2017–19 Webinar Archives
The ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge offers complimentary webinars covering a broad range of topics to help campuses increase civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation. National experts share knowledge and resources with participants on a bimonthly basis.
Below you will find archived recordings from our 2017-2019 webinar series organized by topic.
Voter Education Webinars
Voter Education Best Practices
Registering students to vote is not enough. Students must be educated about policy issues and political candidates in order to make informed decisions when they vote. First-time voters are often unfamiliar with the ballot measures and elected positions included on their ballot. And most importantly, students need to understand how our country’s political system works.
In this second webinar in a three-part series, learn from experts about how to help prepare your students for Election Day. Panelists will share best practices, tools, resources, and innovative ideas that make educating students about voting easy. Participants will learn how to engage students in a nonpartisan manner, how to communicate the importance of voting, and the essential voter information for students to know before participating in an election.
Voter Turnout Webinars
Voter Turnout Best Practices
While many colleges and universities have stepped up their efforts to help students register to vote, research shows that registering a student does not ensure that they participate in an election. Colleges and universities must also make an effort to motivate students and help them get to the polls on Election Day.
In this webinar, the last in a three-part series, panelists will share their experiences working with campuses and making it easier for students to vote. Participants will learn about protecting their students’ voting rights, bringing poll locations to campus, and hosting creative events such as Walk2Vote and Party at the Polls.
Campus Strategies for Increasing Student Voting Rates
While many colleges and universities have stepped up their efforts to help students register to vote, research shows that registering a student does not ensure that they participate in an election. Colleges and universities must also make an effort to motivate students and help them get to the polls on Election Day.
In this webinar, the last in a three-part series, panelists will share their experiences working with campuses and making it easier for students to vote. Participants will learn about protecting their students’ voting rights, bringing poll locations to campus, and hosting creative events such as Walk2Vote and Party at the Polls.
Tips to Help Students Cast Their Ballots
Voting is like access and retention in higher education. Just like it is not enough to get students enrolled in college (you have to help them graduate), it’s not enough to get students to register to vote. In order to get students to participate in elections, you have to help them fulfill their intention to vote.
In order to help you close the gap that exists between students who register to vote and actually vote, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge has brought together many of its partners to provide last-minute advice and tips to ensure your students are informed and prepared to cast their ballot during this midterm election.
Our panelists will cover how to help your students be ALL IN to Vote! They will share resources, tools, and activities that you can easily implement on campus to make sure that students:
- Confirm they are registered to vote.
- Research what is on their ballot.
- Submit their absentee ballot by the deadline.
- Locate their polling location.
- Get to the polls.
- Vote and celebrate voting!
How to Make Your Campus A Polling Place
College and university students face several obstacles to voting that make them less likely to go to the polls, even if they are registered to vote. The most common complaint from students is that even though they want to vote, they do not have access to transportation and cannot easily get to their polling station. Establishing a polling place on campus for early voting and/or Election Day not only makes casting a ballot more convenient, it can lead to higher student voting rates.
During this webinar hear from experts from the Fair Election Legal Network’s Campus Vote Project. Presenters will walk you through the steps of bringing a polling location to campus and how to ensure your polling station is a success.
Voter Registration Webinars
Voter Registration Best Practices
In order to vote in any election, students must first get registered. Unfortunately, many students find the registration process complex and confusing, and as a result, many do not follow through. But colleges and universities can help reduce barriers and facilitate registration.
Join this webinar and learn from experts about how your campus can reduce confusion about the process of registering, institutionalize voter registration programs, and send the message about the importance of voting. Panelists will share best practices, tools, resources, and innovative ideas that make registering to vote fun and easy.
Participants will learn how to promote voter registration and reduce barriers; how to help students navigate complex state rules; how to help students decide where to vote, and in what manner; and methods for registering students.
Celebrating National Voter Registration Day on Your Campus
Voter registration is a critical point on the road to Election Day participation – if you are not registered you can’t vote. Yet, every election, millions of students miss the stop or take a wrong turn by failing to register or to update their address by their state deadline. In fact, 38% of eligible student voters were not registered during the last midterm election in 2014.
