Social Connection and Disconnection (C8570)

15 credits, Level 6

Autumn teaching

Humans thrive only when they feel connected to others.

In this module, we will discuss why connection is so important, and explore its relationship with mental, physical, and social wellbeing.

You will consider various ways to achieve a sense of belonging, including less obvious ones, including:

• talking to strangers
• volunteering
• walking in nature
• listening to music.

You will discuss factors that make it difficult to connect, such as social anxiety, cultural norms and stereotypes.

Finally, you’ll examine a common consequence of feeling disconnected – loneliness.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 150 hours of work. This breaks down into about 22 hours of contact time and about 128 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.