Module overview
In this core module, students engage with public history as it is currently practised across the heritage and education sectors. The module considers the roles of museums and other heritage sites within society, and the challenges associated with producing and practising public history. Within sessions, students learn how to effectively communicate history outside of the academy and take part in workshops where they develop relevant practical skills, such as lesson planning, podcast production, and exhibition design.
Aims and Objectives
Learning Outcomes
Knowledge and Understanding
Having successfully completed this module, you will be able to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of:
- a wide variety of secondary source material relating to public history, including theoretical frameworks used in the field.
- a wide variety of primary sources relating to public history.
- Public history, in particular the way in which historians communicate history to the public through various approaches.
Subject Specific Intellectual and Research Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- undertake a thorough critical analysis and assessment of a variety of textual, visual and material culture sources.
- apply your practical skills, structuring your ideas and research findings into a well-ordered portfolio.
- engage with historiography and theoretical frameworks, contributing to the debates relating to public history.
Transferable and Generic Skills
Having successfully completed this module you will be able to:
- research complex historical questions and communicate your findings convincingly and concisely in a range of media.
- utilise and develop your time-management skills.
- use to good effect textual, visual and material culture sources, synthesising this material to develop cogent and persuasive arguments.
Syllabus
Topics to be explored on the module may include planning a lesson for school pupils, exhibition planning, communicating history to the public, and the role of museums and heritage sites.
Learning and Teaching
Teaching and learning methods
Teaching methods include seminars and workshops.
Learning methods include skills-based workshops and discussion of key themes and ideas.
| Type | Hours |
|---|---|
| Preparation for scheduled sessions | 100 |
| Workshops | 24 |
| Wider reading or practice | 64 |
| Seminar | 12 |
| Completion of assessment task | 100 |
| Total study time | 300 |
Resources & Reading list
Textbooks
Fowler, Corinne (2020). Green Unpleasant Land: Creative Responses to Rural England’s Colonial Connections. Leeds: Peepal Tree Press.
Gardner, James B., And Paula Hamilton (2017). The Oxford Handbook of Public History. Oxford: OUP.
Woods, Hannah Rose (2022). Rule, Nostalgia: A Backwards History of Britain. London: Penguin.
Wiśniewska, Dorota, And Joanna Wojdon (eds.) (2022). Public in Public History. Abingdon: Routledge.
Dean, David (Ed.) (2018). A Companion to Public History. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Assessment
Summative
This is how we’ll formally assess what you have learned in this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Portfolio | 100% |
Referral
This is how we’ll assess you if you don’t meet the criteria to pass this module.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Resubmit assessments | 100% |
Repeat
An internal repeat is where you take all of your modules again, including any you passed. An external repeat is where you only re-take the modules you failed.
| Method | Percentage contribution |
|---|---|
| Portfolio | 100% |
Repeat Information
Repeat type: Internal & External