Athabasca University
Course Information:
Community Development (MAIS 603)
3 Credit
Graduate |
Community development is the process of supporting and building communities through purposive action. Its practitioners apply theories and concepts that are related to the structures and participants involved. Building on analytical materials and skills, this course examines the nature of community in its variety of forms; issues and conditions that have an impact on communities; forces at work within communities, as well as those operating from outside; variations in community practice (economic and social development, social planning) and geographical setting; and applications in professional and academic fields as varied as education, literacy, economic development, health, social, and human services. Perspectives on the community that arise from policy setting, cross cultural relations, personal and global involvements, and practice strategies will also be examined as will specific concerns of Indigenous communities.
In this course we explore prospects for a sophisticated understanding of community, and deft interventions in a context of swift, often chaotic realignments. The focus will be local community autonomy, self help, mutual aid, and democratic process. An overriding goal will be the integration of themes, ideas, and practices.
The course introduces concepts and definitions; the historical background and growth of the discipline; case examples that illustrate the use of community development in city neighbourhoods, in rural settings, and in international or global issues; and cases related to fields of work (education, health, human services, etc.) and categories of people (First Nations, women, the poor, the homeless, etc.). Throughout the course we will analyse and critique ideological foundations, theoretical bases in the social sciences, and practices.
Avenues will be open for concentration on uses in professional and adjacent disciplines and among volunteer and private groups. |
Planning and Action for Community Change (MAIS 604)
3 Credit
Graduate |
Planning and Action for Community Change delves into the underlying intellectual traditions of community studies and introduces you to the realities of community practice. The central idea of the course is that planning for action, particularly action resulting in community change, is something to be desired in a society that values rationality. In this course we will draw on a number of academic disciplines that provide a theoretical as well as practical basis for understanding change at the community level. We will apply planning theory from traditions of sociology, political science, and psychology to real organizations in local communities, using theories of practice of community social work and action research. Four traditions of planning provide the framework of the course:
1. social reform
2. policy analysis
3. social learning
4. social mobilization
These traditions cluster into two divergent intellectual positions (Campfens, 1999, p. 26), which we will call
I. technical reason, which is manifest in programs of social reform and the practice of policy analysis
II. social transformation, which is manifest through social learning and the processes of social mobilization
This theoretical framework will facilitate a deep understanding of how planning for community change takes place from the highest planning authority to the most spontaneous of grassroots groups. Examining these traditions in the light of actual conditions in real communities will facilitate your critical analysis and teach you alternative options and tactics for community change. |
Social Movements (MAIS 611)
3 Credit
Graduate |
In recent years, as you may be aware, the study of social movement has emerged to be an area of crucial significance not only to the students of sociology, political sciences, history economics, government and development studies but also among the policy planners and political leaders. Over the years new perspectives have emerged both to understand and accommodate social movement in the social science discourses on social change, social transformation and social development. This course endeavors to develop an understanding of social movement in terms of various intellectual traditions, emerging concepts and theories of social movements by examining the contemporary literatures. It also examines the various dimensions of social movements in the context of globalization, resurgence of grass roots mobilization, formation of new identities among the marginalised groups and introduction of a new perspective on social development by the state. Besides analyzing the phenomena of social movements, their dynamics and transformation this course will also present several case studies as illustrations to the specificity of these movements. |
Adult Education, Community Leadership, and the Crisis of Democracy (MAIS 644)
3 Credit
Graduate |
MAIS 644 is a course about adult education and community leadership. It begins from the premise that we live in a time of extraordinary worldwide upheaval and questioning about the fate of the earth. The course includes a discussion and critique of the moral and ethical leadership of those commanding the power domains of business and politics.
Among other things, MAIS 644 considers:
- democracy in our business and community organizations
- the elements of democratic communication (conversation)
- ways to speak and act intelligently as designers of just learning organizations
The fundamental question MAIS 644 addresses is whether we can think beyond the boundaries of “liberal democracy” imaginatively, without abandoning existing forms of parliamentary democracy, human rights frameworks, and pluralist forms of life. Can we deepen our theoretical understanding of democracy, pressing the notion into the realm of workplace organization (perhaps bringing down to earth the old dream that workers could control the means of production) and plumbing the dialogic potential within forms of governance and a dynamic civil society? |
Program Information:
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Centre for Interdisciplinary Studies
Degree and Certificate InformationDegrees
Degree/
Level | Title/
English Correspondence | Subject | Credit Hours | Working
Language | History |
|---|
Master of Arts
Graduate |
Community Studies |
Integrated Studies |
|
English |
Community Studies explores issues of social justice and social change as they relate to community-based organizing, community economic development, education, and social movements. It will be of interest to students working with community groups, the non-profit sector, social enterprises, and social economy organizations; those interested in CED theory and practice for social change; and adult and distance educators interested in social transformation in both developed and developing world contexts. |
No certificates listed.
Information on Training and Other Services
Additional InformationNone available
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