Community Engagement Short Courses
Community Engagement offers a number of short courses through its various programmes. More information about each short course can be found under the relevant programme page on this website.
Courses are accredited by Rhodes University through the Insitutional Planning Unit.
Research, Teaching and Learning courses
Knowledge for Change (K4C) Engaged Research Engaged Research short course
Community-Based Service Learning short course
Digital Storytelling for Engaged Scholarship short course
Digital Social Innovation and Enterprise Courses
Digital Storytelling for Social Innovation
Digital Storytelling Train the Trainer
Computer Skills Trainers the trainer
Community Assets for Social Innovation
Digital Skills for Professionals
Community Engagement Orientation (first-year course)
Community Engagement Mentor Orientation
BuddingQ: Literacy and Social Justice
BuddingQ: Literacy Leadership and Advocacy
The Literacy Collective: Community Engagement Reading Club Orientation
Engaged Citizens Tutoring and Mentorship Training
Research, Teaching and Learning courses
Knowledge for Change Engaged Research
The purpose of this short course is to provide participants with a comprehensive understanding of Community-Based Participatory Research and its application in academic and community settings. This course is designed to meet the needs of academics, postgraduate students, and community development practitioners who are interested in conducting community-based research that is relevant, meaningful, and responsive to the community's needs.
In this short course, researchers are given the theoretical and practical tools to design an engaged research and community-based participatory research project, including the various methods and principles of engagement with partners for a successful engaged research project.
Community-Based Service Learning: what, why, how?
Incorporating a community-based service component in a given course can be daunting. Creating a space where both learning and service take place in mutually beneficial and transformative ways poses a unique set of challenges for teaching and learning.
In this short course, lecturers are given the theoretical and practical tools to design, reimagine and refine a community-based service-learning course. By unpacking the what, the why, and the how of community based service-learning, the course aims to equip lecturers with the theoretical and practical tool to design and run successful community based service-learning courses in their discipline.
Digital Storytelling for Engaged Scholarship
The Digital Storytelling for Engaged Scholarship short course is designed for researchers, lecturers and research participants to use digital storytelling for teaching and learning, engaged research and research communication. Digital storytelling was used to stimulate empathy and healing and agency, leading to its widespread use in community development and education spaces.
The purpose of this course is to equip participants to use the digital storytelling method in all three of the university functions – research, teaching and learning and community engagement. The course facilitates participants to go through the digital storytelling workshop process themselves, in order for them to experience the course from the perspective of their potential students or research participants. The course then moves beyond the requirements of the digital storytelling workshop, to include a focus on adapting the method for use in engaged research and in teaching and learning.
Digital Social Innovation and Enterprise Courses
Digital Storytelling for Social Innovation
The Digital Storytelling for Social Innovation course is designed to foster social innovativeness by facilitating access to personal and professional skills development and opportunities for developing community cohesion, for community members, local innovators in community development, social innovators, and education practitioners.
Digital storytelling as a method emerged in response to the saturation of basic technologies in the everyday lives of many citizens. As a digital social innovation, digital storytelling can stimulate social innovation and community cohesion by using digital tools and collaboration. The digital storytelling method is rooted in dynamics of empathy, critical reflection, listening and witnessing. The method is designed to inspire empathy and cohesion among its participants. The method itself is a digital social innovation, aiming to use collaboration and technology to have positive social impact.
Digital Storytelling Train the Trainer
By offering a train-the-trainer digital storytelling short course, we can capacitate community members and community-based organisations with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively use digital storytelling with their communities.
Computer Skills Training
Computers and basic information and communication technologies have become saturated in our everyday lives, making digital literacy an essential skill for everyone. However, not everyone is familiar with devices and not everyone knows how to use basic information and communication devices. This gap in computer literacy can have a significant impact on the capacity of individuals to access services and improve employment, education, and personal development opportunities.
Computer Skills Training aims to bridge this digital divide by providing an opportunity for community members to acquire essential digital skills. This short course capacitates participants to use input devices and other peripherals, Windows 10, the internet, and Microsoft Word effectively for personal and professional purposes. This includes internet browsing, email communication, file management, and the use of digital tools for online learning, and job searching.
Computer Skills Train the Trainer
Training others to use computers requires competencies. To address this issue, there is a need for a training programme to train participants to use computers to perform basic functions. The course would aim to equip participants with the knowledge, skills, and confidence they need to teach others how to use computers in a way that is accessible, easy to understand, and tailored to the needs of each learner.
This course is designed for volunteers and facilitators of community development programmes to train community members in basic computer literacy.
Community Assets for Social Innovation
The Community-Assets for Social Innovation programme facilitates a process for individuals to become effective agents of change by providing them with essential skills, tools, and networks. Its aim is to contribute to nurturing a new generation of social innovators who are equipped to create and lead impactful social initiatives.
