In January 2026, Justin Scoggin and Yma Maranon Davis offered a workshop on behalf of the Wilmette Institute at the Association for Bahá’í Studies (ABS) Pedagogy Conference in Dallas, sharing insights from their experience developing and teaching graduate-level courses on social transformation since March 2023.
Drawing on work with students across the United States—including a course taught at North Carolina Central University—the session explored how course design shapes pedagogical practice. Rather than focusing solely on teaching techniques, the workshop examined learning outcomes, resource selection, activities, assignments, and assessment as foundational pedagogical decisions.
An Interactive Exploration
Participants were invited to engage in a participatory experience, moving around the room to interact with posters that expressed guiding tenets that inform course development at the Wilmette Institute. These tenets were presented without a prescribed order, encouraging reflection, dialogue, and connection-making among participants.
Current and former students and course instructors were present to share their perspectives, offering insight into how these principles take shape in real learning environments.
Guiding Tenets
The tenets shared during the workshop reflect a holistic and purpose-driven approach to education, including:
- Education as a means of prosperity and wisdom-building
- Course design as the foundation of pedagogical decisions
- Reality is ONE: Making Connections Through Transcending Disciplinary Boundaries
- Thoughtfully centering scholars from historically marginalized groups
- Principle-based course design rather than content-driven instruction
- Effective teaching speaks to students’ hearts
- Framing courses within the horizon of the 9-Year Plan
- Building students’ capacity for meaningful action
Education as Collective Inquiry
Finally, the workshop participants listened to a story about Kwezens, an Indigenous child, told by scholar Leanne Simpson that expresses our pedagogical model. The following quote from her was also shared and discussed:
“Coming to know is the pursuit of whole body intelligence practiced in the context of freedom, and when realized collectively, it generates generations of loving, creative, innovative, self-determining, inter-dependent and self-regulating community-minded individuals.” – Leanne Simpson, Land as Pedagogy
The workshop concluded with reflections and questions that underscored a shared commitment to education that cultivates coherence, agency, and purpose. The conversation affirmed that teaching for social transformation is an evolving practice—one strengthened through dialogue, reflection, and shared experience.
The Wilmette Institute is grateful for the opportunity to contribute to the ABS Pedagogy Conference and to learn alongside a community of educators dedicated to reimagining education as a force for social transformation.
