Sharon’s group-work project is an example of co-creation, offering students autonomy to create their own project and developing their sense of belonging. Catering to different learning styles, students develop a range of academic skills, learn about the decolonisation of the heritage sector and choose how to participate in the assessment.

Teaching area

Workshops

Course

History core Level 4 module: Making of the Modern World. One workshop every two weeks.
There are about 100 mostly white UK students, with some ethnic diversity. It is the second year that we have run this project.

Description

For the whole module, students work in groups on a consultancy project for a local Brighton heritage organisation. A key purpose of the module is to encourage students to think about their career and employability skills – they gain transferable skills they can add to their CV, and heritage is an employment area for history graduates. This year, the organisation is the Old Police Cells Museum, run by director Ollie Knight. The museum is redesigning some of its exhibitions, and the students are tasked with preparing a proposal to design one corridor of the exhibition.

In the first workshop, I give an overview of what they need to do. Ollie sets out the brief and Tim Bradshaw, one of our Careers and Employability Consultants, explains to the students how to undertake a consultancy project. Tim also goes through some of the models for managing group work successfully and describes how participants can add this project to their CV. The students have a session with Ollie at the museum early in the term and communicate their findings to anyone in the team who hasn’t been able to attend.

Setting up the groups

I put the teams together, but I give students the opportunity to work with people that they know. I try to create a gender balance within the groups if possible. There are five or six students in each group, and they select a team leader. I tell them this isn’t a dictatorship! I encourage them to work collaboratively, with a non-hierarchical structure. The team leader’s responsibility is to help manage communications between me, the employer and the team, and to ensure the project is progressing smoothly. Communication skills are an important aspect of the project; we remind students to use formal language in emails, for example. This is good practice and a useful employability skill.

The workshops are split into teaching presentations for the first hour and group work in the second. Either I or a colleague in the History department gives the lecture presentation. In the Week 2 workshop, my colleague Chris Warne talks to the students about distilling the brief, suggesting they do it in the same way as historians undertake a primary source analysis – situate, analyse and evaluate. This helps to instil how they can apply their skills as historians.

In the second hour, the teams work on their proposal. All the work can be done within the timetabled teaching hours. Each group has its own meeting room, and I’m available to answer questions. They consider which themes to cover in the exhibition, how to use the material and how to gain an audience. The teams need to consider accessibility because the museum is small and located in a basement.

Decolonising and queering heritage

In one workshop, we look at public history, using examples from our department – projects with Brighton and Hove museums that lecturers are involved with outside the University. It gives the students a sense of what public history is.

We also have a session on heritage, but not from the traditional viewpoint that replicates the grand narratives of history. We discuss the shift in ideas about heritage over the past few decades, including decolonising and queering heritage, demonstrating how we need to use critical tools in history.

Challenging traditional narratives

In one session, we talk about the challenges of working on the topic of policing. Some students may be resistant to focusing on police history, possibly because of a historic event that might have been traumatic and violent. I explain that the Old Police Cells are creating a social history of policing, which is part of the fabric of the city, and we could think about the space in terms of reparative justice. We consider the injustice of police violence towards female, queer, and black and brown bodies, and think about how policing, like history, is not neutral. We are not just talking about police truncheons or uniforms – we’re discussing their impact on communities in Brighton and Hove. In their proposal, students can think about this aspect of the practice of history: how to challenge traditional narratives and not shy away from these difficult stories. We can use counter-narratives in heritage as a tool to promote social justice.

Presentations

Once the students have completed their proposal, they present it. Tim gives them training on presentation skills and we have a Q&A session the week before they submit their proposals. Each team pre-records their presentation. Although they are not formally assessed, we do grade the presentations and rank them. We send the top six to Ollie to provide his insights too. In the final week, we hold an awards ceremony, with certificates for the best teamwork, presentation and use of technology. (We added the technology category last year after one team replicated the whole exhibition in Sims and created a 3D model.) Last year, the groups came up with proposals for displays in both corridors of the exhibition, and some of their ideas were implemented.

There are some advantages in not formally assessing the work in this module. We explain that there is value in the project in and of itself, and students don’t have to worry about their grade – which can be a particular concern with group work. They learn to collaborate in a group, develop a nice working environment and take responsibility within their team. This can be transformative. The students can add these skills to their CV. Soon, however, the module will move to Level 5 and will be assessed.

Outcomes

Decolonisation of the curriculum

While working on archives and primary sources, students learn that diverse perspectives are needed in heritage work, and that their own views are valuable. They gain experience of inclusive practice.

Co-creation of the curriculum

Students make the shift to becoming researchers, gaining autonomy and agency.

Academic skills and student support

Students acquire key academic skills from group work and presentations, and other transferable skills, such as overcoming challenges.

Inclusive assessment

The project caters to different learning styles. Students realise that different skills are valued; some are particularly keen on research, while others are good at communications or design. Academic skills are not focused purely on being able to write well.

Fostering sense of belonging

Group work helps Year 1 students to get to know each other and promotes a sense of belonging. I have noticed that our Year 2 students know each other better from doing the project work last year. Teamwork boosts confidence too.

Comments

I find that some students love the module and others hate it. Opinions can be gendered because the heritage sector is female dominated, and some male students are not interested. Students can be resistant because the module is not assessed, although as Tim rightly notes, ‘Employers are assessing you on this!’

Feedback

I’ve really enjoyed the heritage project because it has made history feel more tangible: it’s a different way of approaching the subject, pushing you to use your imagination and helping you to understand how historians operate in the modern world. As someone interested in working in heritage in the future, this was a great opportunity to develop my skills and confirm that this is something I’d like to pursue, as well as adding some experience to my CV. It has been great fun to work with my friends on this project, and together we have been able to make what is hopefully an interesting, imaginative proposal.

(Year 1 History student)