list of resources on civil resistance that an applicant plans to incorporate into an online seminar and is encouraged to identify a potential guest speaker suitable for a proposed civil resistance topic.

Fellowship Distribution

The fellowship grants will be disbursed in two equal installments. The first installment will be made after the course begins, the student enrollment is confirmed and the syllabus with an online civil resistance content has been satisfactorily reviewed by ICNC. The second installment will be made after the online seminar ends and ICNC receives fellow’s final report and results of students’ evaluations pertaining to their learning on civil resistance and course assessment.

Past Curriculum Fellows

2016 Curriculum Fellows
2015 Curriculum Fellows
2014 Curriculum Fellows