Reading Responses
In advance of each class session, students are required to post a one or two paragraph response to the assigned readings. These posts should ensure that everyone is ready to engage in the discussion of each class session. If possible, please post your response at least two hours ahead of class so the teaching team and your classmates will have time to read what you have written.
Assignment 1
Students must complete a narrative analysis in week 3. Students are free to choose whatever narrative context they prefer; if nothing comes to mind, we suggest building on one of the following:
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Satrapi, Marjane. The Complete Persepolis. Pantheon, 2007. ISBN: 9780375714832. -
Tan, Shaun. The Arrival. Arthur A. Levine Books, 2007. ISBN: 9780439895293.
- Hashtag analysis (i.e. #blacklivesmatter or a selected presidential campaign)
MIT Student Example (used with permission)
Narrative Analysis: Persepolis (PDF)
Assignment 2
In the final two weeks of the course (weeks 5 and 6), students will be asked to prepare and present detailed analyses of an actual PAR case, with a particular focus on the methods used to gather and analyze data, the ways in which findings were validated and the ways in which the ethical dilemmas discussed in class were handled.
Additional student examples from previous versions of this course can be found on the Participatory Action Research at MIT website.