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This course has undergone significant revisions since the last time it was taught. As promised on the prior evaluation, the syllabus and the readings have been modified and updated significantly. The older, seminal works in the field have been largely kept. But they have now been complemented with newer, more relevant articles. The biggest change, however, has been in the structure of the course, which now alternates lecture weeks with "seminar" style weeks. In the past, each lecture began with an overview of a topic/theory and concluded with several student presentations of supplementary articles. This was problematic, as in order for students to understand their articles for presentation, they also had to understand the theory/topic first. The old structure did not allow for that. Now, the students have a two-hour lecture on a topic. They must read four articles in anticipation of the lecture. The next week, they have a seminar, where they engage in a panel discussion with their peers. Throughout the course of the semester, they must present one academic article as part of the panel discussion. In short, the amount of reading and the compulsory assignment remain fairly unchanged. However, students now have more time to absorb the theoretical knowledge in anticipation of the discussion.

As can be seen from the reference group report, the students really want more seminar-style lectures and they were happy to get them in this course. They found the panel discussions challenging, but in a good way. Through the process of these panel presentations, the students are helped to hone their public speaking skills, which his quite useful for them during their MA workshop in the final semester, where they present their own research. For their presentation, they are required to read their own assigned article throughly, as well as the other three articles that are being presented. In this way, students are encouraged to draw connections across the texts and to sharpen their analytical/critical thinking skills. Another thing the students really liked was that we spent a lot of time critiquing the texts. This showed the students that academic authors are not infallible and that it is good, and in fact necessary, to keep a critical eye on the content and methodology of the scholarship.

NTNU:TIA:REST

Institutt for historiske og klassiske studier

Department of Historical and Classical Studies

Alle trykte og skrevne

Engelsk

Mer om vurdering

The students must pass the oral presentation requirements in order to be evaluated in the course. Evaluation in this course is a written take-home exam. In the event of a legitimate absence or a failed exam, students can apply to the Department of Historical and Classical Studies for re-sitting the examination the following semester. Students who have obtained a passing grade but wish to improve their grade have to register for class and sit the ordinary exam when the course is taught. Compulsory activities from a previous semester may be approved by the department. It is expected that compulsories and examinations must be completed in English. Exceptions must be clarified with the lecturer responsible for the course.

Anbefalte forkunnskaper

Bachelor's degree in European Studies and Foreign Languages or equivalent approved education.

Forkunnskapskrav

Faglig innhold

Who supports European integration, membership in the European Union, or other forms of close cooperation among European Nations? Who opposes this, and why do they do so? Which alternative visions for Europe exist beyond demands for more Europe and less Europe? This course analyses attitudes, preferences and behaviour of key societal actors on issues related to European integration and cooperation. We review public opinion, party politics, public discourse and social movements, and investigate how societal actors, such as individual citizens and political parties, relate to the European Union. We also examine how the issue of European integration is presented and debated in national parliaments and the media. This course discusses key episodes of contention in which European integration is at the forefront, for instance during referendums on membership and European Parliament elections. Additionally, this course looks at how we study contestation by challenging students to assess and evaluate empirical research on related topics.

Kursmateriell

Læringsutbytte

Successful candidates are expected to have acquired the following knowledge and skills:KnowledgeCandidates<ul><li>understand the varieties of attitudes about Europe and their grounding in various political ideologies</li><li>have a thorough understanding of public opinion and public debate about European integration, including the explanatory power of identity and interests</li><li>have a thorough understanding of key theories explaining attitudes and behaviours on European integration</li><li>have a thorough understanding of party politics about EU issues and of the involvement of civil society organizations and social movements campaigning on EU issues</li><li>have a thorough understanding of how referenda on European integration work</li></ul>SkillsCandidates are able to<ul><li>assess the reliability and validity of empirical studies in this field</li><li>apply relevant theories to political conflict about Europe</li><li>apply relevant theories and concepts in response to short essay questions on a take-home exam</li></ul>

Læringsformer og aktiviteter

Lectures. It is expected that compulsories and examinations must be completed in English. Exceptions must be clarified with the lecturer responsible for the course.