National Voter Registration Day (NVRD), first observed in 2012, was launched to ensure that every eligible citizen has the opportunity to vote. Celebrated every year on the 4th Tuesday in September, NVRD is a day of action to celebrate democracy. Volunteers across the nation hold nonpartisan voter registration events enabling eligible voters to fulfill their civic responsibility and assure their access to the ballot box.
Hosting NVRD events on campuses is an easyway to showcase the importance of active and informed citizenship. Through these celebratory events, it is one of the best ways to ensure students are not only registered before state deadlines but excited and ready to participate.
In this webinar, attendees will learn how to become an NVRD partner and presenters will share tools and resources to help campuses organize successful events. Strategies for promoting the holiday, coordinating registration drives, and hosting nonpartisan educational events – all with the goal of increasing democratic participation – will be shared.
Integrating Voter Registration Into Orientation and Check In
A student’s college experience begins when they first arrive on your campus. During new student orientation you are not only helping students register for classes, but easing their transition by providing them with the information and resources they need to succeed.
One of the most difficult things for new students to navigate is registering to vote (What is the deadline? How do I do it?) especially if this is the first time they are doing so. Making voter registration a part of getting settled on campus can make this easier, and sends a clear message that participating in elections is important and a part of the college experience.
Embedding registration into existing student processes such as new student orientation or beginning of the semester check-in, can ensure that every student is reminded to check their registration status every semester. Students addresses change frequently and they need to re-register.
In this webinar, campuses will share how they have strengthened their voter registration efforts by institutionalizing it within orientation and student check-in in creative ways. Presenters will share what they do on each of their campuses, how they they were successful, and the challenges they’ve faced. Presenters will discuss programming ideas, as well as tech solutions, tools and resources.
NSLVE Webinars
Understanding and Using Your NSLVE Data
View Recording
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) is the first and only nonpartisan study of individual and institution-level data on college student voting. More than 1,000 campuses are participating and will receive their data from the 2016 presidential election this summer. Reports also will include comparison data from the 2012 presidential election and the 2014 midterm elections.
If you’re wondering what your campus should do once it receives its report, then we hope you’ll join us for this conversation. Participants will learn how to read and analyze the data to inform campus activities and programming. The results are designed to increase political engagement and to help foster a campus climate for civic learning and participation.
Presenters from the Institute for Democracy in Higher Education at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life will share resources and tools on how to maximize use of the data and offer advice on sharing the results across your campus.
Note: Participants are strongly encouraged to review their campus reports in advance of the webinar. A full list of NSLVE’s participating campuses can be viewed online. To obtain a copy of your institution’s report, please complete the online inquiry form.
Using Your NSLVE Report to Plan for 2018 Elections and Beyond
The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE) is the first and only nonpartisan study of individual and institution-level data on college student voting. More than 1,000 institutions received their 2016 presidential election data last summer, including comparison data from the 2012 presidential election and the 2014 midterm elections.
If you’re wondering how to most effectively use your NSLVE reports to inform your 2018 election plans, then we hope you’ll join us for this presentation. Participants will learn from the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life, how to understand and utilize their campus reports to inform 2018 action plan goals and programming.
Note: Participants are strongly encouraged to review their 2014 campus reports in advance of the webinar.
Developing A High-Quality Action Plan: NSLVE
This webinar will focus on understanding your campus’ NSLVE* report. Presenters will explain how to read and analyze the data contained in the report. Participants will leave the webinar prepared to use the information gathered from the report to revise goals and strategies of their campus democratic engagement action plans for the 2020 election — ahead of the first deadline on December 15, 2019.
* The National Study of Learning, Voting, and Engagement (NSLVE), a product of the Institute for Higher Education and Democracy at Tufts University’s Tisch College of Civic Life, is the first and only nonpartisan study of individual and institution-level data on college student voting. Campuses participating in NSLVE will receive their student voting data from the 2018 midterm election in the summer of 2019.
