Taught By:
Andrea Lyons-Lewis
Senior Lecturer
Criminology & Criminal Justice
School of Social Sciences
Nottingham Trent Univesity
Read profile here.
Motivation to Teach Social Action:
There is increasing attention in HE to utilize 'authentic assessment' meaning assessment which replicates real world tasks and activities. Authentic assessment requires a curriculum and pedagogy which are aligned with those 'real world' assessments, and your Teaching Social Action course looks like it would supply this.
Increasingly in HE generally, and in my institution specifically, there is pressure to direct such work towards an 'employability' agenda. But it could equally seek to address issues of social change. This course may give me the tools and inspiration I need to enhance the 'authenticity' of the courses I teach, whilst at the same time maintaining the focus on social value.
I have considerable experience of teaching service-learning modules within Criminology undergraduate courses and wish to keep that clear focus on adding social value to the communities we work with and not just extracting value in the form of skills for students. One of the appeals of the Teaching Social Action course is the agency it seems to give to students. It also seems like a sustainable model in that it doesn't necessarily rely on the time and scarce resources of community & voluntary organisations.
Course Description:
This is a year long, double weighted module. Students do a live group project with an external organisation for one term (see above) and a short individual placement. Social justice and public criminology inform the curriculum and it is taught via active collaborative learning in designated learning space to facilitate that style of working. (There is however, increasing pressure to direct the module towards an employability agenda due the pressure that graduate outcomes place on universities today). All of the module tutors develop a project, working with their contacts and the organisations who partner with us range from faith groups to food banks to statutory organisations such as prisons and local authorities. The module is assessed via a group presentation and an individual reflective report.
Currently the students do not have a choice of project; they are allocated to a group and work on the project that the group's tutor has developed. Within the brief set however, there is often considerable room for student imput and agency.
