Module Information
Course Delivery
Assessment
| Assessment Type | Assessment length / details | Proportion |
|---|---|---|
| Semester Assessment | Oral presentation Students will give a 20 minute presentation with a 10 minute Q and A session. Guidance on this will be given in a seminar in semester 2. Students will be marked on both their presentations, the Q and A, and the questions they ask other presenters. | 50% |
| Semester Assessment | Analytical diary A record of the work during the work placement and a critical reflection on work-related skills employed during the placement. 3000 Words | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Oral presentation Students will give a 20 minute presentation with a 10 minute Q and A session. Guidance on this will be given in a seminar in semester 2. Students will be marked on both their presentations, the Q and A, and the questions they ask other presenters. | 50% |
| Supplementary Assessment | Analytical diary A record of the work during the work placement and a critical reflection on work-related skills employed during the placement. 3000 Words | 50% |
Learning Outcomes
Describe and analyse the approach to the conservation, interpretation, presentation, or promotion of historical material in the institution where they work during the module.
Be aware of practical issues heritage and public history organisations face and critically consider how these might be approached.
Link various practical experiences with key themes in the use of historical sources in the field relevant to the placement.
Discuss and outline how the period of work experience has enhanced various transferable skills, both oral and written.
Brief description
In this module, students undertake a work placement at an institution that engages on a daily basis with history and how the past is portrayed to the public. Students will take part in institutions' activities in preserving, recording, cataloguing and presenting history to the public. Placements will be 80-100 hours in total and can be over an intensive period or a regular weekly commitment over a longer period. Students are responsible for organising their own placements with guidance from their lecturer.
Aims
The module will give students the opportunity to undertake a work placement at a leading historical institution, on projects broadly relating to their theme of Masters study. Students will gain an insight into how organisations conserve, catalogue and display historical material, and engage with the public. Students will gain an understanding of the operation and policies of institutions dedicated to the protection and promotion of the material and written past, and a range of issues and debates around `public history and the ways in which the past is interpreted for public consumption. The module will also enrich the student's experience of other modules by bringing them into close contact with primary sources and with professionals dedicated to their preservation and interpretation. The module is explicitly designed to promote the development of work-related skills.
Content
In semester 2, students will undertake their 80-100 hour work placement, during which they will compile an analytical diary, which will enable them to reflect critically on work-related skills employed during the placement. There may be some variation in the timing of the work placement during the academic year, depending on the arrangements for each institution. There will be one further seminar to prepare students for their assignments which will be submitted in semester 2.
Module Skills
| Skills Type | Skills details |
|---|---|
| Communication | Students ability to communicate will be developed through their placements and assessed in both assessments. |
| Improving own Learning and Performance | By reflection on skills employed during the work placement. |
| Information Technology | Students will explore how digital technologies inform how heritage organisations operate during their placements. Where relevant, this knowledge will be assessed in the diary assignment. |
| Personal Development and Career planning | Through furthering understanding of the opportunities offered in careers relating to public history. |
| Problem solving | By understanding how public historians employ a variety of different methodological approaches towards conserving, recording and presenting historical material. |
| Research skills | By gaining an insight into how historical sources are used by various people and organisations, and by learning how to identify and utilise appropriate sources in the field of public history and utilising that material in their work. |
| Subject Specific Skills | By enhancing understanding of how relevant primary sources are produced, catalogued and preserved. |
| Team work | Through working with public history professionals in the institution where they undertake their placement |
Notes
This module is at CQFW Level 7