For the MA European Policy we are coordinating the core course Cultures of Governance. The idea behind this course is provide a mixed group of students – in terms of academic background, nationality, skills and knowledge – with a solid base for our MA programme. Our ambition is two-fold.
In the first instance, we focus on substantive issues of European integration. We broadly cover the history of European integration, the institutional make-up of the European Union, the key areas of EU policy making (related to the different elective packages of our MA programme) and mainstream theories of European integration. We have tried to encourage students to think about different perspectives by actively engaging guest lectures in the course.
Second, we provide students with a thorough training in the critical assessment of various interpretations – in terms of disciplines, methods and theories – of EU governance in a diversity of policy fields. We try to develop professional research skills in the field of European Studies – with a specific focus on its interdisciplinary nature and its place in humanities. Students are encouraged to develop their own perspectives on EU policymaking and will be able to expose its underlying cultures of governance.
The students have several formative and summative evaluation moments throughout the sixteen weeks of the course; they are required to read and summarise texts each week (formative), write an individual paper, and have to prepare a co-authored paper, delivered in a symposium setting. At the end of the course, students are encouraged to think about the first steps toward their thesis.
When we taught the course last year we encountered a few challenges which we would like to use as a starting point for this course design workshop, which will take the format of a world café:
- How to make ensure diversity and balance in literature from different disciplines (and when/how to move beyond traditional political science approaches)?
- How to design the course in such way that the students experience a clear progression in learning in terms of developing different research skills?
- How to maintain a coherent and consistent approach when guest lecturers are involved, especially in terms of theory and method development?
- How to design assignments for a course that is essentially ensuring students are all ‘on the same page’ for the remaining 80% of the MA programme?
In using the world café format, we shall set up four different tables in the room to allow for smaller group discussions. Each table will have a moderator, who will refine the topic for discussion, and stay at that table for the entire session. Other participants can move around the different tables. We aim to exchange ideas about how to tackle these challenges. As many of us work with similar themes we assume that sharing our experiences will open up for a lively debate. After our different discussion rounds we will gather the results, establish a report and share these amongst all the participants after the conference.
