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Contemporary Development (DEVT90074)
Study abroad (level 9)Points: 12.5Online
From 2023 most subjects will be taught on campus only with flexible options limited to a select number of postgraduate programs and individual subjects.
To learn more, visit COVID-19 course and subject delivery.
About this subject
- Overview
- Eligibility and requirements
- Assessment
- Dates and times
- Further information
- Timetable(opens in new window)
Contact information
September
Email: continuing-education@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: + 61 3 8344 0149
Contact hours: https://unimelb.edu.au/professional-development/contact-us
Subject Coordinator
Rory Stanton Ph.D
Overview
Availability | September - Online |
---|---|
Fees | Look up fees |
Successfully leading development in the twenty-first century necessitates an appreciation of a changing global landscape characterised by shifts in power whereby the Global South has made notable strides towards greater autonomy with respect to shaping its own development paths and objectives. The prevailing development challenges of gender, poverty and inequality, global trade, the environment, urbanisation, participation, modernisation, technology, and conflict have assumed new, often quite pragmatic, dimensions. These factors are now being approached from multiple, and non-Western, development perspectives as South-South development assistance begins to take hold and where previous paradigms of development are being contested and discredited. However, alongside the argument for a non-Eurocentric ‘post-aid’ world, grand visions of development continue in the form of the SDGs and Agenda 2030, alongside significant, if falling, quantities of ODA. These elements, through a blend of theory and practice, form the basis of this subject’s content.
Intended learning outcomes
On successful completion of this subject, students should be able to:
Knowledge and Undertanding
- Recognise and understand the major contemporary development themes and trends.
- Describe the contested means by which contemporary development seeks to measure, gauge, and evaluate its progress.
- Recognise the changing contemporary development global landscape of actors, interests, and outcomes.
- Understand the importance and frameworks of social and developmental research.
- Demonstrate a knowledge of key research principles.
- Evaluate, through the use of conceptual and analytical frameworks, the implications and impact of data and digital technologies on development processes and outcome.
- Recognise the principles and paradigms underlying different development and leadership research.
Transferable Skills and Personal Qualities
- Work and collaborate with a variety of contemporary development stakeholders from the public and private sectors, as well as non-governmental and international organisation.
- Demonstrate team and independent working skills that can be applied in diverse, cross-cultural and cross-disciplinary environments.
- Presentation, knowledge sharing, and communication skills.
Intellectual Skills
- Analyse the dynamic inter-relations between contemporary development actors and stakeholders at national, regional, and global levels.
- Assess emerging trends in development in the context of Agenda 2030 and other influential global socio-political factors.
Practical Skills
- Interpret the benefits and costs involved in the application of different contemporary development strategies.
- Assess/compare the efficacy of competing forms of development evaluation and measurement as they are employed in different circumstances and/or situations.
Generic skills
- a critical overview of the field of development from historical, theoretical, and institutional perspectives.
- a critical understanding how different actors/stakeholders in development interact, collaboratively and at times through conflict, in efforts to tackle global inequalities.
- identify the key contemporary challenges facing international development.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Eligibility and requirements
Prerequisites
None
Corequisites
None
Non-allowed subjects
None
Inherent requirements (core participation requirements)
The course is designed for online delivery, students are required to participate online. Students will be required to meet some basic technological requirements such as ongoing and stable access to the internet, up to date browsers, and a microphone and headset for webinars (as specified at: https://online.unimelb.edu.au/support/current-students/apps-and-software-info/systems-and-support)
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Assessment
Description | Timing | Percentage |
---|---|---|
Engagement and quality of weekly contributions to group discussions
| Throughout the teaching period | 10% |
Reflective e-journal on weekly learning outcomes
| Throughout the teaching period | 10% |
Group analysis of an emerging trend in contemporary development (5 minute video)
| During the teaching period | 20% |
Contemporary development challenge essay
| End of the assessment period | 60% |
Additional details
This course unit is presented wholly online/distance learning. Study fellows will engage on a weekly basis with course content, consisting of a lecture material, video briefings, periodic quizzes, and through weekly moderated group discussions. Study fellows will also be required to maintain an ongoing reflective e-journal as a form of learning through assessment.