Oral presentation

Contesting Europe

Europastudier

European Studies (Master's Programme)

Europastudier - masterprogram

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The course has not been changed since the last time it was taught. Previously, I considered switching out the compulsory readings, as students complained they were dated. The problem is that these readings are seminal in the field, and getting rid of them might detract from the goals of the course. Furthermore, the students this semester liked the readings and advised keeping them on. There are several, however, that must be changed out and updated. It would be ideal to assign the students a whole host of readings each week: several seminal ones and several more recent ones, in addition to the non-compulsory readings. However, the students feel that two readings per week are enough and think that they cannot handle any more than that. Hence, future revisions of the course will have to figure out the right balance between providing a sufficient overview of the field and managing expectations for how much time students spend on the readings. Students also mentioned that there is too much of an overlap between the courses in the MA Program (Contesting Europe, Differentiated Integration) and the BA courses (European Identity, Norway and Europe.) We should consider

The students feel that the presentations are a great tool for practicing public speaking and wish to retain the presentations. However, they do not feel well-equipped in regards to methods. They have requested that we create a separate course for this. Alternatively, they asked for more "seminar"-like instruction and asked whether seminars are a possibility in the MA-level courses. Upon their request, I did hold a seminar-style statistics practicum towards the end of the semester and it was really successful for those students that attended. It might be worth considering incorporating this into the curriculum. They also requested to learn more about political parties, specifically.

One challenge to the current structure is that one class period is not enough to sufficiently cover the topic that is being presented and have two student presentations. Since the students clearly do not do the required readings, and struggle with self-motivation, they need to have the required readings covered during class time. Additionally, once the readings are explained to them, they do want to have a discussion regarding the readings. If we have the discussion, then we have limited time for presentation. All this being said, it may be worth trying an alternative format next year. One can alternate between class lecture one day and a full two hours of presentation the next. Alternatively, if we implement seminars, then we can achieve the same thing using seminar time for a deeper discussion.

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This is my first time teaching the course, with the intent of teaching it in the years to come. As such, even though there were some major critiques of the course structure from last year, I wanted to let the course run in the way it was originally designed to better familiarize myself with the logistics. Afterwards, I would have a better idea of which changes need to be made. As indicated in the last report, the major complaints students had was with the oral presentations -- the one compulsory assignment. Each student was responsible for presenting a scholarly article and fostering discussion of said article with the class. Each lecture would include a 45 minute talk on the major themes for that week, carried out by the instructor. The remaining 45 minutes would be apportioned among several students giving 10 - 15 minute presentations. Last year, the students indicated that they found the presentations to be a waste of time. However, I decided to retain the presentations because I felt that last year may have been an anomaly, given the fact that the course was delivered digitally due to COVID. Having talked to the previous instructor, it was obvious that students did not find digital instruction very satisfying, nor did they know how to conduct themselves in a digital classroom. For example, they did not turn on their cameras, even though this is a fairly small course of 25 students. Even the students that were delivering their presentations did not turn on the camera,

On the whole, the course works well, but there are a number of problem areas. The first major complaint students had last year, and this was referenced somewhat this year, is that some of the required reading are quite dated. While the students liked the overall structure of the course, this semester, the pensum should be considerable amended. Additionally, the students felt that some of the articles were too complex, especially those engaging with statistical analysis. The students suggested having a lecture in the beginning that focuses on quantitative and qualitative methodology. Similarly, the students felt that when the course starts, they don't understand how all the different topics/themes fit together. They would like to see a more thorough explanation at the beginning of the semester. Interestingly, the first lecture does exactly that. However, the students don't seem to grasp that information in the first week. Perhaps the instructor can create a concept map or flow chart that depicts how all the themes fit together, and that students can reference through the course of the semester. The students liked the compulsory assignment. They felt that it gave them the opportunity to practice their presentation skills and at the same time challenged them intellectually. They also liked that the fact that the preparing for the presentation was not as time consuming as some other assignments. Overall, the presentations worked well. However, there was significant variation in quality. Some students went on way too long. Others seemed to be reading directly from the article and didn't put things in their own words, thereby leading me to question whether they actually understood what the article was about. There needs to be a firmer set of guidelines for what constitutes a good presentation.

Who supports European integration, membership in the European Union, or other forms of close cooperation among European Nations? Who opposes this, and why do they do so? Which alternative visions for Europe exist beyond demands for more Europe and less Europe? This course analyses attitudes, preferences and behaviour of key societal actors on issues related to European integration and cooperation. We review public opinion, party politics, public discourse and social movements, and investigate how societal actors, such as individual citizens and political parties, relate to the European Union. We also examine how the issue of European integration is presented and debated in national parliaments and the media. This course discusses key episodes of contention in which European integration is at the forefront, for instance during referendums on membership and European Parliament elections. Additionally, this course looks at how we study contestation by challenging students to assess and evaluate empirical research on related topics.

