Unit name | Literature and Community Engagement in Practice 2 |
---|---|
Unit code | ENGL20105 |
Credit points | 20 |
Level of study | I/5 |
Teaching block(s) |
Teaching Block 2 (weeks 13 - 24) |
Unit director | Mrs. Thomas-Hughes |
Open unit status | Not open |
Pre-requisites |
None |
Co-requisites |
None |
School/department | Department of English |
Faculty | Faculty of Arts |
‘Literature and Community Engagement in Practice 2’ is the fourth and final in a series of four cumulative units which are designed to support students in the development, execution and critical evaluation of community-engaged projects as part of their undergraduate studies on the English Literature and Community Engagement BA.
Community Engagement is a practice-led discipline. Teaching in community engagement combines: practical, skills-focused, discussion-based workshops; ‘expert masterclasses’ led by community engagement or reading group experts; and seminars which examine the ideas of community, engagement and the practice of reading in contemporary society.
At this point in their studies students are typically running a well-established community-engaged project.*
This unit enables students to evaluate and critically consider both their community-engaged projects and their work as community-engagement practitioners in relation to literature on community-engagement, service-learning and reading groups. The unit focuses on reflection as a method for evaluation and asks students to consider their community-engagement projects in relation to wider debates around literary communities in the UK.
The unit is designed to recognise that students are still heavily committed to the practice of running their projects. The unit aims to support student in bringing their projects to satisfactory conclusions.
`*For the small-minority of students who have not yet established a community-engagement project this unit will enable them to revise previous plans and execute a small-scale project. For these students the ‘observational visit and short report’ typically offered as part of ‘Literature and Community Engagement in Practice 1’ will be made available to students to use as part of their reflexive essays.
Aims
On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:
1) Demonstrate the ability to use reflexive diaries as a source of data in the and critique and analysis of thier community engagement practise.
2) Critically examine their experience in setting up and running a community engagement project (of whatever kind) in the light of a relevant wider social, political or literary critical question
3) Demonstrate thier knowledge and understanding of community engagement and/or readers/reading as concepts and apply these to thier own community-engaged practice.
4) Demonstrate thier ability to critically and reflexively examine thier community-engaged project in relation to other relevant theoretical frameworks and/or appropriate bodies of literature and/or practice-based evidence-bases
Through the year:
5 x 3-hour seminar
1 x 4.5-hour day school
1 x 4.5 hour conference
1 x 1-hour one-to-one meeting with tutor
1 x 5-10 minute oral presentation and Q&A on community-engaged project. (ILOs: 1-4)
1 x reflective essay (4000 words) (ILOs: 1-4) 100%
Amin, Ash. "Local community on trial." Economy and society34.4 (2005): 612-633.
Bennett, Andrew. Readers and reading. Routledge, 2014.
Danielson, Susan, and Ann Marie Fallon. Community-based Learning and the Work of Literature. Anker Pub. Co., 2007.
Hartley, Jenny. Reading groups. Oxford University Press, USA, 2001.
Millican, Juliet, and Tom Bourner. "Student-community engagement and the changing role and context of higher education." Education+ Training 53.2/3 (2011): 89-99.
Swann, Joan. "How reading groups talk about books: A study of literary reception." Creativity in language and literature. The state of the art (2011): 217-230.
Plus, a range of texts, resources and toolkits from the voluntary and statutory sectors.