THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2022/2023

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : Moray House School of Education and Sport : Education

Undergraduate Course: Community Learning 3: Education and Action in Communities (EDUA09003)

Course Outline
SchoolMoray House School of Education and Sport CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 9 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityNot available to visiting students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryParticipants on this course will consider how groups of learners may be helped to develop their capacity to think and act critically, and to support one another to develop strategies, tactics and practices in relation to desired change. Participants will also be required to develop appropriate teaching and learning techniques designed to foster dialogue.
The course will deepen the students understanding of the worker's educational role and will focus on developing dialogue through structured experiences in the various forms and settings of community education practice. Participants will consider how groups of learners may be helped to develop their capacity to think and act critically, and to support one another to develop strategies, tactics and practices in relation to desired change. Participants will also be required to develop appropriate teaching and learning techniques designed to foster dialogue.
Course description 1) Academic Description
The practice of informal education attempts to build a creative tension between the need to be structured in our approach to educational work and the need for spontaneity in engaging with people. This course attempts to develop the student's familiarity with this tension and to consider a range of methodological approaches which can help to introduce educational aims into informal settings. There are four interrelated themes to this course that have to do with: Inquiry; Experience; Knowledge; Dialogue and Praxis. Each theme will be considered from a theoretical and a methodological standpoint. The first session of each thematic period will be concerned with conceptual principals while the second session will consider the more practical application of ideas.

2) Indicative Content
Experience
Knowledge and Knowing
Developing Dialogue
Praxis and the transition from reflection to action
Developing Action
Presentation workshops

3) Learning Experience.
The course design is cyclical, modulating between theory and practice modes in order to emphasise the relationship between the two. The students are engaged in this process by developing case study scenarios where they are encouraged to apply the core thematic ideas of the course in a practice setting of their own design. While the theory sessions are focused on reading, in-put and discussion, the practice sessions focus on methods and their application to the student's case studies. This curriculum design is developed to demonstrate some of the core themes of the course including praxis.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Distinguish between different approaches to informal educational work
  2. Explain the importance of making educational purposes transparent
  3. Demonstrate how to structure educational experiences
  4. Use people's experience as part of an educational intervention
  5. Develop a body of critical knowledge, design a structured dialogue and articulate the concept of praxis
Reading List
Brookfield, S. D. (2013) Powerful Techniques for Teaching Adults. Jossey-Bass: San Francisco.

Galloway, V. (2013) Teaching Popular Education to University Community Education Students. Rhizome freirean - n. 14 http://www.rizoma-freireano.org/teaching-popular-education-to-university

Illeris, K. (2018) (Ed.) Contemporary Theories of Learning: Learning Theorists¿In Their Own Words. Routledge: London.

Jeffs, T. & Smith, M. (2005) (3rd Edition) Informal Education: Conversation, democracy and learning Shrewsbury: Educational Heretics Press.

Wildemeersch, D. (2018) Limit Situations. Adult Education and Critical Awareness Raising in The Palgrave International Handbook on Adult and Lifelong Education and Learning, Milana et al (Eds.) Palgrave Macmillan: London, pp. 133-150.
https://link-springercom.ezproxy.is.ed.ac.uk/chapter/10.1057/978-1-137-55783-4_8


A further reading list is available in the course booklet
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills 1) Apply Knowledge Skills and Understanding
Understand and lead groups
Design a curriculum based on community priorities
Plan and implement programmes of individual and collective action

2) Generic Cognitive Skills
Understand the centrality of Dialogue and Praxis to the participatory educational process

3) Autonomy, Accountability and Working With Others
Enable dialogue between people and groups
Leadership skills
Presentation skills
Critical reflexivity
KeywordsInformal education,Group work,Experience,Knowledge,Dialogue,Praxis.
Contacts
Course organiser Course secretary
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