Inquiry into Action, Spring 2011

Learning Community Introduction

How does change occur, in communities large and small, in institutions and in nations? And what is the responsibility and role of the knowledgeable individual in generating positive change? This learning community introduces you to the complex interplay between theoretical research, practical reasoning, active learning and positive intervention in the world around us.

You will learn to design a community-based social science research project, choose from a rich array of qualitative and quantitative approaches that draw on the strengths of multiple learning styles, and learn from individuals and organizations outside the classroom.  This semester-long community research project will help you to understand more fully the relationships between academic research, individual acts and society’s social and political structures.

Throughout this semester, you will continue your practice, begun in NCLC 101 & NCLC 102, of critical reflection, the application of relevant information and communication technologies, and the presentation of original research through multiple media formats.

Learning Community Objectives

The overarching goal for this learning community is your emergence with a better understanding of the relationship between individual acts and social and political structures in society.  Through active engagement with the course, students will learn:

1. 1. Practice and evidence critical reflection through various media forms
   2. Develop basic knowledge of quantitative/qualitative research methodologies
   3. Enhance skills in  oral, written, and technologically mediated communication
   4. Expand ability to learn and apply information and communication technologies (ICTs) for more effective communication
   5. Understand, critique and apply appropriate research methodologies to problems
   6. Systematically work through a problem (understanding the basic need, background information and ways to address the problems
   7. Explore underlying systemic issues that impact societal problems
   8. Learn how to work within a community to develop action plans for change
   9. Appreciate the essential role of ethics in research and community engagement

NCC Competency Development

Communication
Enhance competency in communication through dissemination of a research plan and project, and interviews with constituencies and research participants

Strategic Problem Solving
Develop strategic problem-solving skills in both the creation of a research plan and project, and specifically in understanding how to participate in a viable community based research project

Group Collaboration
Build competency through extensive group work focused on research methods and a final presentation

Information and Communication Technologies
Strengthen skills through: 1) information management and collaborative research, 2) the composition and dissemination of research, and 3) the implementation of ethical standards

Effective Citizenship
Develop commitment to effective citizenship including knowledge of asset-based approaches to social change, and strategies for community transformation

Texts

• Gray, Paul S., Williamson, John B., Karp, David A., and Dalphin, John R. The Research Imagination: An Introduction to Qualitative and Quantitative Methods. Cambridge University Press, 2007.
• Hacker, Diana.  A Writer’s Reference, 7th edition. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2011.
• A collection of additional readings will also be available on the webpage and through e-reserves.

Faculty Team

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Class Schedule

Find the detailed weekly schedule here…