Innovative teaching and learning programmes from the CDRC
[chapter]
Felix M. Bivens
2019
Knowledge, democracy and action
Context The Citizenship Development Research Consortium (CDRC) is a UK Department for the International Development-funded group of university-and NGO-based researchers working together for almost a decade, examining concepts and practices of citizenship in diverse contexts across the globe. Much of the research carried out by this collective falls within the PAR and CBR traditions, involving collaborations between university academics and those active in communities and civil society
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... ons. The group has produced numerous publications and papers, including a seven-volume set of collected case studies. As the project moves into its final phases, participants are looking to understand how this body of learning and knowledge can be brought effectively into university curricula and into the classroom. In January 2008, the CDRC formed a teaching and learning group which has been experimenting with various ways in which citizenship can be taught within a formal university curricula and a traditional classroom setting. One of the main lessons learned from the group is that content and process are equally important when talking about issues of citizenship and democracy. Although case studies are important for helping students understand the many different ways in which ideas of citizenship are lived out in different contexts and political environments, ultimately there should also be space to act out and experiment with democratic processes and power relations in the classroom itself. The following examples lay out briefly how the work of the CDRC is impacting university curricula and pedagogy across a global selection of HEIs -and one NGO. University of Alberta, Canada -democratic citizenship: participation, deliberation and power This political science course was structured with a highly participatory pedagogy. The convener used minimal lecturing, devoting most class time to discussion. The majority of the class meetings were led by the students themselves who made generative conceptual presentations, then facilitated a discussion involving participatory. As course convener David Kahane wrote in the course syllabus, 'This is a genuine seminar, which is to say an equal conversation involving all of us. ' Felix M. Bivens -9781526137081 Downloaded from manchesterhive.com at 02/13/2020 11:03:39PM via free access
doi:10.7765/9781526137081.00036
fatcat:dcgby56mgzayhfnsdvlxgaquje