JSB250 Political Practice, People Power, and Protest
To view more information for this unit, select Unit Outline from the list below. Please note the teaching period for which the Unit Outline is relevant.
| Unit code: | JSB250 |
|---|---|
| Prerequisite(s): | 72cp of completed study |
| Equivalent(s): | JSB379 |
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Timetable | Details in HiQ, if available |
| Availabilities |
|
| CSP student contribution | $2,174 |
| Pre-2021 CSP student contribution | $1,020 The pre-2021 commonwealth supported place (CSP) contribution amount only applies to students enrolled in a course prior to 2021. To learn more, visit our Understanding your fees page. |
| Domestic tuition unit fee | $3,456 |
| International unit fee | $5,592 |
Unit Outline: Semester 2 2026, Kelvin Grove, Internal
| Unit code: | JSB250 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | 72cp of completed study |
| Equivalent: | JSB379 |
| Coordinator: | Matthew Ball | mj.ball@qut.edu.au |
Overview
This course will provide students with a well-rounded understanding of political participation. It will equip those interested in working in policy or political arenas with the skills to comprehend various forms of citizen engagement, both within the formal political process, such as policy-making, and the informal political process, through protest and activism. By examining case studies and different approaches to political engagement, students will learn about political communication and the strategies employed by citizens, politicians, and public servants to shape policy and political outcomes.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Create campaign and communication strategies to generate change on topical political issues.
- Justify key approaches to policy campaigning drawing on scholarly and professional literature.
- Analyse the impact of different campaign strategies and social movement tactics in influencing policy-making and social change.
- Analyse the use and impact of technological developments in political participation.
Content
This unit will cover the following:
- Citizen engagement and political participation
- Stakeholder participation in policy development
- Political lobbying and interest groups
- Collective action and connective action and social change
- Political and advocacy campaigns
- Misinformation and public opinion in the Digital Age
- Global social movements
- Protest and resistance.
Learning Approaches
In this unit will learn by engaging in the following:
- lectures (recorded)
- tutorials (on-campus and online)
- online learning materials
- peer and group discussions
The unit adopts an interactive and case-based learning approach in which you are encouraged to identify, observe and critique political participation. You will also be provided with cases to analyse, being asked to develop strategies to manage real world social problems in groups and individually.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Feedback in this unit is provided to you in the following ways:
- a range of formative exercises discussed and undertaken throughout the unit
- feedback from peers as you investigate and discuss issues raised throughout the unit
- comments about summative assessment work included with your grade
- general summative assessment feedback posted to the whole cohort via the unit Canvas site.
Assessment
Overview
In this unit there are two assessments:
1. Campaign and Communication Strategy - Students imagine they are working for political or not for profit agency and design a campaign and communication strategy on a topical political issue. They consider the political issue, the role of the campaign the audience and the tactics. Students present the strategy via video recording and provide a reflection on the task.
2. Analytical Essay - this task draws on key debates in the field from relevant academic sources in relation to the essay question.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Campaign and Communication Strategy
You will take on the role of a campaign manager for a non-government organisation, preparing a presentation to your organisation of a campaign strategy with justification. Your campaign will be based on a topical political issue to generate change.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is allowed to help you study and find out more about the topic; noting AI-generated content may not be accurate, reliable, or may display bias. Any content generated may not be copied and included in your final submission.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
Assessment: Analytical essay
You will select and analyse a protest movement from around the world and discuss the impact on society and politics. Discuss how this movement could inform politics in the local context.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is allowed to help you study and find out more about the topic; noting AI-generated content may not be accurate, reliable, or may display bias. Any content generated may not be copied and included in your final submission.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
There are no resources that are required to be purchased for this unit. Resources will be available in the unit's Canvas site.
Risk Assessment Statement
Please be advised that some content in justice units may be confronting. If you are concerned that the content of a unit may impact your completion of the course, please see the unit coordinator. You can also access free student counselling through QUT Counselling via the QUT Student Homepage.
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.JS34 Bachelor of Justice
- Apply social and criminal justice principles to explain justice issues and contexts.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, ULO3, Campaign and Communication Strategy, Analytical essay - Collect and analyse evidence to inform decisions and recommendations in justice systems.
Relates to: ULO2, Campaign and Communication Strategy - Communicate justice and social issues in respectful, professional and ethical ways with other professionals and stakeholders.
Relates to: ULO1, Campaign and Communication Strategy - Assess technologies and their impacts on social and justice sectors.
