EDUCATION X INEQUALITIES: FILM SERIES “KARMAS – EVERYDAY HEROES”

Name and position of the participant(s) and other supporting staff Ágnes Horváth

PhD student

Name of the course and discipline, level and year of study and any useful background info. Foundations of Sociology

BA in International studies, Political sciences, Communication and media, 1st year students, Mandatory, in Hungarian

Name of community partner and/or any other supporting partners (public or private sector) Northern Point of Support Association
CERL project title(s) How does society relate to the topics covered by the film series Karmas – everyday heroes by Northern Point of Support Association?
Tangible info – e.g. module descriptor, learning outcomes, assignments, assessment criteria, …  7SO30NBK52B

Since the project was a pilot that was only introduced in my class it wasn’t involved in the official curriculum.

Students learned focus group methodology and critical evaluation of media products as a learning outcome. After the first few introductory classes, students had to write their own research questions, hypothesis and summarize the findings. They also organized, facilitated and analysed the focus group discussion about a selected film from the Karmas series. In the final class, students showed a short presentation to the community partner that was later discussed in detail.

How was it taught:

1.      number of students

2.      student groupwork or individual,

3.      how they worked with the partner,

4.      how the project proceeded,

5.      any reflection done with students,

6.      evaluation or formal assessment of their learning,

7.      Could or should we follow up with students?

8.      tech used

9.      Anything else interesting?

10.   For how long has this course been thought, and since when there is a community partner involved?

1.      5 students

2.      they worked together as a group

3.      The partner joined the course and met all students, and a group of 5 students chose to work with the partner as part of their course assignment. The students and the partner met regularly to discuss which topic to cover from the course and which short film to test.

4.      The students then conducted a focus group about one of the association’s short films highlighting the work of Bagázs a non-profit organization working with and for roma people, connected to the topic of education and inequalities. Students tested how the audience reacted to the film and how it influenced their opinion on the topic.

5.      After the focus group they had a discussion together with the partner about their experience. The students from the group and the community partner both filled the feedback form as the Spring semester group work ended. This project was also introduced in the Researcher’s Week of Corvinus, where the lecturer, one of the students and the community partner shared their experiences of the process.

6.      The group got a formal evaluation and points for their work from the lecturer, based on the process and the quality of the output. These points amounted with the points of class participation in the case of those students in class not involved in the project.

7.      Students already gave feedback on the project; I don’t think that any further follow up is necessary. A video discussion with one of the students was recorded by Reka Matolay.

8.      Teams, MS Office

9.      One of the students was offered a job by the foundation.

10.   I’ve been teaching this class for three years and this was the first semester to involve a community partner.

What did you change about your programme/course in relation to CERL during CIRCLET? 1.Originally, I use the last 20 minutes of the class to teach/talk about research projects, but the online teaching demanded another solution. I decided to divide the class: those participating in the project had a separate class.

2. In previous years I gave a research question to the students during each class, and they had to write a draft research plan in teams of 4-5 students. This semester I decided to keep the project work voluntary because of the difficulties of online teaching.

3. Student involved in the civil partner project didn’t have to attend the basic seminar, they got evaluated by their work with the civil partner.

CHALLENGES and how you overcame them? There weren’t a lot of students interested in working with the partner but those choosing this work were really committed. The very little interest in class was really shocking at the beginning, but that was completely turned around when experiencing the engagement of those few people signing up for this.

Making sure students understand that working with the partner is not extra work but part of their course work.

Motivating the students that when they add things to their CV a project like this with a community partner counts just as much as a project with a for-profit or a paid job. And a project with a community partner shapes their worldview and character just as much and that is also very important and useful.

I am a helicopter parent for the students in the project.

What did your STUDENTS LEARN or how will they benefit? They learned about their privileges through the struggles of Roma people depicted in the movie, they learned how difficult it is to move away from our preconceptions about a problem even about the difficulty of how to define what the problem is and how to formulate a research question based on it.
What do you think the BENEFIT was TO THE PARTNER? The partner was open to engage in the course as a pilot project and by the end felt reassured that it was worth it. He felt like there is a great perspective in meeting students through this course to discuss the topics they do short films about. They even found their new production assistant for their association among the students.

The partner’s response in the science shop feedback form:

“We are thankful for the project and with that all the time and effort put into getting to know Northern Point and other organisations better. Also thank you for the work students put into conducting the focus group.”

HOW could/will you IMPROVE YOUR CERL teaching practice next time? Since this was the first year, I was working with a community partner I wanted to keep the project as small as possible. Now I would be braver and make the project mandatory for at least half of the class. This way the community partner will have multiple results and more diverse feedback on their work and more students will get on-hands knowledge of how scientific research is planned and conducted in real life.
3 TANGIBLE PIECES OF ADVICE you would give to someone starting a CERL project with students? 1. Keep in touch with the local Science Shop team, they are great help and support.

2. Keep in touch with the civil partner, the goal is to help them and it’s OK to make changes as the project evolves.

3. Keep on talking with your students about the importance of what they will deliver and ask about their experience and questions.

Any good, QUOTABLE FEEDBACK you received from students, partners, colleagues, family, etc.?  “The focus group went exactly how I imagined it. Now I understand much better how to conduct a focus group and I probably will use this research method for my thesis or student research paper.”
Dou you wish to share anything here about your LC, Triad, ILC, LTTA or module experiences that you haven’t shared earlier? No
Anything else notable about the CERL practice that there wasn’t space for elsewhere? No
Anything else you want moving forward with your CERL practice? No