Making it real: DEC for "Housing Policy and Society" (POL3231)

Abstract

In courses of policy studies, students are less capable to connect what is learned in the classroom to real life issues. Frequently, students are less engaged in the interactions between issues, policies and conceptual explanations behind; or, they are relatively weak in comprehending the sophistication of policies corresponding to various needs of different social fractures. The strategy of "community of practices" (Wenger, 1998) is proposed to introduce collaboration with communities and local agencies through regular workshops embedded in lectures and tutorial sessions. The curriculum design introduces additional exposure and practice in real-life situation, and thus serves to nurture students’ attitude of "proactively seeking problems" and ability of "applying theories to real life issues" in the real world classroom. Moreover, students’ performances will be assessed by a plurality of actors who have been involved throughout the whole process, including local agencies, communities, and student peers to ensure cross-sector communications and knowledge exchanges.