This task has two parts:
Part One: Mapping your discipline (abt 500 words)
In this part you will explore the nature of the disciplinary knowledge practices that you bring to the unit. Drawing on readings, lecture materials, workshop experiences as well as your own research, you will critically reflect on your disciplinary knowledge, perspectives, and skills (i.e. what is the subject matter of your discipline? What approach does your discipline adopt to research? What kind of theoretical frameworks, paradigms, methodologies and data does your discipline employ in conducting research? What debates or divisions exist within your discipline?)
Part Two: Applying and critiquing your discipline (abt 500 words)
In this part you will apply your disciplinary knowledge or perspective to a real-world problem, namely, “Improving Access on Camperdown Campus” (see description of the problem below).
You are required to:
Select one of the driving questions presented below and explain how you would address the problem of ‘access on Camperdown Campus’ on the basis of your disciplinary practices.
In order to do so, within the context of your disciplinary knowledge: first define/explain the notion of “access” you would take. Then present the methodology that you would adopt and some data you would consider. Finally outline a proposal and/or strategy/ies to address the problem (e.g. introduction of a particular policy, specific infrastructures, dedicated services).
Identify one resource from your discipline that you would employ, and briefly explain how it contributes to addressing the driving question. Please provide the correct citation for such resource. The resource can be of any type depending on your academic discipline (e.g. academic article, book chapter, newspaper article, government policy report, consultant analyses, fiction, poetry, advertisements, film, database, podcast, visual data, museum catalogue), and
Include some reflections on the limitations of your discipline to addressing the problem, i.e. What aspects of the problem could be considered which your discipline may not be equipped to deal with?
The Case Study
“Improving Access on Camperdown Campus”
This case study explores questions of access on the University of Sydney’s Camperdown Campus from a variety of perspectives. It explores different ways in which the concept of “access” can be understood, and how different users of the campus experience possibilities and difficulties in terms of their access to information, services, and structures.
(* Please note that this Case Study was originally devised by the staff at Fisher Library)
Objectives
To identify barriers to access, with a focus on barriers that are often left out of discussions on access.
To explore how different perspectives on access can lead to innovative strategies to address access issues
To enhance accessibility in all respects across University of Sydney campus, (e. g. physically, culturally, mentally, emotionally and any other ways in which “access” can be understood).
Driving questions
How may “the student experience” be affected by the question or the concept of access?
How can a broader understanding of access improve the University of Sydney’s benefit to the diversities within the communities it serves?
What partnerships can drive a broader understanding and implementation of an “accessible campus”?
