CIE1006H
The course aims to: (i) explore national and Transnational Perspectives on Democracy, Human Rights and Democratic Education in an Era of Globalization drawing on experience and scholarship; (ii) provide opportunities for in depth engagement both with leading scholars acting as faculty and with students from other universities; and (iii) build global professional networks among students and faculty.
Students are expected to: (i) engage with key concepts relevant to democratic education such as: democracy, citizenship, human rights, antiracism, discrimination, equalities; (ii) interrogate transnational research and scholarship on Transnational Perspectives on Democracy, Human Rights and Democratic Education in an Era of Globalization, using a variety of perspectives including sociology, political science and pedagogy; (iii) critically evaluate and compare different national and international approaches to democratic citizenship education; (iv) apply understandings of democracy and human rights to educational contexts; and (v) develop and implement policies and programs for democratic education.
Based on a seminar mode, each school of education will suggest a number of faculty/professor as guest speakers in the area broadly defined as Transnational Perspectives on Democracy, Human Rights and Democratic Education in an Era of Globalization. From the pool of the professors, the U of T course director and collaborating faculty from of the other two institutions will select 3 to 4 guest speakers for the course on each offering. This course will be offered on-line to ensure synchronous delivery and participation of students across three different time zones: Toronto, London and Melbourne, each of the 12 sessions will take 2 hours only without break. Each guest speaker will be offering a brief lecture up to 15 minutes highlighting key issues around the topic of their scholarship. The rest of the class will be based on various forms of critical dialog and discussion (individual, group and whole class active learning activities). The speakers will also provide 2 to 3 readings (one from their publications and two from other scholars' works), which will be distributed prior to the session and will be available on the online forum. Based on the primacy of dialogue, each topic/session is expected to ensure that the participants' personal knowledge, the readings, and the instructors' knowledge are brought into synthesized and integrated learning outcomes. Instructional variety (seminars, pair/group discussions, lectures, guest speakers, Video-recordings) and intellectual challenge are the key elements in the course's pedagogy. In addition, reflection, cooperative learning, inclusive classroom ethos, critical thinking, social skills development, a culture of encouragement, and reciprocal sharing and learning are a must for each session.