Community engagement: Co-constructing knowledge with communities

Course overview

Recent years have seen a rise in community engagement strategies across policy and practice. The policy drivers behind participation vary from addressing the failures of democratic structures, to bolstering dwindling resources by involving services users in delivery, to recognising the necessity of lived experience in policy and planning.

The frontline staff charged with implementing community engagement strategies are tasked with translating engagement policies on the ground. These people inhabit a messy and difficult terrain between potentially disengaged and disenchanted communities and the formal political and organisational structures who seek their support and engagement.

As both government and non-government organisations (NGOs) across the globe seek new ways to engage communities in ongoing dialogue concerning service policy, this cours aims to:

• understand what is meant by community engagement
• uncover what lies behind this policy trend
• reveal the importance of engaging communities on their terms
• consider ways of researching the priorities of communities
• explore the importance of open forms of communication
• examine ways of offering expertise in non-authoritarian terms
• help students, practitioners and their organisations develop strategies and policies for community engagement

Who this course is for

This course will be of interest if you:

• have responsibility for community engagement
• want to build a community network
• want to design services to make sure they are relevant
• need to gather views from people who use your services
• want to enable students to engage in real world community based learning
• want to facilitate Community-University partnerships

This course is delivered at masters level (SCQF level 11) and is open to professional learning participants as well as matriculated masters students.

Please note: Professional learning participants do not receive credits for this course. If they successfully complete two course assignments designed to enhance shared learning and participation, they will receive a certificate of completion which can be used to evidence professional learning. 

Requirements

To enrol in the course, you must be:

• working in a community engagement role
• prepared to rise to the challenge of engaging with theory and academic texts (this is an academically challenging, MSc-level course)
• computer literate – comfortable learning online and willing to develop new IT skills (i.e., recording presentations) using the guides available on the University website

Students whose first language is not English must show evidence of their English language competence.

Course delivery

The course will be delivered online over ten weeks. 

The course consists of:

• pre-recorded lectures which are posted online so participants can interact with them at times that are most convenient to them
• live online tutorials 

Live online sessions will be held on alternate Tuesdays. These will be offered at 12.30-14.00 and at 19.00-20.30 GMT.

While the live online sessions are recorded for anyone unable to attend, participants are expected to attend as many of the sessions as possible. They provide an excellent opportunity to connect with, and learn from, other students. 

Students will access recorded lectures and other online materials and University library materials via visiting student membership status. They will also engage in online discussion forums.

You will become part of an online community made up of both professional learning participants and masters students, which offers structured academic support to engage in and critically reflect on real-world community engagement activities. 

Time commitment

This is an intensive 10-week course. Participants should allow around 15 hours per week for:

• the live online tutorials (which last for around 90 minutes)
• watching live or pre-recorded lectures
• academic reading
• preparing for the assessments

Apart from the live online tutorials, the course materials can be accessed at any time.

Assessment

Participants are required to complete:

• a series of blogs written during the course
• a 1500-word final blog submission (a re-worked version of the earlier blogs)

Those who successfully complete the assignments receive a certificate of course completion. They do not receive credits for the course.

Organiser

The course will be coordinated and taught by Dr Claire Bynner.

Dates

The next course will start on the 13th January 2025. 

Fee and discounts

The cost of the course is £735.

There is a 20% discount offered to University of Edinburgh employees, and a 10% discount offered to University of Edinburgh alumni.

Unfortunately, professional learning students are not eligible for grants from the Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) for this course and there are currently no bursaries available.

Book now

Bookings are now closed for the course starting 13th January 2025 as there were a limited number of spaces. Please get in touch with us at professionallearning@ed.ac.uk if you would like us to add you to the waiting list in case a space becomes available.  

Comments from previous participants

I absolutely loved the course and I will definitely use what I've learned going forward in my career. I particularly enjoyed the on line format, and found it to be  so flexible. The input from so many varied professionals from all over the world was invaluable, and has really made me think about different approaches.

I valued the nature of the course; it forced me to break down everything I thought I knew about community engagement, and re-learn, consciously understand it, reflect on it and challenge what I thought I knew. This was challenging but very beneficial and I feel it will really help me in my job.

I am incredibly happy with the decision to participate in this course and I feel like the facilitators/professors had a sincere investment in the course as well as  the students. I felt like I gained more than just academic knowledge, and I am certain that I will be able to directly apply the lessons towards the present and  future communities that I serve.

I think the weekly interactions and the recorded sessions allowed for a high level of students' reflection on the various topics. I think this was an excellent course that was effectively delivered.

More information

For more information, please contact the professional learning team.

Email the professional learning team