DHLI Publication / Conference Plan
Project Aim
This projects aims to provide LACCD faculty with professional development opportunities in labor education that lead to them developing labor education resources. This is specifically done by identifying, recruiting, and assisting LACCD faculty to engage in the research, writing, and dissemination of labor-themed instructional materials that faculty across the District may incorporate and integrate into their curriculum. In addition to faculty professional development, this project also aims to create and strengthen collaboration among LACCD faculty, university-level scholars, and labor and community organization practitioners while adhering to DHLI’s mission of promoting labor education across LACCD.
Project Background and Description
Since the 1970s, globalization, technological changes, and shifting markets have transformed the U.S. economy: the disaggregation of firms and rise of network supply models resulted in the reliance on subcontracting arrangements. Meanwhile, deregulation has led to growth in contingent and precarious employment in both blue collar and professional sectors. As work is intimately related to a host of social, economic, and political issues, inequality and instability on the job effects workers and have widespread implications to our society as a whole. Many scholars have investigated these important issues; however, their work are often difficult for the average LACCD student to understand.
Today, it is ever important that we prepare students to understand the evolving nature of work and how workers, communities, and the Labor Movement respond to new challenges ushered in by the modern economy. DHLI seeks to do this by providing LACCD faculty with professional development, resources, and support to help them to be able to teach on these issues.
Many of LACCD’s faculty have expertise on a range of topics on today’s economy. Furthermore, their collaboration across disciplines may aid in explaining today’s workplace and workers’ issues in ways relevant for LACCD students. For example, our history and political science professors can jointly explain changing forces that led to, and contextualize the modern “gig-economy,” and economics and statistics professors might showcase this through a simple Census data exercise showing the stagnation of wages relative to educational attainment. On the other hand, we envision anthropology and sociology professors interviewing local union leaders to detail innovative ways that the Labor Movement responds to challenges of the new economy. Furthermore, English and art professors might collaborate with regional nonprofits to document the culture of our own communities that sustain these struggles.
In short, we invite LACCD faculty to embark on a project to create articles and educational projects in a variety of forms and medium to cover these important issues so we can use them in LACCD classrooms to teach students. We also welcome faculty to work independently or collaborate with university-level scholars, labor unions, and community organizations. Through producing teaching materials, the faculty engage in professional development and receive a stipend. The end result of these writing efforts will be compiled into a publication that will be disseminated by DHLI for other faculty to use and incorporate into their curriculum. Finally, the project will culminate in an annual conference to launch the publication. This conference will be open to all LACCD faculty as well as other scholars, unions, and community partners.
At the annual conference, LACCD faculty contributors to the publication will act as workshop leaders and help train other LACCD faculty in attendance on integrating the teaching resources into classroom curriculum. The conference will also serve to promote the publication and DHLI’s work, and be a space to recruit a future cohort of LACCD faculty to contribute to the next publication.
Publication
Objectives: Faculty professional development and production of instructional materials
· To produce instructional resources such as articles and lesson plans to be included in a publication, as well teaching resources in other media such as PowerPoint slides, videos, documentaries, etc. that other LACCD faculty may use in their classroom curriculum
Annual Conference
Objectives: Faculty professional development, networking, identification and recruitment of faculty interested in labor education, raise awareness about DHLI
· To train LACCD faculty on relevant new issues in work and labor
· To promote publication (for LACCD audience)
· To recruit next cohort of faculty contributors
Proposed Quarterly Timetable, Beginning January 2016
Winter 2016 / Spring 2016 / Summer 2016 / Fall 2016 / Winter 2017 / Spring 2017Survey LACCD faculty on project interests / x
Outreach to labor scholars and community partners. Research relevant topics for collaboration / x
Outreach and recruit faculty to contribute to the publication / x
Finalize themes and labor topics for publication / x
Finalize and secure faculty commitment for publication / x
Ongoing check-in with faculty on writing progress / x / x / x
Invite labor scholars and community partners for conference plenary session and workshops / x / x
Confirm conference logistics / x / x
Confirmation of speakers for plenary session and workshops / x
Publicize conference and begin registration / x / x
Edit and revise publication for print / x
Print publication for dissemination / x
Final preparations for conference logistics and sessions. Confirm all speakers and guests / x / x
Host annual conference to promote and disseminate publication (tentative date May 12 or 19, 2017) / x
Identification and recruitment for next cohort of LACCD faculty for publication / x
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