Jessica Ayers’ PSYC 431 students interviewed community members to explore “everyday upstanders” in action—connecting social psychology concepts to real-world behavior. See how this low-lift service-learning project engaged students and the community.
In Fall 2024, her students created biographies of “everyday upstanders”—people who act for good in challenging situations. Using interviews with friends, family, community members, and local professionals, students highlighted traits such as compassion, optimism, selflessness, honesty, and leadership. Their work applied course concepts to real-world behavior, exploring why people choose to act versus remain bystanders.
Ayers says, “The goal of this service-learning project is to help students apply social psychology concepts to real-world situations, focusing on prosocial behavior while contrasting it with bystander behavior. It also allows students to recognize everyday upstanders in our communities who aren’t often acknowledged.”
The student projects are currently on display at the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights, giving learners a tangible connection between course content and community impact.
Practical Tips for Faculty
This project demonstrates several low-lift strategies you can adapt:
- Start by identifying a course learning outcome that could connect to a community issue or goal.
- Partner with existing community organizations or tap the CTL Service-Learning Program for support, rather than building new infrastructure from scratch.
- Identify an activity that links directly to your course content (e.g., students interview community members to explore a social psychology concept), and it will add value to the community.
- Give students some autonomy in choosing subjects or topics—they often find inspiring stories on their own.
- Integrate the activity into your course by asking students to explain how they apply course concepts to the project.
Jessica Ayers’ course shows that experiential learning can be manageable, while enhancing student engagement, deepening understanding, and connecting learning to meaningful community action.
Learn more about Jessica’s students’ projects here.
Interested in learning more about strategies like these for your course? Register here for our upcoming CTL Talking Teaching Roundtable: “Low-Lift Community Engagement — Practical Strategies for Busy Faculty” on Tuesday, November 11th from 12:00–1:00 PM in ILC 315. Can’t come? Contact the CTL’s Elizabeth Gasparini to explore possibilities together (ElizabethGaspari@boisestate.edu)