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A Multi-Faceted Look at the Unseen City

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 September 2014

Maureen O'Brien
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame
Donald McNeill
Affiliation:
University of Notre Dame

Abstract

This article describes an interdisciplinary, team-taught introduction to the urban situation, called “The Unseen City.” The course began two years ago, as a three-credit follow-up to a popular Notre Dame program called “Urban Plunge,” through which undergraduates visit inner cities across the United States and experience urban problems firsthand. The aim of “The Unseen City” is to foster greater understanding of the complexities of the city, primarily through economic, political, and theological perspectives; and to allow students the opportunity to pursue their own particular interests in this field. To accomplish this, the course includes three major components: “experiential,” of which the Urban Plunge is the main element; “academic”—the class sessions, readings, assignments, and exams; and “specialized,” primarily accomplished through an open-ended student research activity. Each of these components is separately discussed, and the final section comments on some of the advantages and disadvantages of the unusual structures of the course, especially the team-teaching format and the expectations placed on students. A syllabus, with a partial reading list, is also included.

Type
Creative Teaching
Copyright
Copyright © The College Theology Society 1980

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References

1 The Unseen City - Spring, 1978” (a class handout).

2 “Center for Experiential Learning: University of Notre Dame, August, 1977” (an introductory report), p. 1.

3 “Urban Plunge '78” (a handout to all participants), p. 5.

4 “Unseen City Research Projects—Objectives and Methods” (student memoproposal), April 4, 1978.

5 The Meaning of Faith Considered in Relationship to Justice,” by Dulles, Avery S.J., in Haughey, John, ed., The Faith That Does Justice (New York: Paulist Press, 1977).Google Scholar