HS1HN: History Now

Module code: HS1HN

Module provider: History; School of Humanities

Credits: 20

Level: 4

When you’ll be taught: Semester 1 / 2

Module convenor: Professor David Stack, email: d.a.stack@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Jacqui Turner, email: e.j.turner@reading.ac.uk

Additional teaching staff 1: Dr Elizabeth Maeve Barnes, email: e.barnes@reading.ac.uk

Additional teaching staff 2: Dr Richard Blakemore, email: r.blakemore@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2025/6

Available to visiting students: No

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 8 September 2025

Overview

Module aims and purpose

History Now asks how history can help us to understand the world we find ourselves in. It also asks what role historians play in communicating history in a wide range of public cultural and political contexts.    

We will look at a range of current issues in the light of historical comparisons, asking what we can learn from history when debating these issues today. This aims to foster critical and well-informed engagement with significant issues, provoke reflection about the similarities and differences between current and past situations and discourses, and encourage students to consider sometimes controversial issues in a constructive and evidence-based way.    

We will also look at the public use of history in forms of public commemoration and in cultural contexts such as gaming, TV drama, and journalism. Students will gain an understanding of how historians contribute to public life, and will be engaged in debates and exercises which foster employability and transferrable skills. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Reflect on the role of history and historians in public life
2. Compare historical and present-day issues and controversies in a nuanced way
3. Present historic material in forms appropriate to different audiences and purposes beyond academia

Module content

Initial sessions each semester will familiarise students with the module and discuss the role historians can play in commenting on current events.

In the first half of each semester, three ‘Long View’ fortnightly sessions will then consider a range of current issues where historical parallels may be illuminating, and for each issue two or three case-studies considering that issue in different periods will be introduced by relevant staff through concise pre-recorded materials. Sessions could focus on topics such as partisanship and polarisation in political debate; news and media; race; migration and refugees; climate and environment; statues and memorialisation; protest; pandemics, lockdown, and health inequalities; law and order; freedom of speech; reproductive rights; poverty and welfare; or other topics – each year a selection of topics will be covered and links drawn with current issues.  

In the second half of each semester, we will look at the public use of history in specific contexts. In the second half of semester 1, three sessions on ‘Historical Interventions into Public Spaces’ will look at public commemoration of history and the decision-making and controversies that can surround it. In the second half of semester

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Teaching is based on guided discussion and group work in fortnightly seminars. 

In the ‘Long View’ sessions, pre-recorded materials deliver short case-studies of more than one period in relation to each issue, which can be viewed before class or in some cases watched by the group in class before discussion. Topics covered in the module are related to current controversies, so the module convenors and seminar leaders will establish ground-rules collaboratively with the students to ensure that class discussion is constructive and students feel comfortable. The focus of seminars will be on analysing the historical case-studies, aided by pre-reading and class materials such as primary or secondary source extracts; comparing the historical issues with the present day controversies; and considering how historical and other contextual information can inform our understanding of the present-day issues. Group exercises in class could include annotating primary sources; comparing opposed newspaper articles and identifying omissions and relevant contexts; and considering historical information which could be used to comment on relevant issues.  

In the ‘Historical Interventions into Public Spaces’ and ‘Consuming History’ sessions, teaching will again be in an interactive seminar format, including debate and practical exercises.  

A reflective piece at an early stage in the module will foster students’ active engagement with the broader issue of the relevance of history and what they are learning from their degree programme. A portfolio will enable students to complete a variety of exercises including authentic assessment relating to the uses of history beyond academia.

Study hours

At least 28 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 40% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each calendar day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three calendar days;
• where the piece of work is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in you Individual Learning Plan), the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three calendar days of the deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three calendar days after the original deadline (or a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment indicated in your Individual Learning Plan): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

Where a piece of work is submitted late after a deadline which has been revised owing to an extension granted through the Assessment Adjustments policy and process (self-certified or otherwise), it will be subject to the maximum penalty (i.e., considered to be more than three calendar days late). This will also apply when such an extension is used in conjunction with a DAS-agreed extension as a reasonable adjustment.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

A formative assessment in the Semester 1 assessment period will enable students to gain feedback before submitting the portfolio piece relating to Historical Interventions; there will be further opportunities to submit formative work related to the final portfolio in semester 2.  

Reassessment

Additional costs