The Catalyst Semester: High-Impact Educational Practices in the City

Richard Kohng, Director of Civic Engagement, North Park University, Jodi Koslow Martin, Vice President of Enrollment Management and Student Affairs, Triton College

North Park University is a Christian institution in Chicago that embraces interculturalism and civic engagement as its institutional values, which have been key to the university’s history. More than 40 years ago, university leaders exemplified these values by choosing to remain in the city when a suburban property became available. At that point, the institution began to embrace the city’s residents as potential students and committed to educating an urban population. This emphasis on civic engagement, along with the cultural diversity of the surrounding neighborhoods, led to a significant rise in the number of students of color enrolled at North Park. For example, more than half of the first-year class in 2017-2018 identified as students of color.

In Fall 2015, university administrators supported piloting a cohortbased, experiential learning program called the Catalyst Semester. One of the program’s core objectives was to deepen students’ understanding of civic engagement with high-impact educational practices (HIPs) that leveraged the city of Chicago. North Park students indicate the city’s location as a primary factor in their college selection process; to administrators, embracing Chicago would meet the expectations of students while also embracing innovation. Within this article, we offer an example of a creative approach to crafting an educational environment aligned with North Park’s urban identity.

Overlapping HIPs for Impact

Kuh’s (2008) research on HIPs served as the methodological backbone for program development. Knowing these practices had the potential to deepen students’ experience in significant ways, program administrators saw value in overlapping them for further effect. According to Kuh (2008), HIPs consist of “first-year seminars and experiences, common intellectual experiences, learning communities, writing-intensive courses, collaborative assignments and projects, undergraduate research, diversity/global learning, service-learning and community-based learning, internships, and capstone courses and projects” (pp. 9-11). Aiming for a large impact and having already embraced many of these HIPs, faculty and administrators integrated these teaching techniques into an experiential learning opportunity: the Catalyst Semester.

Ambitiously launched in Spring 2016, the Catalyst Semester comprised a learning community of first-year commuter and residential students taking two or more Chicago-focused classes together that meet general education requirements. Each student in the cohort interned at a city-based community organization and attended weekly curated experiences. The program was small at its inception (12 students), with each student explaining their interest in this new way of learning in their application.

The most innovative part of the program design centered on meaningful integration of the city through general education courses. After significant research on how best to design the experience, faculty teaching in the Catalyst Semester were asked to shape their learning outcomes using the Civic Knowledge and Civic Values rubrics commissioned by the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education (Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2015, 2016). These rubrics helped faculty develop learning outcomes that prioritized civic knowledge and civic values (e.g., open-mindedness, civic negotiation, empathy, social justice; Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2016). In one instance, a mathematics faculty member tailored an introductory course called Just Stats to introduce statistical analysis through examining issues related to social justice, such as the intersection of racial demographics and housing segregation. Homework sets used real-world scenarios that drew upon current issues in Chicago.

All students in the program also took a writing-intensive first-year seminar required of all students. Taught by a program administrator, the course served as a platform to develop first-year students’ writing skills while showcasing the university’s city-centered focus through course content that drew from current issues such as activism and protests relating to racial divides. In addition to the general education courses offered to students in the program, each cohort was placed in a major-specific course unique to them. For example, students in the business cohort were asked to enroll in an introductory marketing course together. Faculty had students visit various businesses to see how they built their brand identity in an urban context for local clientele. Such common intellectual experiences (Kuh, 2008) helped cohorts build deeper connections with one another and the city as they studied local civic discourse and practiced civic negotiation skills with their first-year peers (Massachusetts Department of Higher Education, 2016).

Learning Outside the Classroom

In addition to classroom work, student learning expanded into the city as members of the cohorts interned with local communitybased organizations to better understand Chicago’s challenges. For example, one student interned with Sit, Stay, Read, a city-based nonprofit that placed public schoolchildren with dogs to practice their reading and improve their literacy skills. This student was able to see a creative approach to educating children in public schools. The experience was powerful enough that the student changed her major to elementary education and is now pursuing a career as a teacher in an urban setting.

The program’s third component consisted of weekly curated experiences in various city neighborhoods. For example, students visited a community center where they met a gang intervention specialist on Chicago’s South Side. Talking with students, the community leader dismantled stereotypes about his community and challenged students to humanize what they saw in the news. Such conversations raised questions about equity and access, allowing students across the socioeconomic spectrum to engage with one another. Those from predominantly white suburban or rural contexts began to see how urban violence can be directly traced to systemic injustices. In this way, community-based learning (Kuh, 2008) served as a critical pedagogical tool for students not familiar with this narrative while also affirming students who deal with such realities daily.

Changes in Enrollment

While a full assessment of the program is still in progress, preliminary program enrollment demographics reveal some interesting trends (Table 1).

Comparing the number of white students enrolled with students of color is significant as related to the institutional narrative. As more students come to North Park from the city, they increasingly represent the demographics of the city. Based on 2017 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, people of color make up 68% of the city’s population (U.S. Census Bureau, 2017). The enrollment demographics of both the institution as well as the Catalyst Semester program increasingly mirror the city’s population. Through focus groups, program administrators have seen a trend among students from Chicago being drawn to the Catalyst Semester because they desire to learn more about their city—not just their familiar neighborhoods. Bringing diverse students together in an intentionally designed learning community demonstrates North Park’s commitment to civic engagement, as well as a willingness to embrace innovation in the undergraduate curriculum.

The Impact: A Schedule Shift

Overlaying HIPs to advance learning objectives through an urban context led to conversations on campus about creating a more comprehensive vision for civic discourse beyond the first year. Indeed, the impact of the Catalyst Semester was one of the factors leading to a shift in the campuswide academic schedule. Faculty ultimately voted to overhaul the university’s weekly schedule to open up Wednesday afternoons for longer educational experiences, thereby creating a weekly civic engagement block on campus. During the 2017-2018 academic year, faculty in more than 100 courses took advantage of the civic engagement block by emulating the Catalyst Semester’s weekly integrative sessions. Setting aside an afternoon on a weekly basis allowed classes to travel as a group and engage in innovative, shared-learning experiences. Students used the block of time to interact with public relations professionals who work with city government, visit a brain bank at a medical school, and tour local businesses with aldermen.

Looking Ahead

Curriculum reform at the undergraduate level that embraces innovation, experiential learning, and HIPs is rare in higher education, and taking such a bold approach to integrating the urban identity into North Park’s curriculum has not been easy. The vision of the Catalyst Semester had to be clear and supported by leadership in both academic and student affairs. Student affairs staff were essential in communicating the value of the program and the change in the weekly schedule to students.

Going forward, further assessment will be done to measure impact on students. For now, Chicago is not just a location for North Park, but a key part of the institutional identity that has come to life in students’ educational experience beginning in their first year.

Related Articles in E-Source

Kilgo, C. (2012). Colleague spotlight: How effective are high-impact practices? 9(2), 18-20. Moody, B. L. (2007). Forming connections: Combining orientation and community service. 4(6), 7-9.

This article was originally published in December 2018.