PER4033 - Studying Religion and Spirituality

Objectives:

Assessment tasks are designed to enable students to demonstrate the Learning and Employability outcomes for the relevant level of study. Level Learning Outcomes are embedded in the assessment task(s) at that level. This enables a more integrated view of overall student performance at each level.

Content:

This module introduces you to theories and methods utilised in the study of religion and spirituality, and to the application of these to recent debates in the subject. It includes an overview of significant approaches to the study of religion and spirituality, such as sociology of religion, and the theoretical tools for interpreting and understanding contested categories, including “world religions”, “new religion”, “cult”, “Pagan”, etc., in relation to key issues in the modern world leading to a presentation on a negotiated topic investigating the conceptual frameworks employed in law, politics, media, etc., for determining what counts as a “religion”, “cult” or simply “made-up” In semester two, you will have the opportunity to carry out original research by creating and applying two sociological research methods to an agreed-upon topic relevant to the study of religion and spirituality. These methods would typically be the questionnaire and the interview to understand differences between quantitative and qualitative methods and how these are constructed to produce data.

Learning and Teaching Information:

The course will be taught in plenary sessions which will make use of a blend of teaching and learning methods. These will normally include lecture-style presentations by the tutor; seminar-style discussions and debates; workshops on producing sociological methods; and other exercises as appropriate. Guidance on reading and assessments will be given in class and supported where appropriate by VLE and other electronic resources.

You will be taught using LTU’s multimodal approach to teaching. Your learning will be divided into three stages:

Preparation: You will be given clear tasks to support you in preparing for live, in-person teaching. This may include watching a short, pre-recorded lecture (or other open educational resource), reading a paper or text chapter, finding resources to discuss with your peers in class, reading and commenting on a paper or preparing other material for use in class. Your Module Tutor will give you information to help you understand why you are completing an activity and how this will be built on during live, in-person teaching.

Live: All your live, in-person teaching will be designed around active learning, providing you with valuable opportunities to build on preparation tasks and interact with staff and peers, as well as helping you to deepen your understanding, apply knowledge and surface any misunderstandings.

Post: Follow-up activities will include clear opportunities for you to check understanding and apply your learning to a new situation or context. These activities will also be a source of feedback for staff that will inform subsequent sessions.

Lectures, Seminars and Workshops
Hours: 48
Intended Group Size: 30

Guided independent study
Hours: 252

Further details relating to assessment
Presentations can be done individually or in pairs debating a classification of religion issue (e.g. whether x is a religion or not). Presentation topics are negotiated.

The Report would normally include an analysis of the results from using two types of social research methods, such as a short questionnaire and a follow-up interview, with the inclusion of graphics to show some of the results, a comparison of the methods employed and, as an appendix, a copy of the questionnaire, and details of the interviews.

Formative Assessment: in class you will compare and evaluate two scholarly approaches to, and definitions of, religion, which acts as a diagnostic essay early on in the programme. For the Report, you will test out your research methods with peers before the final submission of the Report.

Tutorials are available for all assessments.

Assessment:

001 Presentation; 10 minutes; end of semester 1 50%
002 Report; 2,000 words; end of semester 2 50%

Fact File

Module Coordinator - Suzanne Owen
Level - 4
Credit Value - 30
Pre-Requisites - NONE
Semester(s) Offered - 4YL

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