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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2016/2017

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of History, Classics and Archaeology : Postgraduate (History, Classics and Archaeology)

Postgraduate Course: Maps and Mappery in Historical Research: The Case of Scotland (ODL) (PGHC11416)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of History, Classics and Archaeology CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate)
Course typeOnline Distance Learning AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course focusses on the use of cartographic evidence for the study of Scotland's history. Using digital collections, students will be able to explore Scotland's lost landscapes.
Course description Maps are a rich source for the study of the past, and poring over a map is one of life's great pleasures. Due to the internet and advancements in digital photography, the number of historical maps available through online collections has grown dramatically in past years, giving unprecedented access to the wealth of information available on these lost landscapes. For anyone who enjoys studying maps and who has a passion for history, this will be the perfect course to indulge their interests while developing practical research skills. A deeper appreciation of maps as an historical source will be cultivated while exploring the rich digital collections of the National Library of Scotland's Map Library. Maps as both objects and documents will be set in the context of Scotland's history, giving greater awareness of how maps enrich our understanding of Scotland's premodern past. The focus on skill development in this new course will complement several of the existing online courses, including the compulsory course, 'Historical Research: Skills and Sources', and the optional courses, 'The Lords of the Isles: Clan Donald, c.1336-c.1545'; 'Scotland and Ireland, 1800-1945'; and 'Athens of the North: The Origins and Ideas of the Scottish Enlightenment'.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesNone
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2016/17, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  20
Course Start Semester 2
Course Start Date 16/01/2017
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 22, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 174 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) Learn forum posts (20%) and one 3,000 word essay (80%). The weekly use of Learn discussion forums will serve as a critical component of the teaching of the course.

Using discussion forums is a well-established practice in online learning to help students engage with the material and interact with each other. This is particularly important for courses, like those taught as part of the online MSc, that have a significant asynchronous component.

Each week, students will be responsible for a 200-250 word posting in which they will make a significant observation about the reading(s). They will also be responsible for posting two responses to their classmates' initial postings, each 100-150 words in length. These posts will help to create a conversation among the students prior to the course's infrequent synchronous sessions and provide the instructor with insight as to the students' mastery of the readings and interests. The forum posts will be evaluated weekly, using the standard written material rubric.
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay a detailed and critical command of the body of knowledge concerning Scottish maps and mapmaking
  2. Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay an ability to analyse and reflect critically upon relevant scholarship, primary source materials concerning, and conceptual discussions about the meaning and uses of maps
  3. Demonstrate in forum posts and the final essay, an ability to understand and apply specialised research or professional skills, techniques and practices for approaching cartographic evidence
  4. Demonstrate the ability to develop and sustain original scholarly arguments in seminars and in written assessment by independently formulating appropriate questions and utilising relevant evidence considered in the course
  5. Demonstrate in seminar discussions, forum posts and written assessment originality and independence of mind and initiative; intellectual integrity and maturity; an ability to evaluate the work of others, including peers; and a considerable degree of autonomy
Reading List
C. Fleet, C.W.J. Withers, and M. Wilkes (eds.), Scotland: Mapping the Nation (2011) [Core text: E-book already in Main Library]

Cunningham, The Nation Survey'd: Timothy Pont's Maps of Scotland (2006) [Core text]

A.G. Hodgkiss, Discovering Antique Maps (2007) [Core text]

R. Hewitt, Map of a Nation: A Biography of the Ordnance Survey (2010) [Core text]

F. Macleod, Togail Tir, Marking Time: The Map of the Western Isles (1989)

D.G. Moir (et al), The Early Maps of Scotland to 1850, 2 vols. (1973 & 1983)

C. Fleet and D. MacCannell, Edinburgh: Mapping the City (2014)

D. Buisseret, Monarchs, Ministers and Maps: Emergence of Cartography as a Tool of Government in Early Modern Europe (1992)

M. Monmonier, Rhumb Lines and Map Wars: A Social History of the Mercator Projection (2004)

T. Pont (J. Dobie, ed.), Cuninghame, Topographized by Timothy Pont, 1604-1608 (1876, 2011)

C.W.J. Withers, Geography, Science and National Identity: Scotland since 1520 (2001)

L.B. Cormack, Charting an Empire: Geography at the English Universities, 1580-1620 (1997)
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Keywordsmaps mappery research scotland
Contacts
Course organiserDr Aaron Allen
Tel: (0131 6)50 2384
Email: Aaron.Allen@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMrs Lindsay Scott
Tel: (0131 6)50 9948
Email: Lindsay.Scott@ed.ac.uk
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