Summary
The purpose of this course is to familiarise students with the content and basic theories of community development projects at the basic and intermediate level.
At the end of this course the student will be able to:
- Define the concept of community development and distinguish between community and economic development.
- Examine the impact of available systems on community development policy and practice in South Africa.
- Understand the role of participation in the development process.
- Investigate a range of community development approaches and use examples to demonstrate the strengths and challenges of each approach for the purposes of comparison (Range: Technical approach, Self-help approach, Interactional approach).
- Discuss critical issues to community development, such as: conflict in development, the role of leadership behavior, and the role of structures in community development.
- Discuss the challenges associated with rural development, inner-city development, youth in community development, and health care.
- Be familiar with the basic elements of the community development process in support of participation and decision-making informed by multiple perspectives and sources of information.
Subject Matter Expert
Modipadi Poincettia Thobejane graduated from the North-West University with a Bachelor of Social Science in Development Studies honour’s degree in 2018 and a bachelor’s degree of Social Science in Population and Development Studies. She is a lecturer and a research project supervisor at Damelin college for almost three years and is extremely passionate about the potential of communities once they are equipped with the relevant tools to address the problems that hold them back. Through her learning journey, she has seen the importance of studying a course that gets to unfold the nature and development of communities and the development of people. The best is seen in the eyes of those who want to help develop and grow better communities and the well-being of people.
Tutor Support
Each course is assigned its own Online Academic Tutor, who is ready and waiting to guide and assist their learners throughout their learning experience.
The Online Academic Tutor, who is assigned to your course, is trained to build each student up to reach their fullest potential. Students can expect their Online Academic Tutor to answer questions, offering advice and provide further clarification on any academic aspects.
Course and Technical Requirements
Course and Technical Requirements
BASIC REQUIREMENTS
To successfully access and complete this course, you will be required to have a registered email account, access to a computer/laptop/tablet and stable internet connection. You will be required to be familiar with using a computer as you may need to be able to read and download documents in Adobe PDF Reader, view Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, and read and create documents in Microsoft Word.
ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS
Our online short learning programmes may require additional software applications. These additional software applications requirements will be communicated to you in this information pack and/or on the website course page. Damelin Online does not provide any additional software applications required for online short learning programmes.
Please note: Google, YouTube and Vimeo may be used in our online course delivery. If any of these services are blocked in your jurisdiction, you may have difficulty in accessing our course content.
How We Engage with Students
Our online short learning programmes are broken into self-paced manageable modules designed to be interactive and engaging:
- The programme is available to be viewed on smart devices and includes mobile, tablets and personal computers.
- Relevant case studies, articles and recommended reading are part of supplementary resources available.
- Apply and evaluate what you have learned in each module with the self-grading quizzes and assignment submissions
- View a range of Introductory course videos by your Subject Matter Expert.
- Scheduled live webinars are included with the Online Academic Tutor.
- Network, collaborate and interact with your fellow participants and Online Academic Tutor via the discussion boards.
Certification
Upon successful completion of this online short learning programme, you will be awarded with a Damelin Certificate of Completion.