Speakers
- Stephanie King, Director of Civic Engagement and Knowledge Community Initiatives, NASPA
- Nancy Thomas, Director, Institute for Democracy & Higher Education, Tufts University
Action Plans
Developing a Democratic Engagement Action Plan
In order to increase democratic engagement on college and university campuses, planning needs to be intentional and activities must be documented. One promising way in which this can be accomplished is through action planning. Action planning is a process that helps campus administrators, faculty, students, and community members focus on ideas and decide what steps need to be taken to achieve institutional goals related to democratic engagement. The resulting document is the action plan which states what the goals are, and how and when they will be achieved. The action plan serves as an organizing document to increase efficiency and accountability and makes the vision for change concrete.
In this webinar speakers will share a new set of guidelines for writing democratic engagement action plans established by the Students Learn, Students Vote Coalition. These guidelines, developed by experts, serve as set recommendations of what to include in a high-quality action plan to increase student voting rates, to help students form the habits of active and informed citizenship, and to make democratic participation a core value on campus. With a strong action plan, campuses can greatly improve engagement.
Developing A High-Quality Action Plan: Leadership & Commitment
This webinar focuses on Section I – Leadership and Section II – Commitment of the Strengthening American Democracy action plan development guidelines. Presenters will discuss how to build a strong, representative coalition to lead efforts on campus and guide participants through the process of identifying an institution’s commitment to improving nonpartisan democratic engagement.
Participants will leave the webinar prepared to tackle the first two sections of their campus democratic engagement action plans for the 2020 election.
Speakers
- Stephanie King, Director of Civic Engagement and Knowledge Community Initiatives, NASPA
- Emily Weisgrau, Director of Advancement Communications; Chair, Get Out the Vote Committee, Swarthmore College
- Lauren Shinholster, Coordinator of Community Engagement, Mercer University
- Mary Weaver Bennett, Director, Leavitt Center for Politics and Public Service, Southern Utah University
Developing A High-Quality Action Plan: Landscape & Goal Setting
This webinar focuses on Section IV – Landscape and Section V – Goals of the Strengthening American Democracy action plan guidelines. Presenters will describe how to conduct a landscape assessment to determine current efforts and needs. Presenters will also discuss the importance of goal setting and how to develop short-term and long-term S.M.A.R.T. I. E. goals.
Participants will leave the webinar prepared to tackle the first third and fourth sections of their campus democratic engagement action plans for the 2020 election.
Speakers
- Spencer Long, Director of Student Leadership and Civic Engagement, the University of Illinois at Chicago
- Marianne Magjuka, Assistant Dean of Students and Executive Director of the Pro Humanitate Institute, Wake Forest University
- Andrew Lardie, Associate Director for Service and Leadership Joseph McKeen Center for the Common Good, Bowdoin College
- Stephanie King, Director of Civic Engagement and Knowledge Community Initiatives, NASPA
Developing A High-Quality Action Plan: Strategy
This webinar focuses on Section V – Strategy of the Strengthening American Democracy action plan guidelines. Presenters will discuss developing strategies (and accompanying activities or tactics) for achieving goals. Best and promising practices for institutionalizing civic learning, democratic engagement, and voter participation will be shared.
Participants will leave the webinar prepared to tackle the fifth section of their campus democratic engagement action plans for the 2020 election.
Speakers
- Abbey Neyenhouse, Maryland Institute College of Art
- Connie Jorgensen, Piedmont Virginia Community College
- John Zacker, University of Maryland
- Stephanie King, Director of Civic Engagement and Knowledge Community Initiatives, NASPA
Developing A High-Quality Action Plan: Reporting & Evaluation
This webinar focuses on Section VII – Reporting and Section VII Evaluation of the Strengthening American Democracy action plan guidelines. Presenters will discuss the importance of sharing action plans and accompanying data with campus stakeholders as well as the need to continuously evaluate and improve campus plans, goals, and strategies. Examples of how campuses are reporting and evaluating their civic learning, political engagement, and voter participation will be shared.
