Teaching and Learning in Archaeology
We use an incredibly wide range of teaching and learning methods in our Archaeology courses. All modules have a core of lectures and seminars (usually between 24 and 36 hours in total for each 20 credit module) supported by a variety of other learning activities including fieldtrips, workshops, laboratory or classroom practical activities and fieldwork. There are also scheduled hours for personal tutorials or group surgeries with the teaching staff.
Lectures provide key knowledge and a guide through the core literature and current developments in the field of study, while seminars provide a forum for discussion of key readings or vital debates in the subject. Seminars can also be used as sessions to familiarise students with specific types of artefacts or may be the context in which oral presentations are given.
Many of our modules involve fieldtrips – lecturing in the field at archaeological sites, in historic landscapes and at museums. Practical activities are also a part of many of our modules, from practising surveying techniques to learning how to record and analyse archaeological sites, landscapes, buildings and objects.
Our students are also assessed in a wide variety of ways, including through essays and written project work, examinations, artefact identification tests, fieldwork diaries, oral presentations to the class, and, in the final year, dissertations. Dissertations provide an opportunity for an extended research project and the student decides the topic in collaboration with a member of staff – some projects revolve around written sources (books, academic articles, etc), some draw on archives (e.g. of maps), some involve field study or artefact analysis. Some assessment is formative (e.g. most of the oral presentations) and provides feedback to guide students as they prepare a written report on the same topic.
These forms of teaching and learning provide our students with a wide range of transferable skills much sought after by employers – from collecting and analysing information to giving presentations and writing written reports, from working on their own initiative to working in a team and leading a group of people.
