International Summer School 2014
Module Outline
Section 1 – General Information
Module Title Better Worlds? Utopias and Dystopias
Module code PSI-2002S
Credit value 20 UK
Academic Year 2013-2014
Semester Summer 2014
Section 2 – Details of module
Description
What is this
module about?
Learning
Objectives
What will I learn?
(subject specific
and transferable
skills)
Learning
outcomes
What will I be
able to do by the
end of the
module?
As one form of government must be allowed more perfect than another...why may we not
enquire what is the most perfect of all?...This subject is surely the most worthy of curiosity
of any that the wit of man can possibly devise. David Hume,
“A map of the world that does not include Utopia is not worth even glancing at...”
Oscar Wilde.
Utopian visions, ridiculed in past ages as impossible dreams, such as votes for women
and universal healthcare provision, have often eventually proved prophetic, informing
highly-valued societal institutions in later epochs. Yet utopian thinking can also have
dangers particularly where experiments seeking to realise elevated political goals
become justifications for totalitarianism and persecution. Both before and since the
appearance of Thomas More’s tale of the fantastic customs of an imaginary island
called Utopia (1516), writers have imagined better worlds that their followers have
sought to make real. This module seeks to understand different perspectives on the
utopian tradition, examining various examples in some of its multiple forms - novels,
films, folklore, experimental communities and political blueprints. Using lectures, trips,
workshops and discussions, ‘utopian’ solutions to problems such as eliminating crime,
gender inequalities, environmental destruction, and political/societal conflict will be
analysed. As well as ‘positive’ visions the module also focuses on dystopian works
such as Brave New World and 1984 and considers the significance of anti-utopian
thought for political understanding.
• To study proposals for social and political reform through the medium of utopian texts
•
To evaluate the contribution of utopias to political and social theory
•
To analyse selected utopian texts in depth
After taking this unit students will have:
• Formed their own views about the merits and demerits of utopian thinking
• Written two assignments which analyse utopian texts thematically and critically
• Gained a broad awareness of landmark works in the history of utopian thought
• Gained a detailed knowledge of at least six of the most famous utopian (or dystopian)
texts which influenced political debate both in their own time and subsequently
• Reflected on the relevance of fiction to politics
Other Skills:
Intellectual skills
Students will apply ideas and concepts in the discussion of aspects of utopian studies
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Module Outline
and construct coherent and independent arguments.
Professional skills
The module will assist students' ability to select, sift and synthesize information from a
variety of sources present material using appropriate conventions.
Links
Where does this fit
in to my
programme?
Transferable skills
The module will also help develop students' ability to work to deadlines, manage a
disparate body of information, engage in critical evaluation and analytical investigation,
as well as provide clear presentation of ideas.
This module has links with a range of several disciplines but will tie in closely with the
politics based programmes. It has strong associations with political theory, political
ideologies, and political philosophy. It also connects with other humanities and social
science based disciplines such as literature, philosophy, history, psychology and
sociology and will appeal in particular to students who have an interest in the way
works of imagination have played, and can continue to play a part in both anticipating
and shaping our future institutions, relationships, and moral/political values. No prior
knowledge is required to study this module, just a willingness to engage in discussion
and share opinion.
Section 3 – Teaching Team
Module
Convenor
Others
Mr Bob Stillwell, School of Political, Social & International Studies
A number of distinguished academics principally from the School of Political, Social &
International Studies are involved in the programme during summer 2014.
Professor Barbara Goodwin, Professor Lee Marsden, Dr Rupert Read, Professor John
Street, Dr. Peter Handley, Mr, Lawrence Hardy and Mr Mark Wells will be support and
deliver aspects of the programme during summer 2014.
Professor Goodwin is Emeritus Professor in PSI and her books and articles have
established her as a major international authority in the field of utopia, as well as other
areas of political theory. Her work will features prominently throughout the module and
she has kindly agreed to deliver a lecture and seminar for the programme.
