Overview
This course explores current thinking around the motivations for, and ethical implications of, working with communities on issues of social justice, inequality, and sustainable development. Students will engage in self-reflexive practices and work collaboratively to create tools and action plans for ethical global engagement in the future.
Week 1 Global Engagement and Experiential Learning
- What is this course about?
- What do you hope to learn in this course?
Week 2 Evolving Forms of Global Engagement
- Has volunteering for global development evolved over the past 20 years?
- Can experiential learning theory help us understand the connections between volunteering, studying and working in the context of global development?
Week 3 Critical Reflection, Self-Reflexivity, and Ethical Engagement
- How do we reflect on our experiences?
- What purpose does reflection serve when we are globally engaged?
Week 4 Global Citizenship
- What does it mean to be a ‘global citizen’?
- Can we avoid doing more harm than good when globally engaged?
Week 5 Motivations for Global Engagement
- What makes us want to do things like travel, explore and help others?
- Can you grow both personally and professionally through global engagement?
Week 6 Ethical Challenges in the Field
- What are field-specific ethical dilemmas faced during global engagement?
- What practices (or tools) can we use to live up to our responsibilities for ethical global engagement?
Week 7 Critical Reflections on Motivations
- Do our motivations impact our experiences when globally engaged?
- What impact does this have on host communities and organizations?
Week 8 Gender, Race, Identity and Engagement
- How do postcolonial studies, critical race theory and gender studies help us understand some of the ethical dilemmas associated with global engagement?
Week 9 Perspectives on Relationship Building and Partnership
- What do host communities and organizations say about their role in global engagement?
- What issues are most pressing for them?
Week 10 Representing the Experience
- Can the images used to promote global engagement activities actually reproduce negative stereotypes?
- Is there a way to represent our experience to others in a way that doesn’t reinforce or exploit differences in power and privilege?
Week 11 Preparing for Ethical Global Engagement and Action in the Future
- How can we get the most out of a global engagement experience?
- How can we make sure that our experiences are mutually beneficial?
- How do we avoid feeling paralyzed by the ethical issues associated with global engagement?
Week 12 Evolving Guidelines for Global Engagement and Plans for the Future
- What did you learn about yourself and global engagement from taking this course?
- How will it impact your decisions in the future? How can you leverage your learning in this course within professional settings?
Learning Outcomes
After completing DEVS 280, students will be better equipped to:
- Create learning and action plans to support the self-reflexive process of learning from experience in the field of global engagement
- Use critical reflection and self-reflexive practices to evaluate personal motivations for being globally engaged.
- Apply theories of race, gender and post-colonialism to critically assess the impact that global action and engagement may have on host communities and organizations.
- Identify sector-specific ethical challenges encountered through global action and engagement and propose alternative courses of actions to a specific target audience.
- Use critical thinking and intercultural communication skills to challenge commonly held assumptions about the impacts of global engagement on host communities and host organizations.
Terms
Evaluation
5% - Intro Forum
60% - Reflection Assignments (3 x 20%)
35% - Action Plan for Future Global Engagement
*Evaluation Subject to Change*
Live Sessions
This course has optional live sessions. Please consult the Timeline in the first week of class for dates/times.
Instructor Message
Through a survey of literature, films, and popular publications on the subject, we consider some of the challenges and ethical issues which arise out of relationships generally predicated on good intentions yet sometimes have unintended or unanticipated outcomes.
The course is designed to help you in your efforts to critically reflect on, and better understand, experiences with global action and engagement, while also preparing you for more ethical, mutually beneficial engagement in the future.
Throughout the course you'll:
- consider how best to engage in global development work (locally and internationally),
- draw connections between theory and practical experience in development work,
- create an action plan that will leave you feeling confident in your approach to seeking out and participating in educational, professional or personal experiences that intersect with the complex world of global development.
Knowing that not everyone will have an experience they wish to unpack, nor be actively planning a future experience, course materials and assessments offer options throughout to tailor learning to meet your personal needs.
Textbook and Materials
Tiessen, R and Huish R. (Eds.), Globetrotting or Global Citizenship? Perils and Potential of International Experiential Learning. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press.
All assignment instructions, supplementary exercises, and links to online resources are available on onQ.
Time Commitment
You can expect to spend, on average, 10 hours per week completing relevant readings, assignments, and course activities.