Innovative Modules
This section showcases innovative modules/courses for undergraduates and postgraduates in different HE History settings.
Posts include environmental history, global history, regionalism and minority nationalism in modern Europe, and ways to decolonise the curriculum. Posts give details of the student year group, an outline of the module structure, modes of assessment and some key readings.
We welcome contributions to this section that reflect on academic content as well as activities which facilitate student inclusion, engagement and progression; discuss the ways in which the module enhances students’ conceptual understanding of the discipline; or critically appraise how the module enhances skills, graduate attributes and cultural capabilities.
We hope to assemble a series of accounts of innovative modules as a resource for teachers to refresh their own modules or take inspiration from these case studies to devise their own.
If you would like to contribute a module to this section, please get in touch using the contact form.
Browse the Resources
History and Sustainability: Learning together with ICT students
In this post, Laura Harrison describes her recent project at the University of the West of England to introduce History content to undergraduate courses in Information, Communications and Technology (ICT). As Laura notes, historians think long and hard...
New directions for History teaching: insights from the RHS Teaching fellowships 2023-24
Launched in 2023, the Royal Historical Society's Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships support historians in UK Higher Education who wish to introduce new approaches to their teaching. Fellowships may also support those seeking to undertake a short study of an...
Towards a creative antifascist pedagogy: zine-making in the classroom
In this post, Amy King discusses her innovative teaching methods on far-right political groups, past and present. Amy's undergraduate modules explore the themes of this topic, the ways in which far-right ideologies are distributed, and limitations in use of...
Teaching Soviet History from the Borderlands: A Case Study of Belarus and Ukraine
How can we 'decolonise the curriculum' when it comes to the history of the Soviet Union? How do we decentralise our historical approach to former-Soviet states? In this post Natalya Chernyshova discusses the importance of these questions for modern historians...
Studying history in a secure environment: legacies, challenges, opportunities
In July, Rosalind Crone was awarded this year's Royal Historical Society's Innovation in Teaching Prize, for the creation of Exploring the History of Prisoner Education, an open online course for the Open University which launched in October 2022. The 8-session...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 6 – ‘Creativity in History Curricula’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 5 – ‘Module Design and Delivery: Challenges and Opportunities’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
New to Teaching History 2022: An Interactive Workshop, Part 3 – ‘Small Group Teaching in History’
In September 2022 the Royal Historical Society, in partnership with History UK, organised an interactive workshop hosted by Professor Jamie Wood (Lincoln). This workshop aimed to open discussions on the challenges and opportunities of teaching History at UK...
Putting the Past in its Place: Teaching Environmental History in the Age of the Anthropocene
In this post, Karen Jones, Professor of Environmental and Cultural History at the University of Kent, provides a brief methodological introduction to the field of environmental history, together with a short reflection on teaching innovation and practice. She draws...
Small Group Teaching in a Large Class: ‘Understanding History’
In this post Dr Marcus Collins, Senior Lecturer in Cultural History at the University of Loughborough, shares his knowledge and experience of teaching the course 'Understanding History', a compulsory module for second-year undergraduates which aims to develop the...
Teaching Black and South Asian British Histories
In the current political juncture, we are witnessing wide-ranging calls to decolonise the curriculum. Many are now campaigning to ensure that history teaching within the UK incorporates histories of British imperialism and, more specifically, Black British History....
‘Imagined Communities’: Regionalism and Minority Nationalism in Modern Europe
In this guest post, Dr Andrew Smith, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary History & Politics at the University of Chichester, shares and reflects on a module he created for undergraduate-level students at university. The module introduced students to unfamiliar...
Teaching World History
What does world history look like if you approach it through a BA History programme focused on the histories of Asia, Africa and the Middle East? What are the challenges of introducing such an approach to students who have, up until they join the programme, largely...
Beginning with Unfamiliarity – Justin Bengry
Dr Justin Bengry is a cultural historian specialising in history of sexualities and the queer past. Lecturer in Queer History at Goldsmiths, University of London, he convenes the MA in Queer History, the first masters course of its kind. He was the lead researcher on...