Course Objectives (CO)

By the end of the course students will be able to;

CO1- Become change agents and Take a catalyzing role in changing the society to a better state. To do that, students will actively take part in the facilitation of a real-life change process. This will be a common task, thus, it will be decided with everyone's participation in the class.  Participation and action are two fundamental components of democracy. The notion of participation cannot be grasped without being actively involved; and change does not occur without action. Students will be given the opportunity to experience both, and this experience will hopefully contribute to both students’ self-realization and community learning in general. Additionally, we will  be working on the planning of Samsun if it was planned with a participatory approach. This will be integrated to the conduct of the class as well as to the one of the studio. Thereby, it is hoped that students will benefit from the knowledge to be generated in the class and use that in their studio work.

CO2- Acquire an insight into the historical and theoretical evolution of participation and democratization of societies in general as well as methodological tools to enhance that.

CO3- Focus both theoretically and practically on some challenging issues that emerge in such processes including democratic participation, empowerment, politics of power, democratic dialogue and building common ground, and experiential learning.

CO4- Demonstrate proficiency in critical and constructive thought as well as in communicating complex ideas through writing and presentations, and reflexive thinking for their own experience. Furthermore, students will gain basic facilitation skills in a process of social change towards democratization and skills to apply appropriate methods and techniques.