Building Critical Development Research Skills Through Co-learning and Practice
Building Critical Development Research Skills Through Co-learning and Practice
Roberta Hawkins
Chapter Summary
This chapter provides suggestions for course design focused on co-learning and practice based on the author’s experiences teaching a MA level GDS course, Research and Analysis in a Development Context. The course is designed in a manner that avoids some of the common pitfalls of traditional graduate seminar classes, namely: competition and perfectionism. The chapter highlights the benefits of a flipped-classroom course design where students collaboratively work through course content. A detailed lesson plan is provided as an example.
Note from the author:
The materials/assignments shared below were created by Roberta Hawkins in 2021 at the University of Guelph, Canada and are used with permission. The author would appreciate it if you would e-mail her and let her know they are being used: rhawkins@uoguelph.ca
Course Materials for the Course, Research and Analysis in a Development Context
I. Course Description and Overview: This includes a brief explanation of the course, learning outcomes and means of assessment.
II. Detailed Class Descriptions: This contains detailed descriptions of each class session, including in-class activities, homework and reading assignments.
III. Assignment 1: Power, Positionality and Research: This assignment facilitates students’ use of reflexive practices to reflect on their identity and positionality as students of Development Studies.
IV. Assignment 2: Creating an Infographic: This assignment requires students to create an infographic to share knowledge on a research article of their choice.
VII. Devising Clear Research Questions-Activity sheet: This is a set of questions to guide students in devising their research plan (used in lesson 3).
V. Data Collection Plan Worksheet: This draft data collection plan worksheet helps students to brainstorm the design of their own research project (used in lesson 5).
VI. Research Dilemmas Coding Chart: This is a list of research dilemmas related to ethical relationships with participants, research design, researcher positionality/identity and institutional structure (used in class 8).
VII. Recommended Readings: These two books build on themes of rethinking course design and decolonizing teaching and learning in higher education.
Download all materials in a single file here