History in Practice: Embedding employability in the Humanities Curriculum

1. History in Practice: Embedding employability in the Humanities Curriculum Dr Alison Twells DEPT of Humanities

2. Community History (2003-present) Public history Heritage Community history Oral history Schools’ history A project for an external partner 20 credits, one semester, level 6

3. Applied History: Work and Community • Public history/heritage/schools’ history etc. • Project for external partner • Employability • Speakers • Careers management (input from SHU Careers Service) • 40 credits, 2 semesters, level 5

4. Applied History assessment • Report on presenting history to a public history audience • Presentation • Final report • Academic contextualisation • Reflection on project • Careers management

5. Student feedback 'I now have a much clearer idea of my own skills and the things I can do with my history degree, and of how to present myself to an employer.' 'I feel much better prepared to do my dissertation next year. I feel like I understand much more what historical research is about.'

6. That doing a history-focused employability project (public history project) develop students’ understanding of what is involved in academic history… Role of public history in developing a ‘signature pedagogy’ for undergraduate historians… Lendol Calder, 'Uncoverage: Toward a Signature Pedagogy for the History Survey', Journal of American History, 2006.

7. 'This module has allowed me to experience some of the processes used in order to be an effective historian trying to source information for yourself. It has put into practice many of the skills that I have used when researching essays, but has furthered these with me having to consider their usefulness and trying to create a more complete picture, rather than trying to answer a rather closed question.'

8. 'The module has given be me a better understanding of the purpose of history. In traditional modules we’re taught the necessary skills but never given a sense of why its important historians do certain things. The community history module has made me a more effective historian as I now have a sense that history and especially public history is important for shared identity and local communities. The module also gave me more experience in archival research which is invaluable and has allowed me to develop my overall research skills further. '

9. 'This has shown to me that the skills that I have been developing can be applied to real settings, yet many of them still feel superfluous and only necessary in the university setting. It is still good though to see how the skills can be used in some settings, it makes them feel more worthwhile.'

10. 'Through completing my own historical research it has enabled me to evaluate and critically analyse primary and secondary materials related to a wide range of historical events. This has extensively improved my written work through building up an argument and supporting it with empirical evidence that I found myself. I have also developed a broad range of skills including the ability to think critically. Historical research requires you to absorb a large volume of material and then think critically about the information presented. Through completing the project on the community history module it made me realise that these skills are valuable assets to have in the work place.'

11. Community History Archive for Sheffield and South Yorkshire South Yorkshire through time

12. Key issue: using 'employability' to develop discipline identity