DVST308 - Development Special Project

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

DVST101 Humanitarian Work and Aid AND DVST202 Preparation for Community-Based Global Experience

Permission of the National Course Coordinator or National Head of School

Incompatible

DVST304 Development Education Immersion Experience AND DVST307 International Development Global Experience

Unit rationale, description and aim

The Development Special Project allows students enrolled in a Bachelor of International Development Studies to undertake a major capstone study experience in the event of an international overseas study program being unfeasible as a result of a) international travel bans arising from terrorist attack or natural disaster or b) a student’s personal circumstance (e.g. major health issues, financial disadvantage or significant carer responsibilities) that prevents international travel.

The Development Special Project is a flexible program of study that can consist of (a) an onshore internship with an approved development or humanitarian organisation, (b) an internship with an approved development agency in an international student’s home company (subject to government/ visa conditions and requirements) or, in the case where there a group of students who cannot travel, partake in an onshore project-based experience (research or other project).

The aim of the unit is to obtain experience of working with or on-behalf of an international development or humanitarian-focussed development organisation.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Investigate and critically evaluate a development issue, theory or practice of international development and identify how an organisation or organisations are addressing that issue (GA5, GA7, GA9)

LO2 - Work collegially or independently to achieve a goal in a special project setting (GA5, GA7, GA9, GA10)

LO3 - Critically reflect on their own learning, knowledge and skills in relation to becoming a future development professional (GA4, GA5)

Graduate attributes

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA5 - demonstrate values, knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the discipline and/or profession 

GA7 - work both autonomously and collaboratively 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

GA10 - utilise information and communication and other relevant technologies effectively.

Content

Topics will include:

Students may choose topics and organisations from a wide spectrum of International Development organisations that address issues that include, but are not limited to:

• Global citizenship
• Culture & cultural differences
• Historical context of the country they are visiting
• Foreign aid & development
• Sustainability
• Social entrepreneurship
• Responsible tourism
• Service & responsible giving
• Education & development
• Natural & heritage conservation
• Global health
• Humanitarian work

Topics can arise from the following activities:

• For individual students: Onshore  or Offshore internship with a development organisation (140 hours)

OR

In the situation where a large group of students has been unable to undertake the International Overseas Experience, the students will undertake a research project or a project on behalf of an organisation.

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Mode/Attendance Pattern:

Onshore internships:

If an onshore or offshore internship experience is undertaken students will be required to apply in advance and provide an overview of what they will be undertaking in the internship experience. They will need to have this signed off prior to undertaking the internship.

PART 1: Students will meet with the LIC for the unit prior to the internship to prepare them for their internship and ACU expectations for ACU students working in an internship. Students will undertake a research project on the area of development that the organisation works in and highlight the different organisations that work in that area. together with

PART 2: Students will undertake the internship (4 weeks full time or equivalent part-time – 140 hours)

PART 3: Students will undertake a critical reflection of their experience.

On-shore project (only available where there are groups of 5 or more who are unable to go on the International Development Overseas Experience.)

• Students will have 24 hours of workshops (normally 2 hours per week over 12 weeks), supplemented by online study.

Students will work on projects in small groups or individually (while providing collaborative support and critique to one another.) The projects may be research orientated or specific projects may be undertaken for ACU Community Engagement or a partner organisation. Available projects may differ from year to year depending on the circumstances.

This is a 20-credit point unit and has been designed to ensure that the time needed to complete the required volume of learning to the requisite standard is approximately 300 hours in total across the semester. To achieve a passing standard in this unit, students are required to engage in the full range of learning activities and assessments utilised in this unit, as described in the learning and teaching strategy and the assessment strategy. The learning and teaching and assessment strategies include a range of approaches. For the internship, students will attend pre-internship sessions, undertake the internship and complete the assessment and hurdle requirements. For the project, workshops will be used to provide support and for collaborative work on the project.

Assessment strategy and rationale

The Hurdle Requirements for the Internship include having the appropriate Working with Children and/or Police Checks (as required by the Internship host); 140 hours of internship placement and attendance at pre-internship meetings with their LIC. Hurdle requirement for the project version includes 90% attendance at workshops as students will be required to work in groups in the workshops.

Both groups will be required to undertake a literature research task into a specific development issue, theory or practice related to their project or internship.

• Internship students will undertake the task for the area of development that is associated with the organisation that they will be working for and discuss the role of the organisation they will be working for in addressing the issue.
• Project students will undertake it for the area associated with their project (literature background for their research project or other project.) Project students who are undertaking a project for a particular organisation will discuss the role of that organisation in addressing the issue. Project students undertaking a research project will investigate what different organisations are accomplishing in their area of interest.

For the internship:

• Students will undertake a critical reflection journal as their second assessment task. This assessment task will allow the students to progressively report on their developing understanding of practice as they experience it through their internship experience. They should use critical reflective practices.
• The third task is a Development Practitioner Report. This task requires students to critically assess their internship and the organisation where they undertook the placement against contemporary development practice. They should include at least one de-identified case study in the report. Students should also reflect on their own growth and how the experience has prepared them for a career in international development.

For the project:

• The second assessment task is a project proposal. Students will present their proposal to the class and prepare a written proposal for their research project (or other project). In the case of a research proposal, this will include a discussion of research methodology and any ethical considerations. In the case of an alternative project, this will be a project plan.
• The third assessment task is a project report and reflection. For a research project, students will write their report as a mini-thesis of 3000 words and a 500-word reflection. For another type of project, students will implement the project, write a 1000-3000-word report (negotiated depending on the type of project) and reflect on the process. (Examples of types of projects might include developing a website, fundraising project, evaluation project.)

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Alonso G, & Longo, N. (2015). Community voices: Integrating local and international partnerships through storytelling. Partnerships: A Journal of Service Learning and Civic Engagement, 6(2), 1–18.

Arends, J. (2014). “Just collecting data for the White guys”: Community impacts of service-learning in Africa. Retrieved from http://globalsl.org/just-collecting-datawhite-guys-community-impacts-service-learning-africa/

Balusubramaniam, R., Hartman, E., McMillan, J., & Paris, C. (In press). Ethical global partnerships: Leadership from the global south. In D. E. Lund (Ed.), Handbook of service-learning for social justice. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.

Cameron, J. (2014). Grounding experiential learning in “thick” conceptions of global citizenship. In R. Tiessen & R. Huish (Eds.), Globetrotting or global citizenship? Perils and potential of experiential learning (pp. 21–42). Toronto, Canada: University of Toronto Press.

Collier, J. (Ed.). (2014). Community engagement and intercultural praxis: Dancing with difference in diverse contexts (Critical Intercultural Communication Studies). New York, NY: Peter Lang

Manyozo, L. (2017) Communicating Development With Communities, Routledge: Abingdon, UK, and New York, NY:

PM4DEV (2019). Project Management for Development Organisations - Resources. Available from https://www.pm4dev.com/resources.html

Ross, L. (2010). Notes from the field: Learning cultural humility through critical incidents and central challenges in community-based participatory research. Journal of Community Practice, 18(2–3), 315, 335.