Course Title: Human Rights Campaign Studio

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Human Rights Campaign Studio

Credit Points: 12

Course Code	Campus	Career	School	Learning Mode	Teaching Period(s)
HUSO2300	City Campus	Undergraduate	360H Education	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2008
HUSO2297	City Campus	Postgraduate	360H Education	Face-to-Face	Sem 2 2008, Sem 2 2009

Course Coordinator: Dr. Liz Branigan

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 3153

Course Coordinator Email:liz.branigan@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: 98.1.2D

Course Coordinator Availability: Email for appointment

Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

None

Course Description

This postgraduate elective course is designed to enhance the communication skills available for social marketing associated with the promotion of human rights.

The Human Rights Campaign Studio aims to provide a training ground for social advocacy communications. It will link you to socially aware professional communicators working in universities, non-government and community organisations. It will provide a cutting edge social change communication campaign to a non-government or community client, while also serving as a corrective to the often literal and overly didactic communications approaches found in current social advocacy and human rights campaigns.

The Human Rights Campaign Studio will offer you intensive training in planning and producing cutting edge social advocacy and human rights campaigns. You will be engaged in a multi-disciplinary, problem-based studio model of structured learning implementing a socially responsible practice as a core learning and operating principle.

Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Upon completion of this course you will have demonstrated the following dimensions of capability:

1. Generic Capabilities

Ability to reflect on and further develop the capacity to:

- read accurately, reflexively and critically

- write in a variety of genres

- communicate in a variety of ways to internal and external stakeholders

- reflect on and engage in good organisational and policy practice

2. Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities

Ability to identify and reflect on key aspects of the Victorian Charter including:

- its historical antecedents

- the key rights it protects

- its legal and practice implications

- implications of the dialogue model of rights it promotes

- its specific application to your work

- skills and approaches required for effective human rights advocacy inside your organisation

3. Human Rights in Practice

Ability to identify and understand what an applied human rights approach to working with clients, co-workers and fellow citizens means in relation to:

- the theory and practice of policy development, implementation and evaluation

- the reflexive development of problem solving skills, new and/or transformative approaches to organisational structures

- the theory and practice of professional development, and issues involved in transforming work practices

- the development of new approaches to working effectively with clients in ways that give effect to the Victorian Charter

4. Multidisciplinary Skills and Knowledges

Insight into the multidisciplinary knowledges and skills which an applied human rights framework involves. For example:

- what the application of an applied human rights approach requires for specific groups of people (eg. young people, people with disabilities, disadvantaged groups, indigenous people)

- those spatial, environmental, social and communications dimensions most appropriate to your own practice and organisation

5. Communications Theory and Practice

Ability to:

- understand and apply relevant communications theory

- engage with a variety of effective applied communications and social marketing skills and strategies
 

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this course you will be able to:

- engage in the tasks leading to the production of a social advocacy human rights campaign

- demonstrate a familiarity with applied research processes and social change communication strategies for social advocacy

- demonstrate a capacity to work together with non-government and community organisations

- demonstrate familiarity with and capacity to engage the skills and technologies of effective social cause communication
 

Overview of Learning Activities

This course comprises the following learning materials and experiences:

1. Five full-day multidisciplinary studio-based learning workshops, which will combine formal input with problem-based learning using small syndicate groups. Attendance at all of the workshops is essential for successful completion of this course.

2. A Course Reader with core readings for each of the aspects of social change communication covered in the workshop sessions. Students will be expected to read the core readings before coming to the relevant workshop.

3. A list of further readings, resources and case studies relevant to social change communication.

4. The opportunity to engage with and learn from a range of non-government and community-based stakeholders and experts.

5. Library and internet resources orientation sessions, which can be booked through the Information Desk at Swanston Library.

6. Feedback on assessment tasks designed to provide students with timely comments on their understanding of social change communication theory, and the capacity to practically apply their theoretical understanding to a real-world human rights issue.

7. Face-to-face and electronic access to the Course Coordinator and support staff.

8. In contributing to the educational outcomes of the assessment tasks, students will also engage in learning activities specific to their disciplinary area, as follows:

Social Science: research and focus groups
These students will be primarily responsible for producing a research report including the formative data (eg. situation analysis, stakeholder and focus group interview analysis) and evaluation benchmarks for the short and long term outcomes of the campaign.

Advertising and Public Relations: overall strategy for target audience(s)
These students will be primarily responsible for segmenting the target audiences and producing a communication strategy for the campaign that will guide the development of advertising, promotional materials and public relations/media advocacy.

Graphic Communication: production of visual product(s)
These students will be primarily responsible for designing rough to finished mock-ups of designs for visual elements of the campaign for audience focus group pre-testing and final presentation to clients.

Journalism: production of a briefing kit for radio/print media
These students will be primarily responsible for producing a media liaison kit and associated advocacy print articles and electronic media features of the campaign.

Overview of Learning Resources

To be advised in class

Overview of Assessment

To be advised in class