Postgraduate Course: Inclusive Society (fusion on-site) (EFIE11377)
Course Outline
| School | Edinburgh Futures Institute |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | *Programme Core Course: Data, Inequality and Society (MSc/PGD/PGC)*
Please Note:
This course is only available to students enrolled on one of Edinburgh Futures Institute's postgraduate programmes.
Socio-economic inequalities are at the forefront of public debate: around the world, from Zimbabwe to France and from Chile to India, civil unrest echoes the dissatisfaction of growing sections of the population with the relative reduction of their economic, political, and social capitals. The focus of this course is, however, on another side of the public response to inequalities that is often less visible and less reported: the many inclusive practices that seek to build fairer and more just societies, within and sometimes outside the capitalist system. |
| Course description |
Through the analysis of different types of data and using the conceptual toolbox developed by students in the first core course (Exclusion and Inequality), this course examines concrete examples of inclusive projects initiated by government, private sector, and civil society. It is organized around themes that are tied to different types and aspects of projects of inclusion. The exact themes are to be determined every year. Indicative themes are: (1) wealth redistribution, (2) citizen engagement and community participation, (3) data activism, and (4) working with vulnerable groups.
For each theme, case studies are recommended by the course conveners (e.g. universal basic income for wealth redistribution, participatory municipal budgeting for citizen engagement, critical cartography for data activism). With them comes a reading list, a list of key speeches/talks/presentations by experts, a list of activities (e.g. visiting an institution or exhibition, volunteer work, etc.), and a list of datasets with questions to explore. Students will work in groups to develop a presentation and discussion activity on one of the themes (and associated case study) that they will deliver during the intensive period of the course. With the agreement of the course convenor, groups may also propose alternative case studies and draw on materials that are not in the resource list. For the themes that students are not presenting on, they will choose a smaller selection of materials from each other theme to review.
The student experience progresses through three phases:
1) Immersion (Week 1): In the first phase, students engage with the course content via their choice of readings, talks, activities, and datasets. An online space provides a forum to discuss experiences and ask questions, as well as reminders for completing the different tasks. Students will be split into thematic groups which will plan for facilitating a session on their theme during the second phase. In the first synchronous session, the course convenors will provide an introduction to a range of projects of inclusion and will lead a discussion to draw out key questions that are relevant for understanding and evaluating projects of inclusion, linking back to key content covered in the first programme core course (Exclusion and Inequality) and encouraging cross-fertilisation of ideas from the different readings. Students will also be given time in their thematic groups to work on preparing their presentation and discussion activity.
2) Intensive (Weeks 2-4): The second phase has two main parts. The first part is the intensive joint exploration of each theme. Each of the thematic segments moves through (a) an introduction by the course conveners; (b) thematic groups presenting on and leading a discussion of their theme; (c) a debate/discussion with a practitioner; and (d) a reflective exercise to integrate learning from across the first three components (a-c). In the second part, we review key learnings from across the different sessions, with students working in mixed-theme groups to identify and present key points of learning from across the themes. The course organisers will also lead a discussion on initial ideas that students have for their coursework.
3) Post-intensive (Week 5): In the third phase, students work in their thematic groups to reflect on their learnings from the course and how it might be applied to the course assignment. Each student will produce an artefact, which will feed into a collective portfolio of artefacts related to each theme. The portfolio will express important facets of these projects of inclusion, critically analysed through the lens of the conceptual toolbox. Students will be assessed based on their individual artefact, with a format picked from a list of recommendations (e.g. op-ed, roleplay/game, video presentation/animation, policy brief, etc.) They will have the opportunity for formative feedback from the course delivery team.
Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI) - On-Site Fusion Course Delivery Information:
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will teach this course in a way that enables online and on-campus students to study together. This approach (our 'fusion' teaching model) offers students flexible and inclusive ways to study, and the ability to choose whether to be on-campus or online at the level of the individual course. It also opens up ways for diverse groups of students to study together regardless of geographical location. To enable this, the course will use technologies to record and live-stream student and staff participation during their teaching and learning activities.
Students should be aware that:
- Classrooms used in this course will have additional technology in place: students might not be able to sit in areas away from microphones or outside the field of view of all cameras.
- Unless the lecturer or tutor indicates otherwise you should assume the session is being recorded.
As part of your course, you will need access to a personal computing device. Unless otherwise stated activities will be web browser based and as a minimum we recommend a device with a physical keyboard and screen that can access the internet.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: None |
| Course Start |
Semester 2 |
Timetable |
Timetable |
| Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) |
Total Hours:
200
(
Lecture Hours 10,
Seminar/Tutorial Hours 6,
Supervised Practical/Workshop/Studio Hours 4,
Summative Assessment Hours 2,
Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4,
Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours
174 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
Summative Assessment:
The course will be assessed by means of the following component:
1) Final Artefact (100%)
Artefact that reflects on key considerations for designing/implementing a project of inclusion.
