Course content overview:
Do you want to write up your own story or that of a forebear? Do you want to produce a record for generations to come, or simply write for your own pleasure? Plan your narrative, make use of old photographs and other artefacts, and mine history to paint your own picture of the past.
This is isn’t a course about researching family history. It is primarily a creative writing course where students use their own family histories as source material. Learn how to find information, what you can draw from it, and how you might shape it to produce your own story.
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 of their studies and also to respond to news sent out on behalf of the tutors.
Week 1: A creative approach to life writing
By studying this week the students should have:
- An appreciation of the different creative approaches to life writing.
Week 2: The joy of research
By studying this week the students should have:
- Gained awareness of the types of historical records available.
- Understood what the records will tell you, and what they won’t.
- Explored five key genealogical sources (birth, marriage and death registers; census; wills; passenger lists; army records).
Week 3: Finding and using archives
By studying this week the students should have:
- An understanding of how to find sources online, and in libraries & archives.
- An appreciation of how to make the best use of their time in researching.
- An understanding of how to explore key sources for adding colour to writing (newspapers & magazines, private papers & memoirs, visiting where your ancestors lived).
Week 4: A sense of place
By studying this week the students should have:
- Learned how to contextualise a family story using places.
- Examined how other narratives or documents can support and inform a family story.
- Experimented with writing using supporting material.
Week 5: Bringing objects to life
By studying this week the students should have:
- Understood how objects can be used to bring a family story to life.
- Discovered how we can interpret objects – and photographs in particular – to bring emotional depth and how they can enrich our writing.
- Examined different ways in which objects can be incorporated into creative writing.
Week 6: Feedback and future directions
- Assessment of student learning.
- Assessment of student satisfaction.
- Encouragement of further study.
- Making your work ‘future proof’ – adding references and citations; depositing copies; writing non-fiction (i.e. articles for family history society journals).
- Where to take it from here – this is the end of the course, but it may be a beginning for students who want to pursue their family story to a ‘published’ conclusion.
Schedule (this course is completed entirely online):
Orientation Week: 18-24 October 2021
Teaching Weeks: 25 October-28 November 2021
Feedback Week: 29 November-5 December 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:
"The exercises were well-tailored and the writing assignments were the perfect scope and size to complete each week."
"I've done two courses with Derek and he is a first-rate tutor. His speed of response to our assignments was absolutely fantastic, and I always looked forward to reading what he had to say."
"I appreciated Derek's individual feedback on each person's writing, and in an online course it was very helpful that he was available and responsive throughout the week, not only on a particular day. It was helpful that we could read comments on other people's work, as in a masterclass, so we all learned from that teaching. I particularly liked the selection of published work we were given to read. The optional Zoom chat was a welcome opportunity to see and talk to others in person, and I particularly liked how Derek and other students shared recommendations of published memoirs and family stories which might be helpful or especially interesting to others on the course."
