Unit information: Community Engagement: Theory into Practice in 2021/22

Unit name	Community Engagement: Theory into Practice
Unit code	ENGL10059
Credit points	20
Level of study	C/4
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

Community Engagement: Theory into Practice is the second in a series of cumulative units which aim to prepare and support students in the development, execution and critical evaluation of individual community-engaged projects as part of their undergraduate studies on the English Literature and Community Engagement BA.

The unit aims to introduce students to a variety of ways in which ‘community’ and ‘engagement’ can be understood as concepts. Students will be introduced to a range of theoretical perspectives from disciplines including education and sociology which will inform their understandings of community engagement as a concept and 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 development and execution of their own community engaged project. This will include the development of a project plan. Practice will be evidenced through students’ reflective journals, an assessed presentation, and the submission of project plans.

The unit will have a substantial focus on how community engagement theory can inform community engagement practise. Focus will include topics such as participation and power, representation and cultural dominance, and the ethics of community engagement.

The unit will explore how experiential knowledge (students' own knowledge and that of their community partners and members) can be engaged to support community-engaged projects.

Aims

• to enable students to design and begin implementing a community-engaged project (such as a reading group). Projects are not limited in context (e.g. a workplace, local charity, school, children’s centre, older people’s home, prison, library or museum) but will pertain in focus to literary forms (from novels, short-stories, poems and biography to film, theatre, graphic text and oral-culture).
• to enable students to engage critically with theoretical framings of ‘community’ and ‘engagement’ and to consider how they relate to the practise of developing and running a community-engaged project.
• to develop students’ skills in organising, planning and managing a community engaged project, including recruiting and retaining project participants/group members, facilitating informal learning spaces, choosing appropriate materials, managing conflict, assessing risk.
• to develop students’ understanding and use of reflection as a method for developing and evaluating community-engaged projects.

Intended Learning Outcomes

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

1. Demonstrate understanding of how ‘community’ and ‘community engagement’ can be understood theoretically and use this to inform the development of their community-engaged projects.
2. Use experiential reflection to consider how and why the study of English Literature might be used to underpin a community-engaged project.
3. Design a community-engaged project (with a suitable partner as appropriate) including assessing risk and ethical implications.
4. Critically assess their community-engaged project design, reflexively evaluating their methodology approach.
5. Demonstrate ability to use reflective writing to inform the development of a community engaged project. 

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 development of a communtiy engaged project. Students also typically have access to two Saturday writing re-treats which provide a guided space for developing their academic writing skills.

Assessment Information

Formative assessments where completion is required to award credit:

1 x Presentation [ILOs: 1,2]

Summative Assessments:

1 x Hard-copy submission of CE project-plan of up to 2500 word [ILOs: 1-5] 100%

Resources

If this unit has a Resource List, you will normally find a link to it in the Blackboard area for the unit. Sometimes there will be a separate link for each weekly topic.

If you are unable to access a list through Blackboard, you can also find it via the Resource Lists homepage. Search for the list by the unit name or code (e.g. ENGL10059).

How much time the unit requires
Each credit equates to 10 hours of total student input. For example a 20 credit unit will take you 200 hours of study to complete. Your total learning time is made up of contact time, directed learning tasks, independent learning and assessment activity.

See the Faculty workload statement relating to this unit for more information.

Assessment
The Board of Examiners will consider all cases where students have failed or not completed the assessments required for credit. The Board considers each student's outcomes across all the units which contribute to each year's programme of study. If you have self-certificated your absence from an assessment, you will normally be required to complete it the next time it runs (this is usually in the next assessment period).
The Board of Examiners will take into account any extenuating circumstances and operates within the Regulations and Code of Practice for Taught Programmes.