• Home
• Study
• Study Information
• Modules
• Module Information

Heritage Placement

Module description

This practice-based module will give you the opportunity to plan and arrange a placement with an external heritage organisation in which you will work on a commissioned project. The assignment may involve researching a priority theme, completing skilled heritage tasks, or designing your own project in relation to gaps identified by the organisation. The module offers a hands-on approach to contemporary heritage practice, enabling you to apply your skills in a practical context and work with heritage professionals to complete an assigned project.

Module aims - intentions of the module

This module involves work with sponsors from the museum and heritage sectors on commissioned research projects that will develop both your archival research capabilities and your presentation skills for the public sphere. For the duration of the module, you will have an assigned supervisor who will support you in working with the relevant material culture, landscapes, heritage sites, communities, and professional staff. You will report your findings in a manner suitable to the project, taking care to consider your audience: for instance, by developing an exhibit for public display. The module provides employability skills in working in the heritage sector alongside practical experience of conducting a research project, developing your experience of completing a live project as part of a team and the related capacity to work autonomously to a specified timescale.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 1. Apply the principles of interpretation in a heritage context
• 2. Communicate information effectively to diverse audiences
• 3. Develop creative solutions to identified problems or challenges in a heritage context

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 4. Demonstrate an advanced knowledge of a range of contemporary heritage approaches
• 5. Demonstrate an informed understanding of key issues associated with historical interpretation

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

• 6. Demonstrate flexibility and the capacity to take the initiative when working on a project
• 7. Demonstrate advanced skills of self-motivation and effective time management

Syllabus plan

The module will involve regular meetings with an allocated academic supervisor and heritage placement provider, in order to assess your progress and adapt the project(s) as required. The pattern of the placement attendance will be agreed on a case-by-case basis with your supervisor and placement partner, in consultation with the module convener, but with the expectation that the module will be completed within 12 weeks (max.).

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Formative assessment

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Details of summative assessment

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Re-assessment notes

You may also do the placement in the referral/deferral period if approved by the convenor.

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

• Ashton, Paul and Hilda Kean, eds., People and their Pasts (2009)
• Black, Graham, The Engaging Museum (2005)
• Corsane, Gerard, ed., Heritage, Museums and Galleries (2005)
• Dudley, Susan, ed., Museum Materialities (2009)
• Hooper-Greenhill, E,. Museums and the Interpretation of Visual Culture (2000)
• Knell, Simon J., Museums in the Material World (2007)
• Lord, Barry and Gail Dexter Lord, The Manual of Museum Exhibitions (2002)
• Pearce, Susan M,. ed., Interpreting Objects and Collections (1994)

Indicative learning resources - Web based and electronic resources

ELE – https://vle.exeter.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=3219 

Key words search

Heritage, consultancy, past, historic environment, history, placement