Applied Analytics: Understanding Self and Others in a Post Conflict World
| Module title | Applied Analytics: Understanding Self and Others in a Post Conflict World |
|---|---|
| Module code | POLM164 |
| Academic year | 2020/1 |
| Credits | 30 |
| Module staff | Deborah Goodwin (Convenor) |
| Duration: Term | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Duration: Weeks | 11 |
| Number students taking module (anticipated) | 15 |
|---|
Module description
Are you keen to develop and apply practical analytical skills, build a greater understanding of how you and others make decisions, and so get a step ahead of others in your chosen professional field? Are you interested in the dynamics and complexity of post-conflict situations? Do you want to increase your knowledge and expertise?
This Module offers you a rare opportunity. You will be immersed in a specially created rich simulation of a post-conflict world for your entire course. Uniquely, we are offering you the chance to extensively ‘live’ the experience for the duration of a term and so develop your understanding of this volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment. The world created for you in this module is rich in realistic data, events, people, dilemmas, emergencies, dialogue opportunities, and problem-solving. You will draw on analytical tools and frameworks to guide you through each session; the emphasis is on you usefully experiencing a post-conflict environment that will progressively change each time we meet. You will learn by doing, and so become an applied skills practitioner.
This module is recommended for single and interdisciplinary pathways and is suitable for non-specialist students. By studying with a diversity of fellow students your experience of a variety of approaches and styles will be enhanced and this reflects the real working environment. Throughout the Module you will be creating your own Personal Professional Portfolio (PPP) of analysis, reflection, information and lessons identified. This will be a powerful document that you can refer to during your studies, and in your career.
Module aims - intentions of the module
The entire Module content and experience is centred on a specially created ‘district’ which has recently experienced significant conflict. You will have considerable details on different towns in the area, infra-structure, political history, local culture and ceremonies, language, money, security, commerce, personalities and much more (all realistically created for this Module).
When we first meet, you will be placed in a scenario group and provided with detailed and varied data on what is happening as you arrive, who you are and everyone else. These groups include Non-Government Organisations, Home Nation citizens, Politicians (local and national), Businesses, International Corporations, the Media, and Security. Guided by your facilitator, who has extensive personal knowledge and practical experience in this context, you will plan and strategize, and then continue to be exposed to more and more detailed data. Through your understanding and interpretation of this data and by working with other teams, you will make decisions, act, interact…and then see the effects of your choices.
This is experiential learning at its best. By also combining with students from multi-disciplines, you will immediately mix experiences and knowledge, be empowered to understand and use data in your evidence-based decision-making, explore local to political policy level data, find ways to collaborate, participate in live interaction with other teams, and share your responses, planning and review methods with each other throughout the course.
You will build a Personal Professional skills Portfolio filled with your own information, planning, reflection and applied analytics. You can use this resource both during the course and, importantly, when considering your next career step.
By choosing this module you can live the experience of someone existing and working in a chaotic post-conflict world before possibly undertaking such a role for real. We offer you this professional opportunity to prepare yourself in a way that few others can.
Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)
ILO: Module-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 1. Distil and summarise evidence in an unbiased manner
- 2. Apply critical evaluation using evidence-based data analysis
ILO: Discipline-specific skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 3. Link relevant data sets to improve responses and strategic thinking
- 4. Work usefully and practically in own team and with other teams
- 5. Scope out second and third order effects of own decisions and actions
ILO: Personal and key skills
On successfully completing the module you will be able to...
