This module introduces students to the discipline of history. It gives them an opportunity to explore the 'local' context around them and to link this to wider 'global' themes. It also provides an introduction to the use and interpretation of different kinds of evidence, backed up by use of academic texts on the practice of history.
The lectures will introduce the local/global and personal/professional framework of the module. They will provide an overview of the modern development of the Potteries, including the pottery, coal and steel industries, and the more recent 'post-industrial' strategies of regeneration through heritage museums like the Gladstone Pottery Museum, and leisure attractions such as Alton Towers. The lectures will also consider the use of written, statistical, oral and visual sources as applied to the local context. Where appropriate, speakers from the locality and with expertise relating to different kinds of sources will be invited to contribute, such as from the Staffordshire Archive Service or a local documentary film-maker. Consideration will be given to career and other opportunities that can arise from 'making history' through the project and a history degree. Advice will be given on the project including the selection of a topic and guidelines for presentation.

Project Proposal length 200 words [Learning Outcome 3]
Project-Individual [Learning Outcomes 1-4]

Bell, Judith Doing Your Research Project: A Guide for first-time researchers in education and science, Open University Press, Milton Keynes, 3rd Edn. 1999, The Potteries: Events, People and Places Over the Last 100 Years, Sutton, Stoud, 2000
Bird, Jon et al (ed.) Mapping the Future: Local Cultures, Global Changes, Routledge, London, 1993
Drake, Michael & Finnegan, Ruth Sources and Methods for Family and Community Historians: A Handbook, CUP, Cambridge, 1994
Edensor, Tim (ed.) Reclaiming Stoke-on-Trent: Leisure, Space and Identity in the Potteries, Staffs. Univ. Press, Stoke, 2000
Edwards, Mervyn Potters in Pits, Churnet Valley, Leek, 1998
Johnson, Ray The Potteries at War, Video, Staffordshire Film Archive, 1999
Jordanova, Ludmilla: History in Practice, Arnold, London, 2000
Phillips, A.D.M. (ed.) The Potteries: Continuity and Change in a Staffordshire Conurbation, Sutton, Stroud, 1993
Sarsby, Jacqueline Missuses and Mouldrunners: An oral history of women pottery-workers at work and at home, OUP, Oxford, 1988
Taylor, Alan Stoke-on-Trent: A History, Phillimore, Chichester, 2003

University computers for access to Blackboard.
Bookable (by tutor) computer labs with access to Blackboard provision or equivalent.
Recommended library books and journals and videos and www-related material.
Individual visits to local museums, libraries and archives for project work with appropriate reference to study guidelines.

The independent learning is supported by material and tutor and student discussion on Blackboard or equivalent VLE. The lectures will introduce the main themes of the module and guidance for the project. The seminars will generally be held in computer labs for group work using Blackboard. The purpose of the Blackboard component of the module is to support the resource-based learning required for the Project. It includes the Project brief, lecture follow-ups, text and multi-media material on the local area, bibliographic indications with www-links, and advice on research techniques and presentation. The VLE enables students to communicate with other students about their project and related issues and with the tutor, other historians, guest lecturers, a careers advisor and some former students who have gone into different careers using history. The tutor can use Blackboard to provide formative assessment and feedback as students report on their project ideas. The independent study should be used for regular access of Blackboard and research for the project which can involve visits to local museums, libraries and archives, arranging interviews, taking photographs, internet research.