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Dates & times
- September - Online
Mode of delivery Online Contact hours Total time commitment 170 hours Pre teaching start date 29 August 2022 Pre teaching requirements N/A Teaching period 5 September 2022 to 6 November 2022 Last self-enrol date 30 August 2022 Census date 16 September 2022 Last date to withdraw without fail 14 October 2022 Assessment period ends 13 November 2022 September contact information
Email: continuing-education@unimelb.edu.au
Phone: + 61 3 8344 0149
Contact hours: https://unimelb.edu.au/professional-development/contact-us
Subject Coordinator
Rory Stanton Ph.D
Last updated: 31 January 2024
Further information
- Texts
Prescribed texts
Recommended texts and other resources
Indicative Reading List
Alden, C., Large, D. and Mendez, A. (2020) ‘The Western way of development: A critical review’, in Y. Jing, A. Mendez and Y. Zheng (eds) New Development Assistance Emerging Economies and the New Landscape of Development Assistance. London: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 19-38.
Avgerou, C. & Walsham, G. (2018). Information technology in context: Studies from the perspective of developing countries. Oxon UK: Routledge.
Battersby, P. and Roy, R.K. (2017) International Development: A Global Perspective on Theory and Practice. London: SAGE Publications.
Benería, L., Berik, G. and Floro, M.S. (2016) Gender, Development and Globalization: Economics as if all People Mattered. 2nd Edition. London: Routledge.
Desai, V. and Potter, R. (2014) The Companion to Development Studies, 3rd Edition. London: Routledge.
Heeks, R. (2008). ICT4D 2.0: The next phase of applying ICT for international development. Computer, 41(6), 26-33.
Heeks, R. (2018) Information and Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D). New
Horner, R. and Hulme, D. (2017) ‘Converging divergence? Unpacking the new geography of 21st century global development’, GDI Working Paper 2017-010. Manchester: The University of Manchester.
Hulme, D. (2016) Should Rich Nations Help the Poor? Cambridge: Polity Press.
Jing, Y., Mendez, A. and Zheng, Y. (eds) (2020) New Development Assistance Emerging Economies and the New Landscape of Development Assistance. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Lawson, D., Hulme, D., Matin, I. and Moore, K. (2009) What Works for The Poorest? Poverty Reduction Programmes for the World’s Extreme Poor. Rugby: Practical Action Publishing Ltd.
Lee, C. K. (2018) The Specter of Global China: Politics, Labor, and Foreign Investment in Africa. University of Chicago Press.
Neumann,L 2013 Social Research Methods [eBook] https://www.dawsonera.com/abstract/9781292033617
Peet, R. and Hartwick, E. (2015) Theories of Development: Contentions, Arguments, Alternatives. Third Edition. New York: Guilford Press.
Pillow, W 2003, 'Confession, catharsis, or cure? Rethinking the uses of reflexivity as methodological power in qualitative research', International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 175-196. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1080/0951839032000060635.
Quinlan, C, Babin, BJ, Carr, J, Griffin, M & Zikmund, WG 2015, Business Research Methods, 1st edn, Cengage Learning, Andover, UK.
Saunders, M.N.K, Lewis, P & Thornhill, A 2016 Research Methods for students. 8th Ed, Pearson, Harlow, UK
Stokke, O. (2019) International Development Assistance: Policy Drivers and Performance. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Todaro, M.P. and Smith S.C. (2015) Economic Development. 12th Edition. Upper Saddle River: Pearson.
Turner, M., Hulme, D. and McCourt, W. (2015) Governance, Management & Development: Making the State Work. Second Edition. London: Palgrave.
Unwin, T. (2017) Reclaiming Information & Communication Technologies for Development. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Weiss, T., Forsythe, D. and Coate, R. (2016) The United Nations and Changing World Politics. New York: Routledge.
Willis, K. (2011) Theories and Practices of Development. Second Edition. London: Routledge.
Zheng, Y., Hatakka, M., Sahay, S., & Andersson, A. (2018). Conceptualizing development in information and communication technology for development (ICT4D). Information Technology for Development, 24(1), 1–14
Last updated: 31 January 2024