- Department: Social Policy and Social Work
- Module co-ordinator: Ms. Jane Lund
- Credit value: 10 credits
- Credit level: M
- Academic year of delivery: 2021-22
This module has been designed to enable you to develop your ‘digital capabilities’ as a ‘global citizen’, reflecting on the increasingly digitised nature of human communication and citizenship and your role as an actor in a globally networked environment.
Occurrence | Teaching period |
---|---|
A | Summer Term 2021-22 |
Overview
This module has been designed to enable you to develop your ‘digital capabilities’ as a ‘global citizen’, reflecting on the increasingly digitised nature of human communication and citizenship and your role as an actor in a globally networked environment.
Objectives
To provide an understanding of the social, economic, cultural and political factors shaping the adoption of e-governance and therefore the nature of 'digital citizenship' as an aspect of public service reform.
To develop, via reflection on the use of collaborative tools throughout the programme as a whole, your own digital capabilities (skills, understanding and critique).
To critically examine digital capability theory and frameworks and their role in promoting the development of the 'digital citizen'.
By the end of this module you should:
Be able to analyse the complex social, political, and economic factors shaping the development of new ICTs and their diffusion.
Have become familiar with the concept of ‘global citizenship’ within the context of this technological diffusion.
Be able to reflect on how any these themes apply to you and your own development as a digital worker and citizen.
The module is in two parts:
Throughout the developed world policy-makers, politicians and citizens are engaging in the exploration of ICTs such as the internet as a means of enhancing democratic governance and as a means to identify as a ‘global citizen’. This module is structured to provide you with a critical understanding of how governments, civil society and pressure groups are harnessing digital means to achieve political and social ends. It begins by contextualising such objectives through a consideration of the concept of the information age and wider demands for citizen e-participation and e-activism. It examines the concepts of ‘global citizenship’ and ‘digital society’ and what this means in a world where access to the means of participation in this world is deeply uneven. The proclamations for enhancing democratic participation and global citizenship within this uneven context will be critically explored.
Students on the online Masters programmes engage with content and with each other and staff throughout their studies via digital tools. The pedagogical approach promotes the use of digital communication and collaborative tools and students will reflect on how this practice has enhanced their own digital capabilities and their own development as ‘digital citizens’.
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Essay - Critical Analysis |
N/A | 50 |
Essay/coursework Essay - Reflections |
N/A | 50 |
None
Task | Length | % of module mark |
---|---|---|
Essay/coursework Essay - Critical Analysis |
N/A | 50 |
Essay/coursework Essay - Reflections |
N/A | 50 |
The lead marker (the module tutor) will include comments about the content, structure, and evidence used etc. to provide you with constructive information that will enable you to improve on future work. The feedback a tutor can offer can be invaluable to your studies, so it is important you read this carefully
We aim to return your marked work to you within one month of its submission.
Feedback will be given in three ways:
(1) Comments within the actual text will highlight specific points and examples that the marker wants to draw to your attention.
(2) The marking criteria will be highlighted to show how your assignment has been rated against those criteria. This will enable you to calibrate your performance against a consistent scale, and therefore to aim to improve in specific areas.
(3) Finally the marker will provide a narrative summary in which the main points will be set out and any major areas for improvement highlighted.
Coleman, S, 2009, The internet and democratic citizenship; theory ,practice and policy, Cambridge, CUP.
Baldwin-Philippi, J. 2015, Using technology, building democracy: digital campaigning and the construction of citizenship, New York, OUP.
Dower, N, 2002, Global citizenship: A critical introduction, London, Routledge
JISC, 2016, Digital capabilities framework for organisations, http://repository.jisc.ac.uk/6610/1/JFL0066F_DIGICAP_MOD_ORG_FRAME.PDF, accessed 24 October 2017