Relates to: ULO4, Analytical essay
Unit Outline: Semester 2 2026, Online
| Unit code: | JSB250 |
|---|---|
| Credit points: | 12 |
| Pre-requisite: | 72cp of completed study |
| Equivalent: | JSB379 |
Overview
This course will provide students with a well-rounded understanding of political participation. It will equip those interested in working in policy or political arenas with the skills to comprehend various forms of citizen engagement, both within the formal political process, such as policy-making, and the informal political process, through protest and activism. By examining case studies and different approaches to political engagement, students will learn about political communication and the strategies employed by citizens, politicians, and public servants to shape policy and political outcomes.
Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this unit you will be able to:
- Create campaign and communication strategies to generate change on topical political issues.
- Justify key approaches to policy campaigning drawing on scholarly and professional literature.
- Analyse the impact of different campaign strategies and social movement tactics in influencing policy-making and social change.
- Analyse the use and impact of technological developments in political participation.
Content
This unit will cover the following:
- Citizen engagement and political participation
- Stakeholder participation in policy development
- Political lobbying and interest groups
- Collective action and connective action and social change
- Political and advocacy campaigns
- Misinformation and public opinion in the Digital Age
- Global social movements
- Protest and resistance.
Learning Approaches
In this unit will learn by engaging in the following:
- lectures (recorded)
- tutorials (on-campus and online)
- online learning materials
- peer and group discussions
The unit adopts an interactive and case-based learning approach in which you are encouraged to identify, observe and critique political participation. You will also be provided with cases to analyse, being asked to develop strategies to manage real world social problems in groups and individually.
Feedback on Learning and Assessment
Feedback in this unit is provided to you in the following ways:
- a range of formative exercises discussed and undertaken throughout the unit
- feedback from peers as you investigate and discuss issues raised throughout the unit
- comments about summative assessment work included with your grade
- general summative assessment feedback posted to the whole cohort via the unit Canvas site.
Assessment
Overview
In this unit there are two assessments:
1. Campaign and Communication Strategy - Students imagine they are working for political or not for profit agency and design a campaign and communication strategy on a topical political issue. They consider the political issue, the role of the campaign the audience and the tactics. Students present the strategy via video recording and provide a reflection on the task.
2. Analytical Essay - this task draws on key debates in the field from relevant academic sources in relation to the essay question.
Unit Grading Scheme
7- point scale
Assessment Tasks
Assessment: Campaign and Communication Strategy
You will take on the role of a campaign manager for a non-government organisation, preparing a presentation to your organisation of a campaign strategy with justification. Your campaign will be based on a topical political issue to generate change.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is allowed to help you study and find out more about the topic; noting AI-generated content may not be accurate, reliable, or may display bias. Any content generated may not be copied and included in your final submission.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
Assessment: Analytical essay
You will select and analyse a protest movement from around the world and discuss the impact on society and politics. Discuss how this movement could inform politics in the local context.
The use of generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools is allowed to help you study and find out more about the topic; noting AI-generated content may not be accurate, reliable, or may display bias. Any content generated may not be copied and included in your final submission.
This assignment is eligible for the 48-hour late submission period and assignment extensions.
Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is a commitment to undertaking academic work and assessment in a manner that is ethical, fair, honest, respectful and accountable.
The Academic Integrity Policy sets out the range of conduct that can be a failure to maintain the standards of academic integrity. This includes, cheating in exams, plagiarism, self-plagiarism, collusion and contract cheating. It also includes providing fraudulent or altered documentation in support of an academic concession application, for example an assignment extension or a deferred exam.
You are encouraged to make use of QUT’s learning support services, resources and tools to assure the academic integrity of your assessment. This includes the use of text matching software that may be available to assist with self-assessing your academic integrity as part of the assessment submission process.
Breaching QUT’s Academic Integrity Policy or engaging in conduct that may defeat or compromise the purpose of assessment can lead to a finding of student misconduct (Code of Conduct – Student) and result in the imposition of penalties under the Management of Student Misconduct Policy, ranging from a grade reduction to exclusion from QUT.
Resources
There are no resources that are required to be purchased for this unit. Resources will be available in the unit's Canvas site.
Risk Assessment Statement
Please be advised that some content in justice units may be confronting. If you are concerned that the content of a unit may impact your completion of the course, please see the unit coordinator. You can also access free student counselling through QUT Counselling via the QUT Student Homepage.
Course Learning Outcomes
This unit is designed to support your development of the following course/study area learning outcomes.JS34 Bachelor of Justice
- Apply social and criminal justice principles to explain justice issues and contexts.
Relates to: ULO1, ULO2, ULO3, Campaign and Communication Strategy, Analytical essay - Collect and analyse evidence to inform decisions and recommendations in justice systems.
Relates to: ULO2, Campaign and Communication Strategy - Communicate justice and social issues in respectful, professional and ethical ways with other professionals and stakeholders.
Relates to: ULO1, Campaign and Communication Strategy - Assess technologies and their impacts on social and justice sectors.
Relates to: ULO4, Analytical essay