The course is built around four thematic vulnerabilities. Each vulnerability is approached from two angles: the first is "conceptual", co-facilitated by an expert, and the second is "formative", with the help of a researcher in adult education.
The experts are either people who work in the field concerned (e.g., the cantonal commander of civil protection to talk about public protection) or people who are personally involved (e.g., a person with a mental disability to talk about disability).
The originality of the pedagogical approach lies in the fact that the external speakers did not limit themselves to a simple testimony within the framework of the course but actively participated in the animation of the course. This is particularly the case of Rui Costa Machado who, thanks to a partnership with the Swiss Association for Mental Handicap, is invited to share her experience with the students as a person concerned by mental handicap but also to participate actively in the teaching through a professional internship.
During this 6-week internship, Rui Costa Machado participates in the design and co-facilitation of class sessions with the teacher. At the end of each co-facilitated session, the teacher debriefs the trainee and assesses his or her skills using a matrix developed by the RIFT (Research Intervention Training Work) laboratory. The culmination of the trainee's professionalization process consists of designing the content of a session (on vulnerability due to disability in this case) and conducting it alone.
In doing so, the university allows its students to benefit from the experience of external facilitators, but also allows the external facilitator to benefit from a professionalization process, which is both conducive to the university's ambition of inclusion and, more broadly, to the development of the participation of the persons concerned in the activities of the Cité.
The evaluation of the course for students consists of a written work that can be prepared and handed in individually or in groups of two or three. This written work, which follows the structure of the course, is divided into two deliverables to be handed in one month apart, each counting for half the final grade. The first part of the assignment consists of a conceptual presentation of a vulnerability situation and the second part of the assignment consists of a proposal for a training device adapted to the type of vulnerability chosen.
