IDCE 30334 - Special Topics

Spring 2020 TOPIC: NON-FORMAL EDUCATION AND ADULT LEARNING, AND, EDUCATION IN EMERGENCIES AND IN CRISIS AND CONFLICT SETTINGS

This course covers two complimentary topical areas at the nexus of ‘International Development’ and ‘Education’, namely, Non-formal Education and Adult Learning, and, Education in Emergencies and in Crisis and Conflict settings.  For the former, facilitating learning in groups and teaching-and-learning in non-formal settings and with adults can be very different from teaching in a formal and school-based environments with children or younger learners. A different set of skills and abilities are needed to engage this broad range of learners.  This first 7 weeks will develop, expand and deepen participant understanding of how to reach non-formal and adult learners effectively. It will help participants build the conceptual foundations of practice as adult educators, as well as enhance personal experiences as learners, by examining and critiquing theory in relation to experience and social realities, our own and those of others. The second 7 weeks will introduce concepts in the expanding field of education in post-conflict or emergency settings.  We will examine key concerns of education in a crisis situation and explore opportunities for establishing learning environments that prevent and ameliorate social conflict leading to violence.  We will address issues including: how education can be provided in areas that are in chronic states of crisis and conflict, what education systems can do to eliminate violence, what communities learn from conflict, what broad approaches to learning and community development might better facilitate healing, resilience and the rebuilding of trust, and, what quality education might be in a crisis and conflict settings.

Spring 2020 TOPIC: THE NEC COUNCIL COLLABORATIVE

(half unit)

The NEC Council Collaborative introduces students to the theory and practice of council, deepens their engagement with the literature of climate change, and prepares them to help facilitate sessions of the Council on the Uncertain Human Future.

As a collaborative, the course is shared and horizontally organized. Conducted as a council and beginning with the CUHF process, its further structure and content are generated collectively, building especially on questions and problems generated by the students in the initial sessions.

Council practice is at the core of the New Earth Conversation, a curriculum initiative at Clark designed to explore the role of universities in the context of our unfolding climate disaster.

NEC asks, What are universities called to be and to do at this moment? How can we best prepare students to face the existential challenges of these times? The Council Collaborative goes to the heart of these concerns, while modeling one distinctive way of answering them.

Before enrolling in this course, students must have participated in one or more UHF Councils and receive permission of the instructors.

Fall 2019TOPIC: CLIMATE PRAXIS: REFLECTION AND ACTION FOR THE UNTHINKABLE

This Collaborative will explore the question of how we live responsibly in the unprecedented time of climate crisis. We will explore the question of why we have collectively failed to appropriately address the threat of climate change for the past 40 years as well as looking forward to how we navigate coming disruption. After engaging in the Council on the Uncertain Human Future process, students will co-design the remainder of the course with an emphasis on holistic approaches. 

 

Anticipated Terms Offered: every semester