Previous Offerings |
||
|
Spring-2015
|
||
|
Fall-2014
|
||
|
Spring-2014
|
||
|
Fall-2013
|
||
|
Fall-2012
|
||
|
Spring-2011
|
||
|
Fall-2010
|
||
|
Spring-2010
|
||
|
Fall-2006
|
||
This course explores the concept of a conflict resolution "knowledge base" and "learning community," particularly as those concepts are being developed through the Beyond Intractability Project. As you are probably discovering as you delve into your graduate program, the knowledge base underlying the conflict resolution and peacebuilding field is far too extensive to be fully mastered by any one person or even one program of graduate study. There is simply too much information and too many ideas for one person to learn, At the same time, however, much is to be gained by many people and programs sharing expertise, which is precisely the purpose of the Beyond Intractability (BI) Project. BI brings together many hundreds of practitioners and scholars from around the world who have asked questions and contributed answers so that together we can grow the knowledge base of the field.
This one credit course introduces participants to BI and to the conflict resolution " knowledge cycle." You will learn how to use BI (www.beyondintractability.org)--and the web more generally--to navigate the field's knowledge base effectively. We will explore how BI is actually something of a map of the field (a map that is being constantly expanded, re-drawn, and filled in.) By becoming "power users" of BI (or continuing the metaphor, skilled map-readers), you will have a better understanding of how and where your work and interests fit into the bigger picture of what many are calling "peace writ large."
Unlike most other classes, much of the work done for this course will be formally published on Beyond Intractability (assuming it is of sufficient quality) . Thus, instead of writing a paper, which then gets discarded or forgotten, your work can become a permanent part of the field's accumulating knowledge base and can be read by BI's over 100,000 users/month. Therefore, a big part of the course will be giving you the skills you need to produce publication-quality materials within your area(s) of expertise and interest.