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.
Course Dates
Course details
Tutors
Course details
Tutors
Key Features
Aims of the course
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.
Welcome week (Week 0)
Purpose:
- personal introductions
- introducing the course
- useful reading
- personal objectives
Learning outcomes
By studying this week the students should have:
- become familiar with navigating around the Virtual Learning Environment (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
Learning outcomes:
By studying this week the students should have:
- an appreciation of the different creative approaches to life writing
Week 2: The joy of research
Learning outcomes:
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
Learning outcomes:
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
Learning outcomes:
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
Learning outcomes:
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: what next?
- 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
This course is open to everyone, and you don’t need any previous knowledge or experience of the subject to attend.
Our short courses are designed especially for adult learners who want to advance their personal or professional development. They are taught by tutors who are expert in both their subjects and in teaching students of all ages and experiences.
Please note that all teaching is in English. You should have near-native command of the English language to get the maximum benefit from the course.
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 of self-study time, for example, reading materials, 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 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 (using discussion boards etc).
Fees
The course fee includes access to the course on our VLE, personal feedback on your work from an expert tutor, a certificate of participation (if you complete work and take part in discussions), and access to the class resources for two years after your course finishes.
Concessions
For more information, please see our concessions information page.
Alison Fordham Bursary
University of Cambridge Professional and Continuing Education is proud to offer the Alison Fordham bursary, which is awarded to students who wish to study on one of our short online courses via our VLE, reducing the fee paid by 50%. The bursary is limited to a single award for each set of online courses.
Application criteria:
- applicants should set out their personal learning motivations since priority will be given to those who are returning to learning after an extended break, or have not previously engaged with fully online learning, or are seeking to use the online short course as a bridge towards undergraduate award-bearing study
- applicants who can demonstrate financial need
For more information, please see our bursaries information page.
A certificate of participation and a digital credential will be awarded to those who contribute constructively to weekly discussions, exercises and assignments for the duration of the course.