Section 4 - Expected Study Hours
Activity
Details
Total hours
% of credit
Lectures
Teaching will comprise a mix of eleven
lectures, eleven seminars, four utopian
film screening/discussion sessions, an
additional drop-in session and two
workshops which will together total over
50 contact hours. In addition to this, the
module will include two eight-hour field
trips which will also focus on locations of
importance in the utopian tradition.
Preparatory
reading
for
lectures,
seminars, and workshops will be
necessary throughout the module.
Students will be expected to read at least
50 hours
N/A
33 hours (Reading for
Seminars)
N/A
Pre-lecture
preparatory
reading and
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56 hours (pre-course)
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Module Outline
post-lecture
follow up
reading
one article/book chapter in preparation
for each lecture/seminar and complete
notes before the sessions. Readings will
be provided on Blackboard (See BB) and
pre-course reading will also feature for
the seminars.
It is a normal expectation that students
registered on UEA modules will conduct
significant preparatory reading prior to
engaging with the taught element of a
module. Participants are asked to read
five utopian works prior to joining the
module. (See pre-course reading.) These
should include More’s Utopia and
Huxley’s Brave New World. Pre-course
reading should be spread several weeks
period prior to arrival at UEA. This not
only ensures that students maximise
their learning via their engagement with
the module, but also that they are better
equipped to engage with discussion in
class sessions and the assessment.
Seminars
Seminars will be used to take up and
develop idea on issues which have been
previewed in the lectures. See section on
lectures for contact time and notes on
reading preparation time for seminars:
N/A
There will also be two discussion
workshops and four utopian film
screenings/discussions
Pre-seminar
preparation
and follow
up study
As set out above there are set readings
which are compulsory preparation for
seminar discussions.
See above
Academic Trips
16
Formative
assessment
Formative
two parts:
assessment
divides
into
8
N/A
N/A
The first formative assessment requires
students to do a seminar presentation,
exploring issues relating to one of the
seminar questions. Feedback will be
in class.
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The second formative assessment will
require students to prepare a description
of their own personal utopian vision or
utopian idea that they can present to the
group in the final workshop. Students
can do this exercise in pairs or
individually and feedback will be
delivered oral in class.
7
Feedback
sessions
Feedback will be in or after class
Assessed
course
paper
Assignment 1 - Essay
22
Assignment 2 - Presentation Hand-out.
8 (Building on earlier
formative assessment)
Total
This figure (200 hours) represents the
total study time for the module, which
includes attendance at lectures, field
trips, seminars, reading (including precourse reading), coursework preparation,
independent study, and all other forms of
work associated with the module.
200
In keeping with all other summer school
modules, the Utopias/Dystopias module
assumes 144 notional study hours.
Whilst at the University it is expected that
students on ISS modules will commit 8
hours of study time per day (during
weekdays) and a minimum of 8 hours
per weekend. This equates to a total of
144 hours.
Section 5 - Teaching Sessions
Lecture Programme – details for each lecture
1- Thomas More and Techniques of Utopia
The first lecture looks at how the concept of ‘utopia’ functions in More’s masterwork as well as exploring the
ways in which the tradition can be seen to predate More ‘term’. Common utopian techniques, the range of
manifestations encompassed within the utopian genre are also examined along with the issue of the cultural
specificity of the tradition.
2- Perfectibilism & Human Nature
This lecture considers distinctive utopian orientations towards human nature and explores the significance
of such assumptions for the kind of solutions that they pose to human ills.
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3- Utopiyama
The focus of this lecture is Francis Fukuyama’s ‘End of History’ thesis as a utopian vision of international
order. The idea of liberal democratic capitalism and international democracy promotion is explored
alongside Kantian notions of perpetual peace to introduce the concept of liberal democracy as utopia.
4- Work in Utopia
This lecture examines how ‘work’ has been treated in utopian texts. It examines conflicting perspectives on
the division of labour and dwells upon different interpretations upon the importance of work in human life.