The programme recognises the importance of both personal and professional growth, integrating holistic development into its framework. By developing both personal and emotional resilience alongside technical and strategic capabilities, the programme aims to ensure that innovators are well-rounded and prepared to address complex social challenges with creativity and empathy.
Doing PhotoVoice
The purpose of this short course on Photovoice is to equip participants with the skills and knowledge necessary to use photography as a tool for personal expression and social change. Through a combination of theoretical insights and practical exercises, participants will learn how to capture compelling images that reflect their experiences, perspectives, and communities. By integrating critical discussions on ethics, narrative, and visual storytelling, this course aims to develop a deeper understanding of the impact of visual media on advocacy and social justice. Doing Photovoice seeks to equip individuals with the tools to effectively communicate their stories, influence public perception, and drive meaningful dialogue on issues that matter to them.
Digital Skills for Professionals
In today’s job market, being tech-savvy is no longer an advantage, but a necessity. The ability to navigate and leverage digital tools effectively has become crucial for both personal and professional success. This short course addresses the growing need for adults to develop and refine their digital competencies, ensuring they remain relevant and competitive in the modern workforce and to engage safely online.
By addressing core areas, the course improves participants' current skill sets but also prepares them to adapt to future technological changes, promoting ongoing personal and professional development.
Engaged Citizenry Courses
Community Engagement Orientation (first-year course)
The purpose of this short course is to orientate students to the concept and context of community engagement; to understand their agency as interdependent human beings and active, caring citizens and how Rhodes University Community Engagement contributes to the development of the Makhanda community. Students are introduced to the values and principles that guide the practice of community
The Community Engagement Orientation (CEO) course is a compulsory introductory course for first years on engaged citizenship & social responsibility at Rhodes University. RUCE Staff and Student leaders will facilitate 5 punchy and relevant sessions focussed on issues of social inequality & privilege, the role of students in change-making and community engagement in their education as well as delve into the specifics of the approach Rhodes University takes on community engagement.
BuddingQ: Literacy and Social Justice
As a response to the literacy crisis in Makhanda the course convenor developed BuddingQ - a literacy development programme that is offered to Rhodes University students as a volunteer opportunity. The programme focusses on Grade R motor development with the aim of preparing children for formal literacy instruction later in their schooling.
Broadly the course seeks to establish literacy development as a right of all children and through looking at our national and city-wide crisis help participants understand that our children are being denied this right (i.e. it is a social justice matter). Using this premise as a springboard, the course concludes to look at leadership as a channel for social change, starting at grassroots levels (youth/students and teachers).
BuddingQ: Literacy leadership and advocacy
This course follows on from the BuddingQ: Literacy and social justice course to deepen returning volunteers understanding and commitment to their role as social change agents.
Community Engagement Reading Club Orientation (CERCO)
There is a strong need to develop a reading culture amongst the youth of the country. The overall benefits of reading are undisputed whether it be in terms of teaching and learning or in general life skills and orientation or general well-being. Increasingly, student volunteers at Rhodes University are becoming involved in reading club community engagement programmes without possessing the necessary skills and training for such participation.
This short course is designed and aimed at training student volunteers to be effective participants in a reading club by introducing them to some general scholarship about reading clubs in and to context-specific anecdotal knowledge about reading clubs in primary and secondary schools in the Makana District. The knowledge and skills gained are applicable to any context/location.
Community Engagement Mentor Orientation
Mentoring has focused on personal planning, study skills and the use of English in learners’ homes. This necessitated the involvement of parents. ‘9/10s’ is a structured large-scale mentoring intervention that has been planned in these contexts. The 9/10 project is built on the conviction that 9/10ths of success is the result of encouragement and the building of self-esteem through contact with others.
The intention is that the top performing Grade 12 learners at Ntsika, Mary Waters, Khutliso Daniels and Nombulelo will be mentored by a Rhodes University student volunteer. These four schools are earmarked by Rhodes University as emergent schools. The detail of the mentoring methodology has been derived from the proven GADRA approach.
Engaged Citizens Tutoring and Mentorship Training
Department of Secondary and Post-School Education (DSPSE) and Department of Primary and Early Childhood Education (DPECE)
Rationale: The poor achievement of secondary school learners in South Africa, particularly evident in Grade 12 examination results, has long been a cause of concern. Makhanda regularly featured as one of the poorest performing education districts in the Eastern Cape, but this has changed over the years. A possible contributing factor is the Rhodes University tutoring and mentoring system, administered by the office of Community Engagement. Rhodes University students volunteer their services as tutors and mentors to secondary school learners at Further Education and Training (FET) level (Grades 10 -12) in a range of school subjects. This short course was originally conceptualized to further strengthen the work of these tutors and mentors by providing education facilitation training that would prepare them for their roles. The course is designed to prepare Rhodes University students to tutor and/or mentor secondary school learners at FET level. The course has the following goals:
Last Modified: Wed, 06 Nov 2024 10:20:23 SAST