Aims of the course:
- To introduce students to travel literature – books and essays rather than journalism
- To familiarise them with the skills and practices of travel literature
- To encourage and develop students’ own skills as travel writers.
Course content overview:
- The course will familiarise students with a wide range of travel books selected to illustrate the substance, diversity and flexibility of this creative genre.
Course outline
Welcome week
By studying this week the students should have:
- Become familiar with navigating around the VLE and from VLE to links and back.
- Tested their ability to access files and the web conferencing software and sorted out any problems with the help of the Helpdesk.
- Learnt how to look for, assess and reference internet resources.
- Used forums to introduce themselves to other students.
- Contributed to a discussion forum to introduce themselves to other students and discuss why they are interested in the course, what they hope to get out their studies.
Week 1
By studying this week the students should have:
- Understood, by reference to published examples, what their own travel book, however formative, might constitute, in terms of the proposed journey and its underlying subject or preoccupation.
Week 2
By studying this week the students should have:
- Gained a sense of the importance of their opening paragraphs.
- Begun to think about their own place in the story they mean to tell.
Week 3
By studying this week the students should have:
- A better sense of the qualities they need to prioritise or develop as travel writers.
- Learned something of the degree to which these personal qualities might be ‘on show’ in their narratives and of the dangers inherent in self-portrayal.
Week 4
By studying this week the students should have:
- Begun to learn how to evoke landscapes and populate them.
- Learned how to deploy dialogue and description.
Week 5
By studying this week the students should have:
- A good sense of how accomplished travel writers successfully present their travel experiences; what works and what doesn’t from both the writer’s and his/her readers’ perspectives.
- Understood what obligations, if any, the travel writer has to tell the truth, however that is defined.
Week 6
- Assessment of student learning.
- Assessment of student satisfaction.
- Encouragement of further study.
Learning outcomes
As a result of the course, within the constraints of the time available, students should be able to:
- Show a greater understanding of travel writing as a form/genre
- Be better able to convey People and Place
- Be better able to structure a travel writing narrative
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):
Orientation Week: 12-18 July 2021
Teaching Weeks: 19 July-22 August 2021
Feedback Week: 23-29 August 2021
Each week of an online course is roughly equivalent to 2-3 hours of classroom time. On top of this, participants should expect to spend roughly 2-3 hours reading material, etc., although this will vary from person to person.
While they have a specific start and end date and will follow a weekly schedule (for example, week 1 will cover topic A, week 2 will cover topic B), our tutor-led online courses are designed to be flexible and as such would normally not require participants to be online for a specific day of the week or time of the day (although some tutors may try to schedule times where participants can be online together for web seminars, which will be recorded so that those who are unable to be online at certain times are able to access material).
Unless otherwise stated, all course material will be posted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) so that they can be accessed at any time throughout the duration of the course and interaction with your tutor and fellow participants will take place through a variety of different ways which will allow for both synchronous and asynchronous learning (discussion boards,etc).
A Certificate of Participation will be awarded to participants who contribute constructively to weekly discussions and exercises/assignments for the duration of the course.
What our students say
"I didn’t just learn about crucial elements to travel writing, I also grew as a writer"
"The course exceeded my expectations. This was primarily down to the most excellent tutoring by Jeremy Seal who went beyond the call of duty on many occasions."
"Jeremy was an excellent tutor, providing prompt feedback and the presentations were excellent. It was great to interact with both Jeremy and the others on the course and to read others' work. I have learnt a great deal."
"The pacing was great and the interactive nature of the class made it engaging. I like that the content for each lesson was also available in the text as it aided with accessibility."
"I enjoyed the content of this course; It was very broad and inspirational. We explored several different formats, from magazine and newspaper articles to classic as well as more recent books on travel. Video and poetry also featured. I feel well educated."
"The samples, then writing assignments really stretched my abilities, but helped me recognize I need to add relevant detail, while sifting out fluff. I don't think I understood the difference before this course. I'm still learning. This was absolutely wonderful!"