5- Law, Punishment and Social Control
Social control and punishment is a key feature of utopia and dystopias alike. This lecture looks at some of the
intellectual justifications for forms of social control employed within utopias, and explores the range of
techniques that permeate utopian/dystopian works.
6- Politics in Utopia
This lecture examines the treatment of politics in utopian works in historical context and the grounds for the
claim that politics often tends to be ‘eliminated’ within utopia. This issue is investigated with reference to
contemporary debates on the relationship between ‘politics’ and ‘the political’ and ‘power’ and ‘discourse’.
7- Women in Utopia/Dystopia.
A focus upon optimised arrangements for family life and gender roles has been an enduring feature of
utopian works. The lecture investigates some celebrated examples with particular stress laid on the feminist
utopian novels of the 1970s and the development and of what Moylan has described as ‘critical utopias’.
8- Marxism and Utopia
While Marx and Engels famously sought to distinguish their work from the ideas of the ‘utopian socialists’
subsequent Marxist scholars such a Mannheim, Bloch. Marcuse and Jameson have construed utopia in
more favourable terms. This lecture looks at the competing Marxian perspectives on utopia and the insights
they generate with special emphasis of Jameson’s efforts to fuse an account of utopia and post-modernism.
9- Enemies of Utopia
The focus on this lecture is the case against utopian reasoning. It touches on the ideas of ‘liberal’ and
‘conservative’ critics of Utopia including Popper, Talmon, Berlin and Gray as well as considering possible
utopian responses to the charges.
10- Ecology and Utopia
This lecture examines ‘ecotopian’ models and addresses/questions the commonly made charge that many
ecotopias are unrealistic in their fundamental assumptions and unlikely to offer effective responses to the
problems of environmental degradation. The lecture and ensuing discussion will address the possible
benefits that utopian strategies might offer in this area.
11- Utopian Science/Social Science
The relationship between utopia and science will be examined here and the kinds of issues/challenges that
technological development raise for utopian schemes and visa-versa. The lecture will also look at the role of
utopian thinking in social/political ‘science’.
Seminar Programme
The lectures are thematic and linked to the corresponding seminars, which will focus on similar or related
issues/themes through a close study of particular texts. In addition to the set readings, students will be expected
to have a detailed first-hand knowledge of at least five `utopian texts' from their pre-course reading as well as
acquaintance with the contents of the others, so some of these texts will also feature in the seminar reading
enabling seminar leaders to draw upon the specific knowledge of utopias different members of the class.
The key readings for the seminars are an important source of theoretical/substantive material. Within the
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seminar, particular groups of students may be asked to concentrate on a particular texts they have examined so
that when we are discussing the various themes we can consider different information and viewpoints.
(The module blackboard site will contain the essential reading for the seminars and will also include helpful
additional material, which will also serve to assist further study and essay/report writing.)
Seminar Topics Areas
1 More and the Universality of the Utopian Tradition
This seminar will focus upon the content and ‘interpretations’ of More’s Utopia. We also address the
question of the cultural specificity of the utopian tradition and Kumar’s case for its western character.
Thomas More: Utopia (part two) * (BB)
Lyman Sargeant: Utopianism (introduction)* (BB)
Krishan Kumar: Utopia/Anti-Utopia )Selected passages) (BB)
Jaqueline Dutton: Non Western utopian Traditions (in Claeys ed: Utopian Literature) (BB)
2- Perfectibilism & Human Nature
In this seminar we will discuss Robert Owen’s New View of Society and the underlying account of human
nature. The second focus for the discussion concerns the problem of achieving equality in utopia. We look
at this with reference to a short tale by Vonnegut.
Robert Owen: New View of Society * (BB)
Kurt Vonnegut: Harrison Bergeron * (BB)
Philip Kitcher, `Creating perfect people' in A Companion to Genethics, eds. J. Harris & J. Burley (BB)
3- Utopiyama (Lee Marsden)
Following from the lecture on Fukuyma in this session we look in detail at the basis and force of Francis
Fukuyama’s case for liberal capitalist future, and assess the appeal and realism this and other liberal visions
of the international order.
