Unit information: Communities, Education and Ways of Knowing in 2020/21

Unit name	Communities, Education and Ways of Knowing
Unit code	ENGL20118
Credit points	20
Level of study	I/5
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 4 (weeks 1-24)
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

Description including Unit Aims

Communities, Education and Ways of Knowing is the third in a series of cumulative units which are designed to support students in the development, execution and critical evaluation of their community-engaged projects as part of their undergraduate studies on the English Literature and Community Engagement BA.

The unit aims to introduce students to cross-disciplinary perspectives and contestations around the ways that spaces of learning, knowledge and expertise are constructed, enacted and framed in contemporary society

Students will be introduced to a range of perspectives from disciplines including education and sociology and will be supported to critically engage with these perspectives in relation to their own community-engaged project practice.

Community engagement is a practice-led discipline and students are expected, as a core part of this unit, to commit at least 30 hours to the continued development and execution of their own community engaged project. Student will be expected to evidence their practice through reflective journals. At this point in their studies students have typically established or are in the final stages of establishing their community-engaged projects.*

This unit will support students to consider the nature of learning spaces, knowledge and expertise in relation to their own projects. To aid this, students will be introduced to a variety of facilitation and participatory techniques used when managing groups, drawn from sources including participatory and community-based research and third sector and practitioner toolkits. As part of this unit students will receive skills-based training on group dynamics and conflict management.

As part of this unit students will receive an observational visit from their community-engagement tutor and an accompanying feedback report which they will be expected to utilise as part of the unit’s summative assignment. **

• Where the project designed in the previous unit proves unsuccessful or for any reason, this unit aims to support students’ undertaking of a new project idea.
• There are some circumstances where a student might have been unable to establish a project during this unit and, consequently, will be unable to receive a feedback report from their community-engagement tutor to utilise as part of this assessment. If students have not set-up a project and had an observational visit by week 20 of the academic year, then they will be offered a project coaching session with the site-visit officer where they will have the opportunity to undertake a detailed review of the practical work they have already undertaken and develop an action plan for taking their CE project forward.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this unit, students will be able to:

1. Critically and reflexively consider the nature of knowledge and expertise in contemporary society and use this to support their work community-engagement practice
2. Demonstrate the ability to reflect analytically on participation within their own project, including the range of participants who engage and the literary works that are utilised.
3. Utilise, and reflect on, formal feedback from the site-visit officer (or equivalent where project format does not facilitate a site-visit).
4. Demonstrate ability to use reflexive writing to intersect taught content with community engaged practice. 

Teaching Information

This unit is normally taught through a series of 3-hour seminars delivered across the academic year. Seminars utilise a range of teaching methods including lectures, practical-activities and small group dicussion. Seminars are supported by a range of asynchronous learning activities. As part of this unit students have access to a one-to-one mentor who will support and guide thier communtiy engaged practice. Students also typically have access to two Saturday writing re-treats which provide a guided space for developing their academic writing skills.

Assessment Information

1 x 4000-word essay (including response to site visit report if appropriate) [ILOs: 1- 4] 100%

Reading and References

Bolton, Gillie. Reflective practice: Writing and professional development. Sage publications, 2010.

Hooks, Bell, Teaching To Transgress: Education As The Practice Of Freedom. New York: Routledge, (1994).