ATS2931 - Making history at the museum - 2019

6 points, SCA Band 1, 0.125 EFTSL

Undergraduate - Unit

Refer to the specific census and withdrawal dates for the semester(s) in which this unit is offered.

Faculty

Arts

Organisational Unit

History

Chief examiner(s)

Professor Alistair Thomson

Coordinator(s)

Professor Alistair Thomson

Not offered in 2019

Prerequisites

Twelve credit points of first-year Arts units.

Prohibitions

ATS3931

Notes

The unit may be offered as part of the Summer Arts ProgramSummer Arts Program (http://www.monash.edu/students/courses/arts/summer-program.html).

Synopsis

How do we make the past into history? How do historical objects come to life in the museum? In this unit you will learn to think and work like a professional historian and museum curator. You'll work alongside Monash historians and curators at Melbourne Museum to research the history of a set of items in the Museums Victoria (MV collection. You'll research photos, objects, documents, oral history interviews or other sources. You'll produce an entry about a MV collection item for Collections Online - so that your research may be available for others to learn and enjoy.

Outcomes

On successful completion of the unit, students will be able to:

  1. formulate research projects and acquire independent research skills;
  2. evaluate a variety of primary historical sources, and approaches and issues in their use in the production of a historical argument;
  3. place secondary sources in their cultural, ideological and intellectual context by showing where they fit into the current state of historical knowledge;
  4. critique ongoing debates about the practice of history;
  5. utilise online digital history resources and produce an online history of a museum collection item;
  6. demonstrate a critical awareness of approaches and issues in the production of history in a museum.

Assessment

Within semester assessment: 100%

Workload requirements

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

This unit applies to the following area(s) of study