Francis Fukuyama: The End of History and the Last Man (BB)
Immanuel Kant: Perpetual Peace (BB)
4- Work in Utopia
This session will centre on the evaluation of the appeal and persuasiveness of the accounts of work offered
by famous utopian socialist writers. A second focus for the seminar will be on the question of whether work
is a fundamental aspect of human life of whether it will lose its relevance in future society
E. Bellamy: Looking Backwards * (Extracts on BB)
W. Morriss; News From Nowhere * (Extracts on BB)
W. Morris: On Useful Work & Useless Toil (BB)
B. Goodwin & K. Taylor: Justice by Lottery (chapter 1) * BB
5- Law, Punishment and Social Control
In this seminar we consider whether the minimization or even total elimination of laws would be a worthy
societal goal and whether this might be achievable. A secondary focus for discussion will be on the lessons that
dystopias offer us on the nature of social control.
M.R. Aviles `The Law-based Utopia' in Goodwin (ed.) The Philosophy of Utopia * (BB)
B. Goodwin: Social Science and Utopia (Extract on BB)
T. More: Utopia *
G. Orwell: 1984
A. Huxley: Brave New World (As above) *
B.F. Skinner: Walden 2
6- Politics in Utopia
The main focus of this session is to examine in detail at Hume’s efforts to design an ideal commonwealth
and to understand and assess the mechanisms by which accountability is achieved and conflict avoided.
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The wider issue to be explored is the plausibility and desirability of the elimination of politics.
D. Hume: Idea of a Perfect Commonwealth.* (BB)
B. Goodwin & K. Taylor: The Politic of Utopia * (Extracts on BB)
F. Jameson, `The politics of utopia' (BB)
7- Feminist Utopias.
In this seminar we consider whether male utopian writers have contributed to progress for women and also
investigate the question of whether blueprint or critical utopias are helpful advancing the feminist cause.
U Leguin:The Dispossessed
C. Gilman Perkins: Herland
T. Moylan: Demand the Impossible (Extracts on BB)
F. Bartkoski: Feminist Utopias
R. Levitas, `Who holds the hose?', Utopian Studies, Vol. 6 No.1 (BB)
F. Diamanti, `The treatment of the "woman question" in Goodwin (ed.), The Philosophy of Utopia **
8- Marxism and Utopia
In this session we discuss whether, and if so, in what sense, Marx and Engels can be seen to be ‘utopians’
and whether their concerns about utopia have any force. The secondary focus will be on the nature and
appeal of alternative Marxian orientations on utopia.
K Marx and F. Engels The Communist Manifesto (Extracts on BB)
V. Geoghegen: Marxism and Utopia. (Ch 1 on BB)
R. Levitas: The Concept of Utopia (Extracts on BB)
K. Mannheim: Ideology and Utopia (Extracts on BB)
R. Levitas: Ernst Bloch on Abstract and Concrete Utopia in J. Owen et al eds: Not Yet (BB)
F. Jameson, `The politics of utopia' (BB)
9- Enemies of Utopia
This seminar focuses on case against utopian reasoning focuses on the question are utopias necessarily
totalitarian. It will also address the issue of what utopians can learn from critics of utopias and visa-versa.
J. Gray: Straw Dogs (Extracts on BB)
I. Berlin: The Crooked Timber of Humanity (Ch 2 BB)
G. Kateb: Utopia and Its Enemies (Extracts on BB)
K. Popper: `The utopian method' in M. Rosen & J. Wolff (eds) Political Thought (OUP, 1999) (BB)
10- Ecotopias Old and New
In this seminar we examine the charge that ‘ecotopian’ works are too unrealistic in their assumptions to be
of consequence. We also discuss the uses that eco-dystopian and ecotopian works might have in
addressing the social and environmental problems of our age.
