Lecture: 4 hours/week
In this course, students engage in a variety of learning activities such as lectures, group work, case studies, self-reflection, and team-based exercises.
The following guiding principles shape the design and delivery of this course:
- Community building begins with reimagining communities as places where everyone is valued and recognized for their unique contributions.
- There is a growing interest in the disability support sector in adopting a different perspective on community and its support systems. This new vision focuses on capacity, emphasizing community assets rather than just its needs. It is essential for practitioners to have a critical understanding of community development that highlights the strengths and capabilities of individuals, families, and neighbourhoods. This knowledge equips students with a deeper insight into community dynamics and provides them with new tools to promote inclusion and identify opportunities for meaningful contributions.
- The social isolation of individuals with disabilities is a rising concern among advocates and professionals. Although the disability support field has successfully transitioned many people out of institutions, it now faces the challenge of fostering ordinary relationships and friendships within the community. A crucial next step may involve a better understanding of the structural barriers present in our systems, which can hinder the development of these everyday relationships and contribute to isolation.
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Reflect on the Principles of Person-Centered Thinking for Citizenship and Quality of Life
- Explain the relationships among individuals, community, and quality of life.
- Analyze the advantages and disadvantages of community experiences for those within a service system versus those outside of it.
- Investigate the historical development of Person-Centered Planning (PCP) methods and the challenges faced by individuals, families, organizations, and communities in their implementation.
2. Examine Person-Centered Planning Approaches
- Identify strategies to enhance practitioner sensitivity and boost individual participation in planning through improved communication, multimedia use, and graphic recording.
- Apply various PCP techniques that improve personalization and effectiveness in implementation, including facilitation methods.
- Compare and contrast different contexts where PCP approaches are relevant, such as Discovery, Essential Lifestyle Planning, and PATH/MAP.
- Create personal profiles that demonstrate careful observation and inquiry.
- Identify potential areas of conflicting values.
3. Plan, Develop, and Evaluate Effective Strategies for Building Community Presence and Contribution
- Explore the theoretical foundations of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) and its link to person-centered plans.
- Examine the roles of practitioners in community building, including community connectors, navigators, and transition planners.
- Demonstrate methods for connecting individuals to the community in meaningful ways.
- Discuss the opportunities and challenges associated with ABCD.
- Emphasize the importance of understanding the individual being supported.
- Recognize potential areas of conflicting values.
- Describe how teams and groups collaborate to facilitate, implement, and assess the effectiveness of person-centered plans while fostering community connections.
This course will conform to ÌÇÐÄvlog´«Ã½policy regarding the number and weighting of evaluations. Typical means of evaluation would include a combination of:
- Community inventory
- Major paper on facilitation strategies
- Circle of support analysis
- Classroom participation self-assessment
- Storytelling
Instructors may use a student’s record of attendance and/or level of active participation as part of the student’s graded performance. Expectations and grade calculations regarding class attendance and participation will be clearly defined in the instructor's course outline/syllabus.
A list of required and recommended reading will be provided for students at the beginning of the semester. Instructors are committed to prioritizing OER and publicly accessible resources.
None
None
None