K+ Summer School 2017

Does the Telly Lie? Media and the Middle East is an interdisciplinary course allowing students to expand their knowledge and skills in government, English, and sociology. The course will guide students in exploring the role of media in society. Through the lens of Western news coverage of the Middle East, students will consider how knowledge and ‘fact’ are created in society and how they might evaluate truth claims. Students will wrestle with potential ‘myths’ told in mainstream media about a region generally portrayed as mired in conflict and be challenged to look “beyond the bombs” to consider biased assumptions about the role of gender, environmental resources, and democracy in the area. The course will build students’ specific knowledge of the Middle East’s religions, cultures, and politics while also encouraging them to reflect on similar issues in their own settings.

Through the final assignment, students will use the analytical reasoning skills developed in the course to critically evaluate a series of news articles and/or programmes. Students will compare and contrast stories from a variety of sources on a Middle East topic selected by them. Students will be expected to show an understanding of the broader implications of their own and societal understandings of and approaches to information. As such, emphasis will be placed less on the actual topic chosen and more on the reflective reasoning abilities demonstrated. This way, students will be given a taste of the evaluation processes expected at university.

Participation in the course will build students’ critical thinking while empowering them to be more active and thoughtful citizens of the world.

I got to teach this course at King's last week with their annual spotlight summer camp for widening participation students...quite possibly for the last time!

K+ at King's College London is a two-year programme of events, activities and academic workshops created to help support students' university application and provide the skills needed to reach their potential as an undergraduate student. One of the highlights of K+ is the Spotlight Summer School, complete with academic tutorials; information sessions on applications, personal statements, and finances; tours; student life taster sessions; and a trip to the London Eye.

Twenty Year 12 students gave me a riot of a time as we explored feminism and dress codes, epistemologies and academic politics, and censorship and Islam. As made evident below, the entire week was entirely serious.

Okay, so...there may or may not have been included in the festivities a visit from #thelittlestgeographer Rif Raf and a run through the fountains. But I'm not swearing one way or the other. Notice the students with books and giving presentations!! It wasn't all eating biscuits and rampaging through the Strand with a toddler...