Introduction to Social Construction

A 6-Week Online Course with weekly live meetings
Sept 9-Oct 14, 2024, 11:00-12:30pm EST

Ayushi Jolly, Doctoral Candidate in Social Psychology at Jawaharlal Nehru University, India shares her experience: Navigating New Horizons Through Social Construction – A Personal Reflection, Fall 2023.

Facilitator:

Celiane Camargo-Borges, Ph.D. is a lecturer, researcher and practitioner working at the interface of psychology, community building, education, social innovation, organizational development, and design thinking. Her work focuses on relational forms of practices that enable the creation of environments where more effective means of collaboration and decision-making are enhanced. For a complete bio, click here.

Course Highlights:

  • Learning Social Construction theory, ideas and practices in an interactive, personalized and dialogical way
  • A small-group, intimate learning experience that generates long-lasting relationships
  • Participants from around the world that enrich the dialogue with diverse perspectives
  • An interactive and collaborative environment where everyone engages in co-creating new knowledge
  • Customized discussions on how each participant can bring social construction into their own work and life

Description:

Join us in this journey to explore how aspects of the world that are taken for granted are socially constructed, thereby opening space for alternative ways to engage in practice and with people. In this course you will not just learn about social constructionist theory and practice but also connect it to your own field of research, practice, or life and explore the positive impact that this paradigm shift has on society at large.

The course consists of 6 modules with material (articles and videos) to explore each week. For each module, participants are asked to meet with a different conversational partner (virtually, on their own time) to discuss the week’s topic. Each module culminates with a group discussion (following participants’ review of the resources and discussion with their learning partner).

The course is hosted within the Taos Institute Commons, a free and open-access online community with over 1400 members from around the world. If you haven’t yet, join us now! The course section of the online community will become accessible upon registration. This easy-to-use online learning platform offers many ways to connect with your learning partners and facilitator and makes it easy to access all course content and meetings.

Course Content:
Module 1:  Co-creating a Vibrant Learning Community Inspired by Social Construction
Module 2: Social Construction and Relational Process Theory – Basic Premises
Module 3: The Power of Language – How to Frame Powerful Questions?
Module 4: Creativity, Imagination and Innovation as Constructionist Resources
Module 5: Social Construction and Design Thinking – From Ideas to Actions
Module 6:  Glocalization and the Pluriverse

Weekly Meetings:
Mondays, Sept 9-Oct 14, 2024, 11:00-12:30pm EST

Course fee and registration:

  • Ambassador rate: $600. This level helps us offer scholarships and make our programs accessible to as many people as possible around the world.
  • Standard rate: $525.
  • Reduced rate: $450. Use this rate if the Standard course fee presents a financial hardship for any reason.

Registration will open in May 2024 and close two weeks prior to the course start date.

Cancellations:
Full refund minus administrative fees for any cancellations up to four weeks before class starts. 50% refund for any cancellations between two and four weeks before the class starts. No refund after that. 

Questions:
Not sure this course is for you? Still have questions? Contact us at info@taosinstitute.net and we will be happy to tell you more about what it is like to join a course with the Taos Institute!

What past participants are saying: 

Thanks to this course, I’m starting to think in terms of possible futures, not just one future. I focus more on my language and the power it has in creating new realities and relationships.

The conversations were just incredible… I really enjoyed bouncing ideas around, seeing other ways of applying this and it really broaden my thinking.

I have come across lots of social constructionist resources in my academic life but going back to these resources was really valuable.

You could really feel the relational flow!

It has been an inspiring course for me […]

It was so much fun to be in this group. It has given me so much for my studies, my work, my personal live.

I have tremendously enjoyed and benefited from this entire course and its process and many nice “miracles”- wonders have happened along the way.

The course validated my way of thinking and applying and I simply loved it! I learnt a lot! Thank you all!!

Great facilitation and organization and great team! Thank you all for sharing this journey with me and I have very much enjoyed being in a learning and exploring relation with you all.

Overall I would like to say how unexpectedly powerful this course has been for me. In fact I took the course without knowing exactly what it was about, trusting my intuition as I bought Ken’s book “The saturated self”.

The assigned and suggested readings were extremely helpful, as were the support and input from other participants. I especially enjoyed the individual weekly discussions with learning partners–and the way we had an opportunity to become partners with everyone in our “cohort” over the six weeks of the course.

It was very, very interesting to learn more about SC and I certainly deepened my knowledge, insight and hopes for the future. The relational self, the relation between SC and research are wonderful themes that were new for me.

I would like to thank you all for the learning journey. I learned a lot and it feels more as a beginning then an ending. A begin that is longing for more to explore and to process.

I appreciated the feeling of getting in touch with the rich resources. It is an important take away of the course into my daily life and work.

I really enjoyed the course and feel it was very helpful to my interests in learning more about Social Construction in general and informing my research directions in particular.

I dearly loved the conversations across the world. They were deep and intimate. The warmth of these connections stays strongly with me still.