About Community Based Participatory Research Courses
This is an experiential learning opportunity offered that is being developed as a collaborative course taught by faculty in the Department of Anthropology and the Department of Sociology. However, in 2019W and Summer 2020, this will be offered as an ASTU course and will be taught by Dr. Kari Grain, Faculty of Education.
This is a two-course sequence (with the second course being optional) and builds on the International Service Learning program that Dr. Dawn Currie (Professor Emeritus, Sociology) developed. In 2018/2019 the course was co-taught by Drs. Kerry Greer and Kari Grain.
The course is open to all Faculty of Arts students, ideally in their third or fourth (or fifth!) year of study.
Eventually, the plan is for students select one of three streams to enter, but for 2019, only options 1 or 2 are available:
1) the 3-credit CBPR Approaches (Soci 495 term 2) ONLY stream;
2) the 3-credit CBPR Approaches (Soci 495 term 2) and 3-credit CBPR Applications International (summer 2019) course with the international service learning component; or
3) the 3-credit CBPR Approaches (Soci 495 term 2) and 3-credit CBPR Applications Local/Regional (summer 2021) course with a local/regional service learning component.
The International component is supported by the Office of Regional and International Community Engagement (ORICE), and ORICE provides grants that supports the costs for students to live and participate abroad. Information for 2019W can be found here.
Enrolling
Students should contact the ORICE office if they are interested in registering for either option.
Community Based Participatory Research: Approaches (ASTU 401H)
The Course
This term 2 course will provide students and community partners with the foundational knowledge of the theoretical underpinning of community based participatory research, with ample time spent learning and exploring the practical skills that are often used in conducting research in partnership with community.
Emphasis will be placed on Asset Based Community Development, ethical considerations when working with diverse and often marginalized communities, the concept of reciprocity, positionally as researchers and as co-collaborators in knowledge production, and strategies for sharing knowledge. Students will identify their own toolkit or assets in terms of research skills, and will identify concrete, specific research methodologies that they can improve in preparation for conducting research. While class time cannot be used to reteach all aspects of research methodologies, general strategies will be reviewed and evaluation research methods will be introduced.
How much does it cost?
Students enrolled in this course have no additional fees on topic of paying tuition.
Community Based Participatory Research: International Applications (ASTU 401I)
The Course
This 3-credit summer course, Community Based Participatory Research International Applications (CBPR Applicaitons), gives students the opportunity to gain experience in community based research projects at an international site. Students will spend 12-weeks at an organization selected by UBC’s Office of Regional and International Community Engagement were they will participate in a community based research project. Preparations for this experience include having completed the term 2 course on CBPR Approaches, 33-hours of coursework in May at UBC, and a 3-day workshop while abroad. While abroad students will prepare a series of short papers that will help them reflect on their experience, and upon returning will complete a longer paper that details their experience. This is due in the early fall and students also are asked to attend an ORICE event in October where they may present their work.
Who can participate?
Students who are in their third and fourth (and later) year of study at UBC in the Faculty of Arts are welcome to apply.
How much does it cost?
This is one of my favorite parts about this course and why I am so supportive of it: there is a grant that pays 70-100% of the cost of travel. Lots of times this kind of experience is only available to students who have the resources to pay for it, and for lots of our students, paying tuition is already a burden.
Students will have to pay tuition, a course fee and depending on placement, some of the costs associated with traveling to their site and living and supporting themselves while abroad. However, the grant will cover between 70-100% of these costs. Costs associated with extras — shopping, site seeing tours, etc. will have to be paid for entirely by students. The ORICE office has a lot more information about this, so please read their website to learn more.