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Module

GEO3143 : Community Volunteering: A Geography Perspective (Inactive)

  • Inactive for Year: 2024/25
  • Module Leader(s): Professor Helen Jarvis
  • Teaching Assistant: Ms Mary Hull
  • Owning School: Geography, Politics & Sociology
  • Teaching Location: Newcastle City Campus
Semesters

Your programme is made up of credits, the total differs on programme to programme.

Semester 1 Credit Value: 10
Semester 2 Credit Value: 10
ECTS Credits: 10.0
European Credit Transfer System

Aims

This is a practical module that engages student directly with local organizations via group placements, participatory action research, and a thorough introduction to the local and national picture of non-profit ‘third sector’ (voluntary, community and social enterprise VCSE) activities and challenges at the current time. The module focuses primarily on Broad Based Community Organizing (BBCO) drawing on leadership training and methods originally associated with US Civil Rights and the work of Saul Alinsky and subsequently adopted by Citizens UK as a way for ‘people working together to get things done’. Community organizing can tackle a wider variety of issues such as housing, public health, poverty, discrimination, and many others, but in partnership with Tyne and Wear Citizens and following extensive ‘listening campaigns’ in recent years student-led projects typically focus on the climate emergency (‘green, fair, healthy’ local action for change), fighting discrimination for a safer city, and improving mental health services for young people.
The syllabus is organized around 4 elements and ways of learning.
1. 10 x 2 hour workshops comprising a combination of taught content and interactive, collaborative learning.
2. Doing Geography in partnership with local organizations (70 hours, group placement) learning and practising skills of community organizing and coalition building (on a continuum of volunteering, advocacy, and activism).
3. Online collaboration with external partners and structured guided learning via a mix of online training and conference opportunities, and short films and documentaries to discuss. Collaborative online Structured guided learning with external partners:
4. embedded reflection and evaluation strategies that involve keeping a regular diary, contributing feedback to class, and preparing strength-based narrative scenarios (as if for a job interview).
This course aims to give students an opportunity to develop critical understanding of the theories, practices and politics of community-based research and the ethics and governance of community organising and voluntary social and/or environmental action. The total hours of virtual/in-person volunteering is flexible but estimated in the range of 3-5 per teaching – up to 70 hours max. Activism and volunteering activities are intended to be out in the community, but it might take a blended format of desk-based action research via online collaboration with external non-profit partners if required to mitigate risk of virus transmission. Students work in groups with an external partner organization on and off campus (variously providing a service, advocating on behalf of a group or action, or organising direct action to effect change).
Alongside the experience of group-work the course aims to give students the chance to reflect independently on first-hand experience of collaboration. Students can develop graduate employability skills and gain an insight into Geography-related graduate careers.
This module differs from the NCL career development modules in that these placements are with geography-specific local community organisations, to conduct a defined piece of (team-based) research co-designed with/ for the direct benefit of- the partner organisation. This way the module provides students with the opportunity to develop key transferable skills that are immediately relevant to a geography graduate career.

Outline Of Syllabus

Outline of syllabus
S1
Week 1: Workshop
Week 2: Workshop
Week 3: Workshop
Week 4: Field supervision 1 (timetabled without venue)
Week 5: Workshop
Week 6: Structured Guided Learning (online collaboration)
Enrichment Week (collaboration with external partner continues)
Week 7: Workshop
Week 8: Skills practice. Reflective learning activity
Week 9: Field supervision 2 (timetabled without venue)
Week 10: Workshop
Week 11: Structured Guided Learning (online collaboration)
WINTER BREAK
Collaboration with external partner continues where possible
S2
Week 1: Workshop
Week 2: Field supervision 3 (timetabled without venue)
Week 3: Workshop
Week 4: Structured Guided Learning (online collaboration)
Week 5: Field supervision 4
Week 6: Field supervision 5
Week 7: Workshop
Week 8: Skills practice. Reflective learning activity
EASTER BREAK
Week 9: Workshop
Week 10: Skills practice. Reflective learning activity
Week 11: ASSESSMENT (in class)

Teaching Methods

Teaching Activities
Category Activity Number Length Student Hours Comment
Guided Independent StudyAssessment preparation and completion197:0097:00ML available by appointment for in-person assessment advice
Placement/Study AbroadEmployer-based learning170:0070:00In person community organizing and volunteering placement in groups with external partner.
Structured Guided LearningAcademic skills activities31:003:00Online collaboration with peers, staff, and/or external partner
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesWorkshops102:0020:00PiP workshops combining taught lecture content with interactive learning activities
Scheduled Learning And Teaching ActivitiesDissertation/project related supervision52:0010:00In-person timetabled contact hours for small group supervision off campus (with external partner)
Total200:00
Jointly Taught With
Code Title
GEO2138Community Volunteering: A Geography Perspective
GEO3156Geography Community Engagement Project (Advanced)
Teaching Rationale And Relationship

The teaching methods relate to the different aspects of this module. The pre-recorded lectures will be mainly for the provision of key concepts and theory about the voluntary and community sector, while synchronous learning ‘workshops’ will convey information about how the placement works by actively cultivating a ‘community of practice’ that emphasises expectations of collaboration and partnership working. The small group teaching sessions provide opportunities for project/placement groups to report on and solve issues relating to their experience of collaborating with the external partner. These sessions also provide learning opportunities focusing on key employability skills development. The drop-in sessions provide an opportunity for students to see the ML to discuss any aspect of the module throughout the academic year.

Assessment Methods

The format of resits will be determined by the Board of Examiners

Other Assessment
Description Semester When Set Percentage Comment
Prof skill assessmnt1M401,500 3-part portfolio including a placement plan
Essay2M602,500 word essay in two parts
Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The two assessment submissions for this module provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate both their understanding of community engagement and how they are learning from experience. The Community Engaged Learning Professional Skills Portfolio (40%) ensures that plans for external collaboration on action research are well considered and meet the requirements of the module. Three linked portfolio submissions (plan, dialogue, and preliminary report) assess the student’s ability to explain how the placement will work and what they will gain from it. While submissions are marked individually, they incorporate group-work and dialogue that requires them to reflect on this collaborative process. The course essay (60%) assesses the ability of the student to make connections between their placement and debates and research foci within academic geography. The essay is assessed via two discrete components. The part 1 essay will report findings and insights from the placement action-research (desk-based and/or including direct community engagement) suitable for the benefit of the external partner. The part 2 essay provides the opportunity for students to demonstrate self-awareness and social responsibility through reflective writing (drawing on diary/autoethnography extracts) and accumulated graduate skills that can be articulated via problem solving and personal strengths – along the lines of questions many face in a ‘real life’ interview situation.

Reading Lists

Timetable