Class time is of several types: lectures, workshops, seminars, presentations. ALL are essential for success in the final exam, and ALL are compulsory.

The purposes of this module are for you to learn to think about diversity in history, to learn information about the Silk Roads, and to learn how to handle material culture as historical evidence. There is a great deal to get through in each of these areas, and the module will be challenging for all concerned. You will be introduced to ideas that you will need to think about for yourself. You will need to gain a sound grasp of a great deal of often complex information about peoples and places previously unknown to you. You will be expected to put into practice the important historical skills of evidence collection, analysis and critique, and to learn techniques and approaches for handling material evidence from archaeology and art history. My goal is for you to get the chance to practice these things as much as possible in class and out, so that you are learning, reviewing and engaging with ideas and historical material throughout the semester.

This means that you will be required to prepare actively for most of the classes, individually or in groups. You will bring written work to many classes, and will take turns to lead workshops and seminars by presenting your own findings to your colleagues. So while class time is essential, you will also need to do a good deal of preparation work by yourself. You should expect to do around 12 hours a week of private study for this module. You should aim for some of this to be group study with an effective workgroup (you will learn more this way, and learn it faster and better), but the rest involves you sitting down and reading – and thinking – as much as you can.

The module is assessed 100% by examination. Let us be honest about the effects of this: it can be very tempting to try to cram all of your learning into the revision period. This rarely works well. Accordingly, I have designed the module with the intention that you will already have a strong basis for sitting your exam well before the end of the semester – and more importantly, for retaining what you have learned after the examination is over. As you are doubtless aware, this kind of "active learning" is the most effective kind. No matter how carefully you listen in lectures, no matter how much you read, no matter how good your notes, you do not really learn something until you have to do something with it. We will all benefit if the exam is not the first time you come to use what you have been learning.

NOTE: There's a lot to take in on this module, and a lot of work to do. If at any point you feel overwhelmed, or are not keeping up, or anything else, please come to see me straight away.

Lectures

There are not many lectures on this module, and they will not provide The Answers so much as the questions. It is your job to work out your own answers.

You will need the lectures to provide you with a framework of ideas with which to make sense of your own reading and group study. In the first three weeks I will provide background information, discuss crucial concepts, outline historiographical debates, and suggest ways of thinking about topics. After that what you get out of classes will be almost entirely down to you.

Workshops and assignments

These are intended to 1) help you assimilate and think about ideas (see Lectures) and 2) give you a chance to exchange ideas and try out new ways of thinking in a supportive environment. You will be learning a great many new things in this module. The workshops are intended to assist you to do this by creating opportunities for you to engage actively with the class material.

Before each workshop you must complete a workshop assignment. This will will usually involve reading an article or equivalent and writing a short assignment (maximum 1 side of A4, Times 12 pt font, double-spaced). Assignments will be detailed in handouts distributed a session or two in advance of each workshop. For most of the module you will have three workshops a fortnight.

The workshop assignments are not intended to be lengthy or onerous chores. Their purpose is to enhance class discussion (and thus everyone's learning) by ensuring that everyone present has not only done the reading but has already started thinking about it. Each assignment should take 3-4 hours to complete, leaving you time for additional reading, which you will need to do if you are to do well in the module.

You will then bring TWO copies of your assignment to the workshop with you. You hand in one copy and keep one to work on in class. Your completed assignment is your ticket to get into the workshop, which will act as feedback on your assignment. PLEASE NOTE THAT NOBODY WILL BE ADMITTED TO A WORKSHOP WITHOUT A COMPLETED ASSIGNMENT.

Seminars and workgroups

Seminars will be student-led, and will generally take the form of three-sided debates, with three groups of students each presenting and defending a different position. Details of the issues and requirements for each seminar will be distributed a week or two before each one. Seminars will require considerably more preparatory work than assignments, but in a seminar week you will only have one assignment instead of two, which will leave plenty of study time to prepare your position for the seminar.

Your seminar will be either on Thursday morning (Seminar A, 11am) or Thursday lunchtime (Seminar B, 1pm), usually fortnightly. Within Seminar A and Seminar B you will form three workgroups, each of about five people. These six workgroups will also be your teams for your presentations.

Working with a group will enable you to learn more with less individual effort. If four of you each read different things and share what you have learned, you have quadrupled your learning with no extra work (although perhaps more coffee). You will also practise important teamworking skills.

Presentations

In Week 9 of the module (the first week back after the Easter vacation), each of the six workgroups will give a 10-minute research presentation on a case study of their choice, followed by discussion. That week we will have two cases per class for three classes, using the two normal lecture slots, plus a one-off extra class at 11am on Friday 24 April (making the normal slot into two hours).

This is an opportunity for you and your workgroup to develop expertise on one specific place, group or polity, and to apply the concepts you have learned and the ideas you have discussed to a detailed example. You will also gain detailed knowledge about other cases from the presentations given by the other groups. You will need this comparative knowledge for the exam, and will benefit from the requirement to use what you have been learning about.

The exam

The exam requires you to answer three questions in three hours. This gives you time to think and plan thoroughly, and to develop your points in more depth, using examples examined in greater detail.

You will be expected to draw upon what you have learned in order to demonstrate a clear general knowledge of the subject plus the ability to analyse a problem quickly, and to select from and to apply to new questions both that general knowledge and your detailed knowledge of aspects of the subject, all the while writing clearly and concisely.

Office hours