Rupert Read: Justice or Love (BB)
Ernest Callenbach: Ecotopia (Extracts on Blackboard)
Marge Piercy: He, She and It.
Moos & Brownstein: Environment and Utopia (Extract on BB)
11- Utopian Science/Social Science
This session has a dual focus. In the first we explore and analyse the complexities of the relationship
between science and utopia. In the second we discuss in which ways (if any) utopian thinking can assist
social/political science.
J.C. Davis: Utopia Science and Social Science (BB)
R Levitas: Utopia as Method
J. Swift: Gulliver’s Travels (Extracts on BB)
B. Goodwin: Social Science and Utopia
A. Huxley: Island
H.G Wells: A Modern Utopia
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Other Taught Sessions Programme – Fieldtrips and Drop-in sessions
OTHER TEACHING TEACHING-LEARNING SESSIONS
Workshop/Lecture : 1 Music and Utopia
In this session we will explore utopianism and music. Members of the group will have been invited to offer
examples of their own that may feature in the workshop. The focus will be on Ernst Bloch’s work on music
as a vehicle of utopian expression and we will discuss and examine the potential political and social impact
of political songs.
Workshop/Discussion 2 – ‘Your Utopia’
This session invites members of the group to set out their own utopian visions and to explain and defend
them to their colleagues. The class will be invited to comment on the contributions’
(See Formative Assessment Two)
FIELD TRIPS
There will be two fieldtrips, both of which will look at the rich Utopian Heritage in Norfolk & East Anglia. (Details
to be confirmed.)
FILMS
There will be weekly screenings of utopian/dystopian films. The screening times will be announced in June
2014 when timetables become available.
DROP-IN SESSION
There will be at least one specialist drop-in session relating to a utopian theme. Details to be confirmed.
Section 6 – Study materials
Required
Reading
Further reading
Pre-course reading Students are expected to read all the books from list A and
three more from list B prior to the module. Starred works (*) listed below are also
highly recommended:
LIST A
LIST B
T. More: Utopia
E. Bellamy: Looking Backward
A. Huxley: Brave New World
S. Butler: Erewhon
E. Callenbach: Ecotopia
T. Campanella: City of the Sun
C. Perkins Gilman: Herland
A. Huxley: Island
H.G. Wells: A Modern Utopia
U: Leguin: The Dispossessed
I: Kant: Eternal Peace
K: Marx: The Communist Manifesto
W:Morris: News from Nowhere
G: Orwell: 1984
Y: Zamyatin: We
Theoretical Perspective on the Utopian Tradition
K. Kumar: Utopianism *
R. Levitas: The Concept of Utopia *
B. Goodwin & K. Taylor: The Politics of Utopia *
B. Goodwin (ed.): The Philosophy of Utopia. The same collection of essays also appears
as a special issue, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, Vol. 3,
Nos. 2 & 3 (2000
L Sargent: Utopianism *
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Other study
materials
R Levitas, Utopia as Method
K. Mannheim: Ideology and Utopia (See chapter on utopia)*
B. Goodwin: Social Science and Utopia *
J. C. Davis: Utopia and the Ideal Society
T. Moylan: Demand the Impossible
V. Geoghegen: Marxism and Utopia
E. Bloch: The Spirit of Utopia
E Bloch: The Principle of Hope
Other Important Utopian Works
R. Owen. A New View of Society
Plato: Republic
C. Fourier: The Theory of the Four Movements
H.G. Wells: Men Like Gods
F. Kafka: The Castle
D. Karp: One
M. Piercy: Woman on the Edge of Time
M. Atwood: The Handmaid's Tale (a feminist dystopia)
K. Ishiguro: Never Let Me Go
20th Ecological Utopias
