This semester I have the opportunity to co-teach with Leigh Blackall on a University of Canberra unit, Business, Politics and Sport.
It is our first opportunity to co-teach and learn together with a student group at the University.
The unit is designed to:
- Introduce students to the varying aspects of corporate involvement in sport in its national and international forms.
- Determine the relationship between corporate groups and sports organisations.
- Examine the potential for growth within a corporate approach to sport.
The unit aims to familiarise students with the nature and purpose of political processes at various levels of physical activity, from recreational to high performance sport, and from local to international sport.
The course outline is here.
Leigh’s work on this unit has been inspirational … He has created a blog that includes the unit schedule and a Journal. There is a Facebook page and a Wikiversity page.
The unit has a Moodle page too.
We meet as a group for the first time on Thursday, 18 August. In addition to presentations Leigh and I will make we have some outstanding guests too.
We have guests from cycling, canoeing and orienteering that will help us explore key themes of the unit. All three guests give us a great metaphor for a learning journey together.
I am hopeful that the unit creates marvellous opportunities for serendipitous learning that help us with the unit’s learning outcomes:
- Explain the major catalysts responsible for the commodification of Australian sport.
- Communicate the similarities and differences between the commercialisation of Australian sport and international sport.
- Be aware of a variety of ways in which sport and politics intersect and
- Be equipped to contribute to public debates about the politics of sport in modern societies.
… as well as three generic skills embedded in this unit: communication; information literacy; and problem solving.
Leigh and I are hopeful that by sharing our resources in advance of our weekly meetings we will be able to use our ‘lecture’ time as a time to share and explore ideas about the articulation of business, politics and sport in local, national and international contexts.
I am hopeful that photographs will have a role to play in our unit. In discussing this photograph I am hopeful that students in the group will be able to share photographs that say something about their stories.
This might include reflecting on Claudia Michell’s (2011) discussion of Doing Visual Research.
