Curriculum Information

Document Version

QAA Benchmarks

Educational Aim

Learning Outcomes

Course Structure

Level 3 Modules

Teaching and Assessment

Learning and Teaching Methods

Employer Engagement

Means of Assessment

Though our range of innovative assessments, students develop skills in production and communication that go beyond the traditional essay and exam to foster genuine graduate attributes.  There are no exams on our course thus underlining the way that the skills and knowledge tested on our modules surpass recollection of facts to require instead the human skills of discernment, judgement, empathy, respect, moral reasoning, and the evaluation of causation and consequences.  This is paired with a high level of capability in digital media and fluency in the use of AI to produce a distinctive portfolio of outputs that gives our graduate a competitive edge in the employment market.  Outputs including poster presentations, digital story maps, heritage guides, videos, and curated exhibitions facilitate the development of competence in these formats to develop students’ digital literacy and thus covers the six JISC requirements for digital capability.  Other outputs including oral presentations (synchronous and asynchronous), vivas, and podcasts nurture their spoken communication, ability to sustain and defend a line of reasoning, and skills of persuasion.  These assessment formats are not merely bolted on to replace essays; they are instead embedded into the practice of communicating history to diverse audiences, so that their variety advances student’s progress within the discipline and their potential to collaborate effectively across disciplines.  Of course, History graduates are valued for their ability to write clearly, accurately and convincingly thus the assessment menu causes students to hone excellent written communication through the production of book reviews, document analyses, essays, and a dissertation.  As students progress through the levels, they are challenged to take increasing responsibility for the focus and format of their work.  By level 6 they are able to negotiate a specific research question with the module tutor and choose the format in which they will present the findings of their research.  The skills learned, honed and demonstrated through our assessments provide a training and set of attributes that enhance our graduates’ attractiveness to employers. 

Learning Support

The leaning and teaching strategies we employ draw on andragogy and constructivism (including social constructivism, Gestalt, and Vygotsky), the blend of which is contingent on the specificities of a given module.  Our approach recognises that our learners are adults (albeit often young adults) who bring prior learning and life experiences to university to which they can add and apply new learning.  Foregrounding the connections between what the learners bring and the topic being studied and recognising broader patterns fosters motivation and deeper learning with the aim being to develop learners’ heutogogy as independent lifelong learners.  Given that adult learners need to know why something matters before they commit to learning it, our content is linked emphatically to present-day concerns and questions and to graduate skills.  Cognisant of the socio-cultural theory of learning, the staff team take care to establish and nurture a positive learning environment and culture that responds to diverse learning needs and styles rather than relying on one particular format.  Our classes are not divided formally into lectures and seminars thus our engagement with learners is flexible and bespoke, pivoting and progressing seamlessly between students’ findings from directed study, teacher-led input, students’ responses to content, close work on primary sources, discussion, checking learning, and setting up post-session tasks. The interplay between supervised and directed work on primary sources enables us as tutors to identify learners’ zone of proximinal development to support them to bridge the gap between what they can and cannot yet do.  This way, learning is scaffolded over the course of a module to facilitate progress through scoping and instruction, learner-driven and learner-controlled activities, to competence.  We also embrace the possibilities of critical pedagogy (andragogy) inherent in the teaching of history through which the Euro-patriarchal biases of knowledge can be challenged and social justice promoted.   

Course Exit Points

Progression Route

Entry Requirements

Admission to the course is typically through the following qualifications:

Inclusive Curriculum Statement

The University of South Wales operates a policy of inclusive learning, teaching and assessment to ensure that all students have an equal opportunity to fulfil their educational potential. Course teams will have considered ways of designing out any potentially disadvantageous element of courses during the course design process. However some specific needs may remain, details about how to apply to have your needs assessed can be found at: http://unilife.southwales.ac.uk/pages/3040-disability-and-dyslexia-service/

Addendum for Delivery at a Partner Institution

N/A