HIS10420 Field Trip

Academic Year 2020/2021

What is history? How do historians try to understand and write about the past? This course is an introductory module for history students in which we will learn about the fundamental toolkit of the history student and the historian. In order to do so, we will read texts asking fundamental questions about what history is and how and why the past influences the present. We will examine histories written using an array of different methodological approaches and sources. We will also take field trips to different archives and repositories in UCD and in Dublin, where we will look at and learn about the sources from which we build our narratives of the past: reports, letters, diaries, maps, monuments, artworks, architecture, sound recordings, photographs, personal memorabilia, ephemera, newspapers, and books.

Show/hide contentOpenClose All

Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

1. Demonstrate understanding of the major methods of historical research.

2. Critically engage with a variety of primary and secondary material.

3. Write short assignments and scholarly essays to the standard of a level 1 student of history.

4. Assess and analyse key themes, readings, sources, and debates in class discussions.

Indicative Module Content:

Topics covered will include: 'what is history?', 'how did history as a scholarly discipline develop?', 'what are the historian's tools?', 'how are archives created?', 'why do we remember some things but not others?', 'what is a primary source?', and 'is knowledge political?'

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Seminar (or Webinar)

20
Specified Learning Activities

100
Autonomous Student Learning

100
Total

220
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
This is a small-group, seminar-based module. It is taught through a two-hour seminar each week, and through a series of field trips introducing students to archival collections in UCD and in Dublin more broadly. The weekly seminar is focused upon individual active/task-based learning by means of class debates and discussion. Research, writing and citation skills are developed through a regular short writing exercises and a written essay. Autonomous learning is advanced through student-led debate and discussion of set primary and secondary sources. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Continuous Assessment: Over the course of the semester, students will complete four short written assignments based on the class readings and our site visits. Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

40
Essay: End of semester essay. Week 12 n/a Graded No

50
Continuous Assessment: Student participation and contribution in seminars will be assessed on a weekly basis. Throughout the Trimester n/a Graded No

10

Carry forward of passed components
No
 
Resit In Terminal Exam
Spring No
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Feedback on assignments is given in writing on the returned hard-copy. Feedback on the end-of-semester essay is given by appointment in one-to-one meetings.