Track 1 - Engineering is living in a contested world
TRACK 1 - Phase 1 - The Problem of Technology (N. FITZGERALD)
Why are we nostalgic for old technologies such as vinyl and VHS? Why do the shiny technological futures of the past never materialise? And what will we do when the machines have solved all our societal problems?
Objective: To be able to reflect about the problems of technology and its various effects on human behaviours. Using tools drawn from Philosophy, Critical Theory, Literature and Cinema– you will explore alternative questions concerning technology. The aim is to encourage a more critical awareness of how technology can change societies for better and worse, as well as providing an opportunity for students to improve their English language skills in articulating complex and contradictory ideas about technology.
To achieve this, we will rely on a critical approach using various essays, videos and podcasts showing alternative views of the technology we engage with and what has happened to our past visions of the future.
TRACK 1 - Phase 2 - Violent Conflict (D. PAISLEY)
Objective: To be able to take a step back and analyze human conflict(s).
Using tools drawn from History, Geography, & Sociology – we will analyze conflicts at varying scales and times with a view to explaining them (and without recourse to justification or moralizing). In other words, this class aims at an objective understanding of the theme - and of cases exemplifying it - however difficult the achievement of this goal may be in practice.
The goal is to lay the foundation for a deeper awareness of the social nature of human conflict, as well as providing an opportunity for students to improve their English language skills in articulating what is often an emotional minefield. This last feature will push us towards more distant examples of conflicts – ones for which the slow passage of time has allowed a build-up of careful and reflective thought and, inversely, a cooling of the emotional white heat inevitably generated by such events.
Track 2 - Engineering is Creating Compelling Narratives
Phase 1 - Improvising Stories Collectively (J. Toulouse)
As an engineer, you will be expected to tell compelling and convincing stories in a wide range of contexts. This class involves guided improvisation theatre games/activities to explore and develop individual and group creativity.
Exercises focus on how to better listen to one’s partners ; exploring 4 skills of creativity - creating, building, repurposing, combining - through storytelling; using guided improvised storytelling as an effective prewriting activity; discovering techniques to use your voice to convey meaning and emotions, especially when using a mic.Phase 2 - The Art of the audio essay (Creative Nonfiction) (N. Fitzgerald)
‘...the essay is not a form, has no form; it is a game that creates its own rules.’ Michael Hamburger
Michel de Montaigne wrote them about cannibals, Bertrand Russell wrote one in praise of idleness, and Virginia Woolf has one about a dying moth. But what exactly is an essay and how is an audio essay (think podcast monologue) different?
In this 6-week module, you will read and listen to a diverse range of personal essays that are witty, conversational, reflective, and confessional. By exploring this 500-year old genre, you will interrogate a range of narrative approaches in order to have a better understanding of how this form can be a creative laboratory for your own thought experiments.
Track 3 - Engineering is convincing
Phase 1 - Critical Thinking (D. Paisley)
This phase involves using selected elements of critical analysis to better articulate and understand arguments. The purpose is both to develop your English language skills – particularly in relation to argumentation and critical analysis, as well as to engage more generally in the process of thinking critically.
Phase 2 - Debating (J. Toulouse)
This debating course will help students develop confidence in their abilities to research, prepare, present and defend logical arguments. Students will learn to debate individually and in teams; they will take part in popular debating formats like Public Forum and British Parliamentary.
Objectives:
- Become confident when listening to, presenting positions and arguments, and rebutting others’ arguments
- Learn to research and prepare for a lively, long, unscripted debate
- Learn to take notes and draft responses in real time
- Grow aware of nonverbal communication, use of voice
Track 4 - Engineering is navigating languages and cultures
Phase 1 - Intercultural Communication (Caroline Dawe-Coz)
As an engineer working or doing research in a global context, you will need to understand how to handle intercultural differences and how different cultures perceive the world. In this phase you will acquire useful tips on how to react to behaviours that you might consider strange, especially when it comes to communicating, leading an international team, making decisions, building trust, giving feedback or expressing disagreement.
Phase 2 - Business Communication - (A. NORTHAN)This phase aims to increase the students’ knowledge of the sort of general professional language, especially vocabulary and expressions, which are used in the company environment and managerial positions.
Special attention will be paid to the use of register, tact and diplomacy.
The students will learn how to write a status report (a very useful tool for project work and liaising with clients) and how to put forward their views tactfully.
After that, students can put forward and select the themes that would be most interesting and useful for them (formal meetings, negotiating, written communication in companies, research articles - similar to your final year reports).
TRACK 5: Engineering is considering geopolitics, the environment and culture
Track 5 - Phase 1 - Environmental geopolitics - (M. BENSON)
As an engineer working or doing research in a global context, you will need to understand the role of geopolitics in the 21st century work place.
In this phase, you will explore the geographically diverse impacts of geopolitics with a focus on climate, resources, energy, demographics and agriculture.
Track 5 - Phase 2 - Geopolitics and language - (C. DAWE-COZ)
As an engineer working or doing research in a global context, you will need to understand the role of different languages in different contexts.
Languages play a fundamental role in contemporary geopolitics. In this track, you will explore how language is tied to regional and national identity, how dominant languages wield power, language and the colonial legacy, language as a barrier and minority languages.
Track 6 - English Boot Camp (by invitation only)
(A. Northan/M. Benson)
The idea of this course is for teachers and students to come together to help those of you who are experiencing some difficulties with your written and/or spoken English. English is not an easy language to learn which can cause a lot of stress and frustration!
In addition, not everyone has had the same learning opportunities in the past, so this course is to help “level the playing field” and give you a boost for your exams and future careers in an enjoyable way.
This course is by invitation only.