- 6. Make cogent decisions avoiding situational and personal biases
- 7. Produce a Personal Professional Portfolio
- 8. Interact with diversity of stakeholders to increase understanding and problem-solving
Syllabus plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
- Understanding the nature of a post-conflict environment
- Understanding the role and nature of multiple stakeholders in these environments
- Appreciation of human needs, wants and interests in a dynamic & volatile context
- Analysis of key drivers and imperatives
- Exploring the challenges and difficulties of operating and problem-solving in a post conflict environment
- Using relevant behavioural analytical tools and techniques to aid understanding and decision-making
- Experiencing real-time interaction between stakeholder groups, individual team reflection and planning, and scope for personal professional self-reflection
- Understanding, experiencing and coping with cognitive biases that affect perception of self and others
- Creation of a living Personal Professional Portfolio for use throughout the course, and professionally post-studies
- Development of professional conflict resolution & analytical ‘skills toolkit’
Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)
| Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
|---|---|---|
| 22 | 278 | 0 |
Details of learning activities and teaching methods
| Category | Hours of study time | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Scheduled Learning & Teaching Activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour seminars. Data analysis, Team Interaction, Review and Reflection, Planning. |
| Guided Independent Study | 278 | Personal Professional Portfolio production, pre-reading and planning for seminars, post seminar reading and related activities. Third (93 hrs) pre-seminar/ post seminar work Two thirds (185 hrs) for portfolio/assessment work |
Formative assessment
| Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|
| Portfolio: reflective review of analysis of first 4 seminars and content | 800 words | 1-8 | Oral |
| Portfolio: team oral briefing post-interaction 1 session | 10 minutes (in seminar) | 1-8 | Oral |
| Portfolio: reflective review of interaction 2 seminar | 500 words | 1-8 | Oral |
Summative assessment (% of credit)
| Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
|---|---|---|
| 100 | 0 | 0 |
Details of summative assessment
| Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Professional Portfolio (soft/hard copy) | 100 | 8000 words | 1-8 | Email report |
Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)
| Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Personal Professional Portfolio | Re-worked Personal Professional Portfolio (8000 words) | 1-8 | Resubmission by week 11 Term 2 |
Re-assessment notes
Re-submission of the Personal Professional Portfolio will be the requirement for any failed assessments. Guidance and feedback will have been given following any first submission and the student will be required to actively engage with the re-working identified. Work to be submitted by end of week 11, Term 2.
Indicative learning resources - Basic reading
The Course Convenor will provide all the scenario details in hard copy format at the start of the Module. These are hard-copy handbooks for each team. In addition, Course Convenor will provide additional injects and developing information throughout the term through a variety of media.
(Students will also be guided on useful and wide-ranging literature throughout the course, and in the course handbook.)
Core texts:
The SAGE handbook of conflict resolution [electronic resource] / edited by Jacob Bercovitch, Victor Kremenyuk, and I. William Zartman. Los Angeles, [Calif.] ; London : SAGE, 2009. 1 online resource (xxi, 682 p.) : ill.
Getting to yes: negotiating an agreement without giving in / by Roger Fisher and William Ury; with Bruce Patton, editor. London: Random House Business, 2012.
Approaches to peace: a reader in peace studies / edited by David P. Barash.
2nd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. xi, 292 p. : ill. ; 24 cm.
PESTLE analysis Law, Jonathan (Reference) A Dictionary of Business and Management, 6 ed., 2016.
Reflective writing / Kate Williams, Mary Woolliams and Jane Spiro, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012.
Reflective practice: writing and professional development / Gillie Bolton. 4th ed. London: SAGE, 2014. xxiii, 229 p
Doing real research: a practical guide to social research / Eric Jensen, Charles Laurie. Los Angeles: SAGE, 2016. 416 pages
Social psychology: the study of human interaction / Theodore M. Newcomb, Ralph H. Turner, Philip E. Converse. 2nd (rev.) ed. London: Tavistock: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1966. 591p.
Human judgment and social interaction / edited by Leon Rappoport, David A. Summers. New York; London: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1973. 403p.
Indicative learning resources - Other resources
Module Convenor has produced
1. All the Module scenario handbooks, team details and updates
2. Student Resource handbook
3. Guide to using and producing your Personal Professional Portfolio
| Credit value | 30 |
|---|---|
| Module ECTS | 15 |
| Module pre-requisites | None |
| Module co-requisites | None |
| NQF level (module) | 7 |
| Available as distance learning? | No |
| Origin date | 14/12/2018 |
| Last revision date | 26/06/2019 |