Aldous Huxley: Island (1962)
Robert Blatchford: The Sorcery Shop (1907)
Robert Graves: Seven Days in New Crete (1949)
Marge Piercy: Woman on the Edge of Time (1976)
Austin Tappan Wright: Islandia (1942 posthumously)
Kim Stanley Robinson: Pacific Edge (1988)
Ecological Dystopias (`ecodystopias')
John Brunner: The Sheep Look Up (1972)
Edward Abbey: Good News (1980)
Kurt Vonnegut: Galapagos (1985)
Paul Auster: In the Country of Last Things (1987)
Marge Piercy: Body of Glass (1991)
Margaret Atwood: Oryx and Crake (2003)
Instructive (utopian or dystopian?) Satires
J. Swift: Gulliver's Travels
S. Lukes: The Curious Enlightenment of Professor Caritat
E. A. Abbott: Flatland, A parable of spiritual dimensions
Collections of Utopian Texts
F.E. Manuel & F. Manuel (eds.): French Utopias
J. Carey (ed.): The Faber Book of Utopias
M.-L. Berneri: Journey Through Utopia
A. Arblaster & S. Lukes (eds.): The Good Society
G. Claeys & L. T. Sargent: The Utopia Reader
G. Claeys (ed.): Utopias of the British Enlightenment
G. Claeys (ed.) Restoration and Augustan British Utopias
G. Negley & J. Patrick, The Quest for Utopia
Secondary Works on Utopia
A.L. Morton: The English Utopia
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T. Moylan: Scraps of the Untainted Sky
E.Bloch: The Principle of Hope
G. Claes: Searching for Utopia
M. Eliav-Feldon, Realistic Utopias
T. Molmar, Utopia, the Perennial Heresy
P. Richter, Utopia/Dystopia
F. Jameson, Archaeologies of the Present
F. E. Manuel and F.Manuel: Utopian Thought in the Western World
K. Kumar: Utopia and Anti-Utopia in Modern Times
L. Sargisson: `Contemporary Feminist Utopianism' in Literature and the Political
Imagination, eds. J. Horton and A. T. Baumeister
L. Sargisson, Contemporaray Feminist Utopianism
L. Sargisson, Utopian Bodies
L. Sargisson, Fools Gold
B. Taylor, Eve and the New Jerusalem
Z. Bauman, Socialism, the Active Utopia
J. Passmore, The Perfectibility of Man
E. Hansot, Perfection and Progress
B. Levin: A World Elsewhere (not strongly recommended!)
G. Kateb: Utopia and its Enemies
J. Hertzler, The History of Utopian Thought
D. Hardy, Utopian England
M. Kaufman, Utopias, or Schemes of Social Improvement
P. Sington & D. Sington Paradise Dreamed
R Jacoby, The End of Utopia
Notable Critics of Utopianism
I. Berlin: Four Essays on Liberty
K. Popper: The Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. I
M. Oakeshott: Rationalism in Politics (first chapter)
J. Gray, Straw Dogs
Collection of Essays
B. Goodwin (ed.): The Philosophy of Utopia.
Claeys, G (ed) Utopian Literature
R. Schaer, G. Claeys, L. Sargent (eds.) Utopia: the search for the ideal society
F.E. Manuel (ed.): Utopias and Utopian Thought
E. Kamenka (ed.): Utopias
K. Kumar & S. Bann (eds.): Utopias and the Millennium
T. Moylan & R. Baccolini: Utopia, Method, Vision
P. Alexander & R. Gill (eds.): Utopias
Section 7 - Formative Assessment
Assessment
Type
Assignment
Deadline
Return date
Feedback in/after
Formative 1 Topics to be
Presentation chosen in week 1 class on day of
Nature of feedback
Oral appraisal
presentation
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Assessment
Type
Formative 2
Utopian
Scheme
Assignment
Deadline
Week 4
Workshop
Return date
Nature of feedback
Feedback in/after
class on day of
presentation
Oral appraisal of exposition of ideas and delivery
Assignment detail (e.g. title, type, course test length, word limit, presentation length)
Formative 1
Oral Presentation: 7 minute talk addressing issues raised by the seminar reading/question and handout.