Participants will leave the webinar prepared to tackle the final two sections of their campus democratic engagement action plans for the 2020 election.
Speakers
- Jennifer Johnson Kebea, Ed.D, Executive Director, Lindy Center for Civic Engagement
- Kassie Phebillo, TX Votes Program Coordinator, the University of Texas at Austin’s Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life
Developing A High-Quality Action Plan: Assessing Action Plan Quality
This webinar will focus on the new rubric that will accompany the 2nd edition of the Strengthening American Democracy action plan guidelines (both to be released in June 2019). Presenters will explain how to use the rubric to self-assess the quality of their campus’ action plan and identify areas of strength and areas for improvement. Presenters will also discuss ways in which to use the self-assessment results to determine the next steps and strategically plan for the future.
Participants will leave the webinar prepared to self-assess their campus action plan and be able to determine which areas to focus on for revisions.
Students
Fundamentals of Student Organizing
Students can be powerful agents of change on their campuses and in their communities. Through organizing, the process of coordinating efforts, they can effectively promote and advocate for the interests of a group of people. Providing students tools, skills, and learning opportunities to become better advocates for change can help create the foundation for them to become lifelong active participants in our democracy, and the next generation of leaders dedicated to solving the country’s most pressing challenges.
Participate in this webinar to hear from experts on how to train students to be successful organizers. Staff from the Andrew Goodman Foundation’s Vote Everywhere program will share how they train student Ambassadors on the fundamentals of impact-oriented campus organizing and voter engagement through the Vote Everywhere program and their yearly National Civic Leadership Training Summit. They will discuss how to best engage students, what topics to cover, and how to structure leadership development activities.
Overcoming Psychological Barriers to Voter Participation
To live up to the fundamentally American dictum of a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people,” all people must act to elect it. The low rate of political participation among college students threatens this tenet of our democracy. Behavioral science can help to integrate students into our democracy by illuminating the psychological barriers they face, and by designing interventions that overcome those barriers.
In the summer and fall of 2015, ideas42 conducted an extensive literature review to inform our proprietary behavioral mapping process, which resulted in hypotheses about the behavioral barriers faced by college student voters. To test these hypotheses, they interviewed more than 80 people, including students, administrators, university presidents, and civic engagement practitioners. This work resulted in a brief which summarized findings and offers program design recommendations.
In this webinar authors of the brief will discuss their work and findings in order to help college administrators and student leaders to improve their registration and turnout efforts on campus. Specifically, participants in this webinar will learn how students decide whether to register and vote (or not); barriers to college students voting; and solutions for helping college students to vote.
Partners
Working With Your Local Election Office
Though referred to by different names in different states, all communities have local elections offices and officials. These nonpartisan organizations (i.e., election board, supervisor of elections office, election commission) and their staff are responsible for controlling elections and voting procedure. Unfortunately this local resource goes unrecognized by college campuses working to increase student voter engagement. Developing a strong relationship with the local elections office and officials is integral to this work.
In this webinar, speakers will share their knowledge and insights from working on college campuses, working with election boards, and now working as a government employee encouraging citizen participation. Webinar participants will learn why developing a strong relationship with their local board is important, how to develop that relationship, and how to collaborate to increase participation. The presenters will also discuss challenges campuses face when trying to work with their local board and how to navigate and overcome those obstacles.
The Congress to Campus Program
Do your students know what participation in a democracy entails? Have them learn from former Members of Congress.
The Congress to Campus program brings together former Members of Congress and college students to increase civic literacy and participation. Bipartisan pairs of former members spend two days on a college campus teaching classes, hosting community forums, and meeting with students to encourage greater democratic participation. The visiting members provide a candid account of serving as an elected official. Their personal experiences give students an “insiders look” into our political system and illuminate the inner-workings of Congress.
Participants in this webinar will hear from former Members of Congress and campus participants about the program and its impact on students. Participants will learn the goals of the program; how the program is structured and delivered; the benefits of bringing the program to campus; and the impact of the program on students and the campus community.