Postgraduate Course: Introduction to Participatory Methods (fusion online) (EFIE11107)
Course Outline
School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Available to all students |
SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
Summary | Participatory practice addresses how to involve and empower others in research, design and management. Whatever specific context or domain, it is essential to understanding, including and bridging the needs and values of multiple stakeholders and end-users of a service.
This course provides a broad introduction to participatory methods, from research and design, through to evaluation and envisioning of new services. It will provide students critical skills to choose between a suite of participatory methods, and plan a comprehensive approach to involving people in service management and design. |
Course description |
This course, outlined below, takes students through the key stages of participatory practice - from understanding the origins and importance of participatory approaches; and how to involve participants equitably in research; towards participatory design methods; and how to envision participatory futures.
The individual, pre-intensive, component will introduce students to key concepts and prepare them for group work through a comprehensive reading pack, a pre-recorded introductory lecture and real-world case studies on participation in service design practice.
The two-day intensive component is divided into four, connected, half-day sessions addressing:
(i) Theory and Purpose - outlining the origins and importance of participatory practice;
(ii) Participatory Research - focused on approaches to involving diverse stakeholders equitably in research projects;
(iii) Participatory Design and Use - introducing a suite of participatory design methods to configure participation in a design process;
(iv) Participatory Futures - introducing approaches to involving people in envisioning alternative future technologies and services.
The post-intensive period will build on group work during the intensive days through virtual studios where students will work in groups to outline and present a plan for a participatory project (including research, design and futures) in response to a selection of briefs / challenges related to data-driven innovation. Assessment will be through an individual essay / blog reflecting on this group work.
The student experience will integrate personal learning objectives within a group / studio environment. It will combine individual study together with structured tutor led workshops, a virtual studio culture, seminars and tutorials, toward the understanding and subsequent development of a plan for participatory practice.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - Online Fusion Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. This approach (our 'fusion' teaching model) offers students flexible and inclusive ways to study, and the ability to choose whether to be on-campus or online at the level of the individual course. It also opens up ways for diverse groups of students to study together regardless of geographical location. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities. Students should note that their interactions may be recorded and live-streamed. There will, however, be options to control whether or not your video and audio are enabled.
As part of your course, you will need access to a personal computing device. Unless otherwise stated activities will be web browser based and as a minimum we recommend a device with a physical keyboard and screen that can access the internet.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisites | None |
High Demand Course? |
Yes |
Course Delivery Information
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Academic year 2023/24, Available to all students (SV1)
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Quota: 5 |
Course Start |
Semester 1 |
Course Start Date |
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Timetable |
Timetable |
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
100
(
Lecture Hours 2,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 4,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 8,
Online Activities 10,
Formative Assessment Hours 3,
Other Study Hours 6,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 2,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
65 )
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Additional Information (Learning and Teaching) |
Other Study: Scheduled Group-work Hours (hybrid online/on-campus) - 6
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Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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Feedback |
Feedback on the formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The course organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Students will receive feedback at various points during the course:
- Peer critique and from tutors via feedback sessions and discussion throughout the intensive days will prepare students for the post-intensive group activity where they will apply methods they have learned to a new brief.
- Through verbal and written feedback on their group presentations, students will receive guidance that prepares them for the individual assessment.
- Written feedback on their individual reflective essay, and group work will support their further development beyond the course. |
No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Express a critical understanding of participatory practice, and its purpose and importance in inclusive and progressive service design and management.
- Understand contemporary methods of participatory research, design and futuring.
- Recognise how different participatory methods can be used to configure participation in different contexts.
- Critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of various participatory practices.
- Plan a bespoke participatory project to involve diverse communities in research, design and futuring related to contemporary social, economic and data-driven challenges and include participatory practices throughout their professional endeavours.
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Reading List
Indicative Reading List:
Essential Reading:
Gillian R. Hayes. 2011. The relationship of action research to human-computer interaction. ACM Trans. Comput.-Hum. Interact. 18, 3, Article 15 (July 2011), 20 pages. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/1993060.1993065
Vines, J., Clarke, R., Wright, P., McCarthy, J., & Olivier, P. (2013, April). Configuring participation: on how we involve people in design. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 429-438).
Sanders, E. B. N., & Stappers, P. J. (2014). Probes, toolkits and prototypes: three approaches to making in codesigning. CoDesign, 10(1), 5-14.
Recommended Reading:
Kozubaev, S., Elsden, C., Howell, N., Søndergaard, M. L. J., Merrill, N., Schulte, B., & Wong, R. Y. (2020, April). Expanding Modes of Reflection in Design Futuring. In Proceedings of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (pp. 1-15).
Le Dantec, C. A., & Fox, S. (2015, February). Strangers at the gate: Gaining access, building rapport, and co-constructing community-based research. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on computer supported cooperative work & social computing (pp. 1348-1358).
Osborne, S. P., Nasi, G., & Powell, M. Beyond co-production: value creation and public services. Public Administration.
Simonsen, J., & Robertson, T. (Eds.). (2012). Routledge international handbook of participatory design. Routledge.
Further Reading:
Christina Harrington, Sheena Erete, and Anne Marie Piper. 2019. Deconstructing Community-Based Collaborative Design: Towards More Equitable Participatory Design Engagements. Proc. ACM Hum.-Comput. Interact. 3, CSCW, Article 216 (November 2019), 25 pages. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1145/3359318
Star, S., Griesemer, J. Institutional ecology, 'translations', and boundary objects: amateurs and professionals in Berkeley's museum of vertebrate zoology, 1907-39. Social studies of science, 19, 3, 387-420 |
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills |
On completion of this course, the student will gain experience in the following attributes and skills:
- Critical and empathetic thinking about how to involve diverse stakeholders and participants in the management and design of new services;
- Developing familiarity with a whole toolbox of potential participatory methods that can be used to configure participation and adapted to a range of contexts;
- Through group work during and after the intensive time, they will develop skills in working collaboratively with others;
- Organisational abilities to plan a bespoke participatory project;
- Critical and creative thinking to solve problems related to planning a bespoke participatory project. |
Keywords | Participatory Design,Co-Design,Value Creation,Co-Creation,Design Futuring,Action Research,Design |
Contacts
Course organiser | Dr Chris Elsden
Tel:
Email: |
Course secretary | Mr David Murphy
Tel:
Email: |
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