Formative 2
Oral Presentation and response to class questions. (7 minutes)
This should be an individual or pair-work presentation of a utopian scheme devised by the presenters.
Section 8a - Summative Assessment
Assessment
Type
Percentage
(%)
Assignment
Deadline
Return
date
Nature of feedback
Coursework
80%
July 2014
Sept
2014
Written comments and grade
Presentation
Handout
20%
Assignment detail (e.g. title, type, course test length, word limit, presentation length)
Essay:
The essay should be 2,800 words and submitted by 23 July 2014.
Some advice on writing essays for this module:
This is NOT like English literature where quotations are an important part of the essay technique: it is only
necessary to use quotations if you think they are very striking (like the `purge, expel, banish, kill' quotation
from Popper) or if they convey their meaning with an economy of words - something like `everyone shall take
what he needs from the common store' (More). Quotations are costly in terms of using up words and if you
can paraphrase something in fewer words you have more space to say other things. However, the occasional
quotation helps convince the reader that you've read the book and not just someone else's account of it.
The use of examples: obviously, you need enough examples from actual utopias to illustrate your arguments;
it may be possible to summarise or combine examples, i.e. `both More and Morris believed in the importance
of everyone taking a share in agricultural work'.
Ideally there should be a balance between arguments about the `themes' which we've discussed - work,
property, law, and so on - and references to utopias which illustrate these themes. Ideally you would also add
references to academic books or articles which throw light on the question you are discussing.
The form of the essay should be the familiar one: introduction (including examining any terms in the essay title
which require definition); develop the argument - referring to utopias where relevant; the case against the
argument (if there is one) or an evaluation of the argument; conclusion.
Presentation hand-out
Credit will be given for its structure, contents, conciseness, sources and usefulness to other members of the class
as a learning tool. The presentation hand-out should be 1,200 words approximately and should be handed in for
final assessment on 18 July 2014.
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Plagiarism
You should familiarise yourself with the University definition of plagiarism and be aware of the procedures and
penalties for plagiarised work.
Collusion is the attempt to pass off the work of two or more students as the work of one and is also regarded
seriously and is liable to similar punishment.
For more information on plagiarism and collusion go to: http://www.uea.ac.uk/plagiarism/plagiarismpolicy
Section 8b - Assessment of module outcomes
Learning
Outcomes
Formative
Assessment 1
Formative
Assessment 2
Summative
Assessment 1
Summative
Assessment 2
List
outcomes
To successfully
produce and
deliver a
presentation on a
question relating to
utopias/dystopias
and to respond
effectively to
questions from
the group.
To plan and deliver
a short account of
a utopian idea from
the student’s own
imagination and to
describe and
convey the
potential
force/appeal of this
idea/scheme to
colleagues and to
defend its
relevance.
To produce an
essay that satisfies
formal academic
conventions and
draws on scholarly
engagement. It
should be properlyannotated, wellstructured and
written. It should
make a case which
is clear and
persuasive, and be
supported by
appropriate
evidence.
To produce a short handout which is a helpful
study aid to the other
members of the group.
Although shorter, it
should have similar
qualities to an essay,
exhibiting good
organisation of ideas,
appropriate annotation
and clarity/accuracy of
expression.
Section 9 – Employability
Research skills
Teamwork
Communication
Presentation
Students will learn to
draw on a wide range
of materials & sources
to construct and
present an argument.
Students will be
required to work in
pairs and groups
throughout the
module. Pair/group
work will include
both discussion of
seminar questions,
analysis of worksheets and, for those
who choose this
format, in the
construction and
delivering of a
personal
utopian scheme.
Students will gain
experience articulating
their ideas through class
discussions,
presentations
and writing.
Students will improve the skills
necessary to present their work
and to respond to questions
from their colleagues and the
seminar leaders. They will have
practised taking the lead in a
debate and raise and respond
to questions, and devise handout to accompany a talk.
International Summer School module outline 2014
Page 12 of 12