Example Syllabi
Facilitation Skills for Conservation and Development
Professionals working in Conservation and/or Development must know how to work collaboratively as members of in-house teams, inter-organizational partnerships and projects requiring engagement with diverse stakeholder groups. Effective collaboration requires a specific set of skills that range from designing and running effective meetings to helping diverse and often competing interests work and plan together. Graduate students in this class will develop and strengthen facilitation skills and approaches through practice and reflection. By the end of the class participants will feel more confident leading groups, facilitating group decision-making and being effective collaborative problem-solvers both off and on campus.
Communication & Leadership for Conservation and Development
This professional development skills-based course will help participants strengthen core communication and leadership skills for supporting collaborative approaches to Development and Conservation practice.
Design & Methods for Sustainable Development Practice
The purpose of this course is to build practical skills and critical perspectives that empower participants to engage constructively in the planning, implementation and evaluation of sustainable development practice. This course is designed for students in the Master of Sustainable Development Practice (MDP) Program and also for students in other programs whose academic work and future plans include addressing sustainable development challenges. A combination of approaches are used to encourage student participation and collaborative learning.
Intersectionality & Environmental Justice
Intersectionality is a movement arising out of Black feminism which recognizes that barriers to equality vary according to aspects of an individual’s identity including gender, age, race, ethnicity, class, religion, socio-economic status and more. This class will draw on the arts, humanities, popular culture, and social movements such as Black Lives Matter to fully explore intersectional identities and how they are oppressed and expressed. In the first half of this class, we will explore what intersectionality means for our lives and current social issues. In the second half we will explore how intersectionality relates to challenges in conservation and "development" in Latin America including socio-environmental inequalities and movements for environmental justice.
Qualitative Data Analysis
In this advanced research class you will study various qualitative data analysis techniques and examine ways in which different theories inform and guide the analysis and interpretation of your data. We will look across the analysis process—from theory/guiding frameworks to analyzing data to presenting/writing translatable results. This course is intended for students who have finished (or are conducting) their qualitative data collection activities (e.g. interviews, focus groups, participatory methods).
Qualitative Research Design - Short Course
This course has been structured to be a highly practical course to meet the needs of wildlife researchers and conservationists in Guyana. The short course will explore some theory in order to understand the foundational differences between quantitative and qualitative methods, and why/when a researcher might employ one over the other. The remainder of the class will focus on designing qualitative research studies including types of design, research questions, hypotheses, sampling, and when to use the basic data collection methods. There will be readings and videos required for preparation before each class period.
