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PolyCIVIS Handbook on Participatory Methodsfor Teaching about the Polycrisis in Higher Education
Online full text edition of the handbook
Table of Contents
Prologue The PolyCIVIS Initiative for Polycrisis
Chapter 1 Gamification elements
Chapter 2 Serious play / playful design techniques
Chapter 3 Playful brainstorming techniques
Chapter 4 Lateral and visual thinking techniques
Chapter 5 Thick participation techniques
Chapter 6 Thin participation techniques
Chapter 7 Embodied participation techniques
Chapter 8 Arts-based participation techniques
Chapter 9 Making-based participation techniques
Chapter 10 Data-based participation techniques
Chapter 11 Cognitive style-based peer reflection / role-play approaches
Chapter 12 The JRC Polycrisis Exploration Workshop
Chapter 13 Challenge-based education approaches
Chapter 14 Service-learning education approaches
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Chapter 10
Participatory teaching for the polycrisis in Higher Education using: Data-based participation techniques
Preamble

This Chapter is part of the PolyCIVIS Handbook on Participatory Methods for Teaching about the Polycrisis in Higher Education. The objective of this Handbook is to serve as a reference resource for teaching about the polycrisis in Higher Education in a participatory manner, a need which has not only been foreseen by the PolyCIVIS project in its inception phase, but also confirmed and further substantiated in a number of meetings and workshops during the project’s lifetime.

This Handbook is not a coursebook to teach what the polycrisis is, but a methods book, to provide instruments for teaching about the polycrisis in a participatory manner. It is to be made available online as a multimedia live resource, presenting different participatory teaching methods for uptake by the Polycrisis-interested community in Higher Education, together with supporting materials such as method descriptions, references, examples and case studies.

The different methods proposed are presented in one chapter for each group of methods, which also includes, in the digital edition of this Handbook, a live survey to collect peer feedback from the community itself, on the usefulness and ease of use that community members (Higher Education tutors, students, researchers as well as practitioners) may themselves find specific methods to have within, and for, their own contexts and audiences.

What do we mean by thin participation techniques?

Data-based participation techniques involve learners and stakeholders in collecting, mapping, interpreting, questioning, governing or stewarding data. They include participatory data collection, participatory mapping, crowd mapping, crowdsensing, citizen-generated data, participatory dashboards, community data audits and participatory data stewardship. In higher education, these methods help students understand data not as neutral information, but as socially produced evidence shaped by categories, tools, power, access and interpretation. For teaching the polycrisis, data-based participation is essential because overlapping crises are increasingly governed through data, while affected communities may be excluded, misrepresented or harmed by data practices.

Indicative starter sources for information about these methods
  • European Commission. “Participatory Data Collection Tools.”: Practical overview of tools and approaches for involving people in data collection processes.
  • EndVAWnow. “Participatory Data Collection Approaches.”: Useful guidance for ethical participatory data collection, especially with sensitive social issues.
  • Mapping for Rights. “Participatory Mapping.”: Introduces mapping as a way for communities to document land, resources, rights and local knowledge.
  • SSWM. “Participatory Mapping for Decision-Making.”: Practical guide to participatory mapping as a decision-support tool for community planning.
  • Ushahidi: Open-source platform associated with crisis mapping, crowdsourcing and public reporting during emergencies.
  • Participatory mapping approaches.: General family of methods using maps to gather local knowledge, spatial experience and community priorities.
  • Crowdmapping: Uses distributed public input to create shared maps of events, risks, resources, needs or perceptions.
  • Crowdsensing: Uses people, mobile devices or sensors to gather distributed data about environments, mobility or crises.
  • Ada Lovelace Institute. “Participatory Data Stewardship.”: Framework for involving people in decisions about data collection, access, sharing, governance and use.
  • Digital Good Network. “Participatory and Inclusive Data Stewardship.”: Explores inclusive data stewardship, participation, justice, governance and real-world data practices.
Additional sources of information about these methods
Indicative participatory teaching scenarios for these methods

Scenario 1. Campus heat and care map

Students collect observations about heat exposure, shade, water access, accessible routes, cooling spaces and vulnerable locations on campus. They create a participatory map and discuss what the data shows, what it misses, who might be harmed by publication and how the university could respond.

Scenario 2. Crisis-data audit

Groups examine a public dataset related to climate, migration, health, food, energy or disaster risk. They ask: Who produced the data? Which categories are used? Who is missing? What uncertainties are hidden? What decisions might this data justify? Students then propose improvements.

Scenario 3. Participatory data charter

Students imagine a city collecting data during a flood, heatwave or public-health emergency. They co-write a data charter specifying consent, privacy, access, data ownership, community oversight, deletion rules and responsible use. The activity connects data literacy with ethics and governance.

Scenario 4. Crowdmapping mutual aid

Students design a fictional crowdmap for a community facing cascading crises. The map includes food distribution, cooling centres, emergency shelters, medical help, transport disruptions and misinformation reports. Students test how to verify reports, protect contributors and avoid exposing vulnerable groups.

Scenario 5. Sensor story critique

Students examine the promise and limits of crowdsensing. They imagine using phones or sensors to track air quality, heat or mobility during a crisis, then discuss bias, unequal device access, surveillance, consent and the difference between measurable data and lived experience.

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PolyCIVIS is a 3 year project starting from October 2023. It is funded by the European Union, Erasmus call: ERASMUS-JMO-2023-NETWORKS-HEI-NON-EU-AFRICA

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

PolyCIVIS

Confronting the Polycrisis in Europe and Africa through Research, Policy and Education

The PolyCIVIS Polycrisis Handbook

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