Learning and teaching
You’ll learn through lectures, tutorials and seminars, with a growing emphasis at each successive level on student-led learning. Emphasis is placed on the need to analyse, discuss and deploy historical evidence in a variety of settings and not simply on the ability to memorise.
Modules are designed to encourage you to think about long-term developments and processes of historical change, and to make comparisons between countries and cultures. This helps you progress from the more tightly defined topics studied at A level. The modules emphasise historical questions that require you to identify patterns across time, or between countries, and to isolate common or competing trends, instead of concentrating on short-term or single explanations.
Each week you’ll have on average 1-3 teaching hours per module and will need to allow for additional hours of private study. You should expect your total workload to average about 40 hours per week during term time.
As well as attending lectures and writing essays and assignments, you’ll be expected to make presentations in seminars or tutorials. We encourage your presentation work because it involves you actively in the teaching and learning process and develops important life skills such as good verbal and visual communication and effective interaction with other people.
We’re actively engaged in introducing new methods of learning and teaching, including increasing use of interactive computer-based approaches to learning through our virtual learning environment (ELE), where the details of all modules are stored in an easily navigable website. Students can access detailed information about modules and learning outcomes and interact through activities such as the discussion forums and group wikis.
You can also make your mark on the programmes through regular student evaluations and participation in the Student-Staff Liaison Committee and the student History Societies at both campuses.
Research-led teaching
We believe every student benefits from being part of a research-led culture and being taught by experts. You will discuss the very latest ideas in seminars and tutorials and, in appropriate degree programmes, you will become an active member of a research team. All staff teach third year options which are linked to their own interests which include the study of the maritime and medical history, warfare and societal transformation, ethno-politics and environmental history.