The artefact may be:
- Text only (2500-3000 words).
- Multimodal output (video, visualisation, code, website etc.) plus explanatory text (1000-1500 words).
- Substantive creative output (crafted artefact, performance, substantial digital artefact) plus explanatory text (500-1000 words).
Formative Assessment:
Each course within Edinburgh Futures Institute includes the opportunity for you to participate in a formative feedback exercise or event which will help you prepare for your summative assessment. The formative assessment does not contribute to your overall course mark.
Students will have the opportunity to share their understanding of some of the core material on an online space in the first phase of the course, feedback will be provided by the peers and tutors during the pre-intensive activities, by peers, tutors, and course convenors during the intensive study days, and by tutors and course convenors during the post intensive activities. |
| Feedback |
Feedback on the formative assessment may be provided in various formats, for example, to include written, oral, video, face-to-face, whole class, or individual. The course organiser will decide which format is most appropriate in relation to the nature of the assessment.
Feedback on both formative and summative in-course assessed work will be provided in time to be of use in subsequent assessments within the course.
Feedback on the summative assessment will be provided in written form via Learn, the University of Edinburgh's Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).
Students will have the opportunity to share their understanding of some of the core material on an online space in the first phase of the course, feedback will be provided by the peers and tutors during the pre-intensive activities, by peers, tutors, and course convenors during the intensive study days, and by tutors and course convenors during the post intensive activities.
In the intensive phase, the group work will provide another chance for the course conveners to offer feedback and guidance to the students before they engage with the practitioner. Feedback will focus on conceptual clarity, as well as the understanding of the different ways in which inequalities and inclusion can be represented and shared (thereby directly preparing the students for the final assessment).
In the post-intensive phase, students will have a chance to share their artefact idea with the course conveners. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate a critical understanding of some of the main solutions put forward to tackle inequalities and foster inclusion.
- Evidence an in-depth understanding of how to apply a conceptual and empirical toolbox to analyse, assess, and develop inclusive practices in context.
- Exhibit fluency in key data analysis strategies/approaches that are used to identify inequality and develop inclusive practices.
- Recognise the role and potential of data to recognise, describe, and facilitate inclusive initiatives.
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Reading List
Indicative Reading List:
Escobar, Arturo. 2017. Response: Design for/by [and from] the 'global South'. Design Philosophy Papers, 15(1), 39-49.
Gray, J., D. Lämmerhirt, & L. Bounegru. 2016. 'Changing what counts: how can citizen-generated and civil society data be used as an advocacy tool to change official data collection?' https://dx.doi.org/10/2139/ssrn.2742871.
Morgan, L.M. 2001. Community participation in health: perpetual allure, persistent challenge. Health policy and planning, 16(3): 221-230.
Tienda, M. 2013. Diversity/ inclusion: Promoting integration in higher education. Educational Researcher, 42(9): 467-475.
Tondani, D. 2009. Universal basic income and negative income tax: Two different ways of thinking redistribution. The Journal of Socio-Economics, 38(2): 246-255. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
Knowledge and Understanding:
- A critical understanding of a range of specialised theories, concepts and principles.
- Extensive, detailed and critical knowledge and understanding in one or more specialisms, much of which is at, or informed by, developments at the forefront.
- A critical awareness of current issues in a subject/discipline/sector and one or more specialisms.
Applied Knowledge, Skills and Understanding:
- Ability to use a significant range of the principal professional skills, techniques, practices and/or materials associated with the subject/discipline/sector.
- Ability to plan and execute a significant project of research, investigation or development.
- Ability to demonstrate originality and/or creativity, including in practice.
Generic Cognitive Skills:
- Development of original and creative responses to problems and issues.
- Capacity to critically review, consolidate and extend knowledge, skills, practices and thinking across disciplines, subjects, and sectors.
- Ability to deal with complex issues and make informed judgements in situations in the absence of complete or consistent data/information.
Communication, ICT, and Numeracy Skills:
- Communication, using appropriate methods, to a range of audiences with different levels of knowledge/expertise.
- Communication with peers, more senior colleagues and specialists.
- Use of a wide range of ICT applications to support and enhance work at this level and adjust features to suit purpose.
- Critical evaluation of a wide range of textual, numerical and graphical data.
Autonomy, Accountability, and Working with Others:
- Responsibility for own work and/or significant responsibility for group work.
- Demonstration of leadership and/or initiative and make an identifiable contribution to change and development and/or new thinking.
- Practice in ways which draw on critical reflection on own and others' roles and responsibilities
- Management of complex ethical and professional issues and informed judgement on issues not addressed by current professional and/or ethical codes or practices. |
| Keywords | Inclusion,Social Justice,Data Justice,Data for Good,Data Activism,Social Enterprise |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Ian Russell
Tel:
Email: irussell@exseed.ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Mr David Murphy
Tel:
Email: dmurphy7@ed.ac.uk |
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