Successful candidates are expected to have acquired the following knowledge and skills:KnowledgeCandidates<ul><li>understand the varieties of attitudes about Europe and their grounding in various political ideologies</li><li>have a thorough understanding of public opinion and public debate about European integration, including the explanatory power of identity and interests</li><li>have a thorough understanding of key theories explaining attitudes and behaviours on European integration</li><li>have a thorough understanding of party politics about EU issues and of the involvement of civil society organizations and social movements campaigning on EU issues</li><li>have a thorough understanding of how referenda on European integration work</li></ul>SkillsCandidates are able to<ul><li>assess the reliability and validity of empirical studies in this field</li><li>apply relevant theories to political conflict about Europe</li><li>apply relevant theories and concepts in response to short essay questions on a take-home exam</li></ul>

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The overall quality of the course is excellent. This course analyses attitudes, preferences and behaviour of key societal actors on issues related to European integration and cooperation. We review public opinion, party politics, public discourse and social movements and investigate how societal actors such as individual citizens and political parties relate to the European Union. Furthermore, this course discusses key episodes of contention in which European integration is at the forefront, for example, during referenda on membership and European Parliament elections. Students are generally satisfied with the teaching and the assignment and the oral presentations are usually of a high quality.

The learning outcomes, below, are reviewed annually, are up-to-date and at regular teaching meetings we discuss the relationship between the intended learning outcomes in each MEUR course and their inter-relationship. The learning outcomes are communicated to students in Blackboard and regularly via lectures and when we discuss the exam/semester assignment. Successful candidates are expected to have acquired the following knowledge and skills: Knowledge:Students- understand the varieties of attitudes about Europe and their grounding in various political ideologies- have a thorough understanding of public opinion and public debate about European integration, including the explanatory power of identity and interests- have a thorough understanding of key theories explaining attitudes and behaviours on European integration- have a thorough understanding of party politics about EU issues and of the involvement of civil society organizations and social movements campaigning on EU issues- have a thorough understanding of how referenda on European integration work Skills:Students are able to- assess the reliability and validity of empirical studies in this field- apply relevant theories to political conflict about Europe- apply relevant theories and concepts in response to short essay questions on a take-home exam

The course was taught digitally this year. It worked reasonably well although it is not an ideal format for interactive, student centered learning. The semester assignment is an oral presentation which differs from other courses and enhances students presentation and other skills (with a view to employability). The exam focuses on bringing to the surface research and academic writing skills as well encouraging students to develop arguments in their answers. The learning environment is positive, friendly and encouraging of discussion and particpation.

The learning outcomes are embedded in the assessments. The oral presentations target many of the skills that students are meant to acquire. The balance between different types of semester assignment is important and oral presentations are good practice for the future labour market. The final exam focuses on research, academic writing skills and reflecting on the knowledge acquired from lectures and the literature.

The students must pass the oral presentation requirements in order to be evaluated in the course.

Evaluation in this course is a written take-home exam. In the event of a legitimate absence or a failed exam, students can apply to the Department of Historical Studies for re-sitting the examination the following semester. Students who have obtained a passing grade but wish to improve their grade have to register for class and sit the ordinary exam when the course is taught. Compulsory activities from a previous semester may be approved by the department.

It is expected that compulsories and examinations must be completed in English. Exceptions must be clarified with the lecturer responsible for the course.

Who supports European integration, membership of the European Union or other forms of close cooperation among European Nations? Who opposes this? How and why do they do so? Which alternative visions for Europe beyond demands for more Europe and less Europe exist? This course analyses attitudes, preferences and behaviour of key societal actors on issues related to European integration and cooperation. We review public opinion, party politics, public discourse and social movements and investigate how societal actors such as individual citizens and political parties relate to the European Union. Furthermore, this course discusses key episodes of contention in which European integration is at the forefront, for instance during referenda on membership and European Parliament elections.

Lectures. 

It is expected that compulsories and examinations must be completed in English. Exceptions must be clarified with the lecturer responsible for the course.

Successful candidates are expected to have acquired the following knowledge and skills:

Knowledge:
Students
- understand the varieties of attitudes about Europe and their grounding in various political ideologies
- have a thorough understanding of public opinion and public debate about European integration, including the explanatory power of identity and interests
- have a thorough understanding of key theories explaining attitudes and behaviours on European integration
- have a thorough understanding of party politics about EU issues and of the involvement of civil society organizations and social movements campaigning on EU issues
- have a thorough understanding of how referenda on European integration work

Skills:
Students are able to
- assess the reliability and validity of empirical studies in this field
- apply relevant theories to political conflict about Europe
- apply relevant theories and concepts in response to short essay questions on a take-home exam

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Contesting Europe - EUR3416