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PYC4814 Theoretical Lenses and Lessons
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- University Of South Africa (Unisa)
PYC4814 Theoretical lenses and lessons - summarised.
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PYC4814 2021Theoretical Lenses &
Lessons 1 – 6
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, Lesson 1 – Orientation and theoretical lenses
January to March
What this module is about
Welcome! In this module you will learn about knowledge ecologies in and around
communities. You will do this by helping to create knowledge that other people who are
interested in communities and in Community Psychology will be able to use.
The way in which you will learn in this module is probably quite different from most other
formal studying you have done so far. It is different in two important ways:
• You will be expected to be a producer of academic knowledge, not merely a
consumer of what other people have produced. In our experience people learn in
much greater depth when they actively work to create materials for other people
to make use of. You will be helping us to build an online library, in the form of a
series of pages focusing on particular communities, that can be consulted by
others wishing to learn more about those communities.
• You will be expected to develop a meta perspective on knowledge about
communities. Communities are not like physical objects that exist independently
of what is known about them. Instead, communities are (at least in part) created
and sustained by what people know and believe about them. So we will ask you to
focus not only on communities themselves, but on the process of how knowledge
is made about them.
You will be asked to do four big tasks in the module:
1. Learn to make use of certain theoretical lenses on the social construction of
community and community psychology.
2. Choose a group of communities from a list we provide and then create your own
page about a sub-community within your chosen group.
3. Work with other students and lecturers to improve your own and others' work.
4. Create a portfolio in which you collect together and reflect on what you have
learnt in the module.
Getting started
This is Lesson 1. Here we will cover the theoretical lenses that will help you to complete
the rest of the module.
Lesson 1 will also enable you to submit Assignment 01.
Explore some theoretical lenses
In this module, we encourage students to explore widely and to be creative so that the
module will be different for each student. However, before allowing you free reign to explore
and create, there are some fundamentals that you should know.
Go to Theoretical Lenses. You will find the link on the main menu (it is on the left if you are
working on a computer screen). These are the lenses we want you to explore. You can do
so in any order but be sure to explore all of them. For each theoretical lens we have a basic
,introduction and some additional materials. You should read the basic introduction and we
encourage you also to explore the additional materials (and anything else you can find on
the topic).
Test your knowledge of theoretical lenses you have read about
We have devised a short self-assessment test for each of the lenses. You should test your
own knowledge of each of the lenses by doing the test for the lens. These self-assessments
ensure that you have indeed engaged with the lens.
To see the available self-assessments, click on "Online Assessment" (it is on the left if you
are working on a computer screen). If you get less than full marks for any of the
assessments, please revisit the relevant key readings/videos and then retake the test.
Submit Assignment 01
Once you have completed reading the theoretical lenses and done the online assessments
you are ready to submit Assignment 01. You will find a template for the assignment in the
"Assignments" folder under "Additional Resources". The due date is 20 May 2021.
, • Lesson 2 – Decide on a sub-community
March and April
Getting started
This is Lesson 2. In this lesson you will decide on a sub-community to focus on.
Explore 10 groups of communities
Go to "Communities" (it is on the left of the screen if you are working on a computer).
You will see that we list 10 groups of communities. In this lesson you will decide on a
sub-community within one of the 10 groups so that you will be able to create a page of
your own about that sub-community.
We are sure that you will find some of the groups of communities more interesting than
others. However, we suggest that you make a point of visiting and exploring each of the
10 groups in order to get a broad overview of knowledge ecologies across a variety of
different contexts. You will see that for each of the groups of communities we have
started to explore historical contexts, ideologies, discourses and controversies, and
knowledge practices relating to that group of communities. There are similarities in the
knowledge ecologies that shape all communities – for example, all South African
communities are to some extent affected by the legacy of colonialism and apartheid.
However, there are also unique factors at play in each of the 10 groups of communities.
We hope you will enjoy exploring this rich tapestry of knowledge.
Choose a group of communities and come up with a sub-
community within that group
We would like you to specialise in one of the 10 groups of communities - which one is up
to you. You will see that we included all sorts of different communities, including
geographical and interest-based communities. Decide which one of the 10 appeals to
you most.
When you go to the group of communities that you chose to focus on, look for the “Over
to you” heading. You will see some suggestions for sub-communities to focus on, but the
possibilities are endless. You have to come up with a sub-community that you will focus
on in your personal page. Try to be creative – don’t just rely on the suggestions for
possible sub-communities that we provide. The possibilities for sub-communities to focus
on are limitless – it is up to you to come up with something interesting and meaningful to
yourself. You do not necessarily have to focus on a sub-community that you know a
great deal about, but rather consider a sub-community that you would like to learn more
about in the process of creating your personal page.
What if another student has already taken the sub-community I want to focus on?
There are approximately 900 students in this module, so it is inevitable that in some
cases more than one student will focus on the same sub-community. This is fine. We
suggest the following:
o Try to change your sub-community slightly so that it is not identical to the other
student’s sub-community. For example, if another student already has a page
about the Lesbian community in South Africa, you could make your page about
the community of Lesbian parents.
o If you end up with exactly the same sub-community as another student, that is
fine too. It can be interesting to see what different perspectives and resources
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