This presentation was recorded as part of the Community Engagement 101: Peer Exchange Session in May 2020. Faculty were prompted to share about a previously-taught course and reflect on lessons learned, specifically addressing the challenges and opportunities of developing equitable and mutually beneficial collaborations and of effectively preparing students for collaboration.
Course Description:
This is a hands-on design studio carried out in partnership with an external organization and will focus on daily-life-services that affect the wellbeing and quality of life of people living in urban communities. Working through collaborative design frameworks and methods, students in the course will research, conceptualize, and develop proposals in areas that may include youth-related services, food services, education services, and prevention and reintegration services as related to incarceration, among others. Students will explore new service opportunities through specific service design methods and tools, such as direct field research and co-design practices and will develop and utilize knowledge of the contexts and socio-political dynamics that shape the focus of our design work in the course. This course is an excellent opportunity to build your portfolio and gain experience in the emerging field of Service Design.
Collab: Human Services Syllabus, Fall 2019
Recommended References:
- Alondra Nelson, Body and Soul: The Black Panther Party and the Fight Against Discrimination (2013)
- Participatory Design: An Introduction (Robertson and Simonsen 2012)
- The Human Touch: From Method to Participatory Practice in Facilitating Design with Communities (Light and Akama 2012)
- Participatory Action Research in the Contact Zone (Torre et al. 2008) in Revolutionizing Education: Youth Participatory Action Research in Motion
- Making and negotiating value: design and collaboration with community-led groups (Agid and Chin 2019)
- Beyond Colorblindness and Multiculturalism: Rethinking Anti-Racist Pedagogy in the University Classroom (Kandaswamy 2007)
Note: Community Engagement 101 is a proposed introductory curriculum for faculty and TA/Teaching Fellow graduate students across The New School (TNS) who incorporate external engagement or partnership as a part of their syllabus. For more information, visit our Collaboratory In-Depth Profile here.