What’s new ...? highlights the latest Faculty news concerning planned courses and developments with Humanities qualifications. This page was last updated on 12 January 2012.
The Faculty has decided to withdraw AA308 Thought and Experience: Themes in the Philosophy of Mind from October 2014. This means that the remaining presentations will be February 2012, October 2012 and last presentation will start in October 2013.
A new module, A333 Key questions in Philosophy, has been approved by the University and it is planned that the first presentation of this module will be in October 2014.
From Monday 14th November to Friday 9th December 2011, the OU Careers Advisory Service is running an online forum for OU Arts & Humanities students wanting to plan their next career steps. This is an excellent opportunity to post your questions and get answers from qualified careers advisers plus help from fellow students.
Questions raised previously have included: What career options are available with an Arts & Humanities qualification? How do I get into teaching? How can I get work experience? What are the benefits and financial implications of further study? Is age a problem for career changers?
Please note the Philosophy MA will be extended by three years. The final presentation of A850 will now be in February 2016, A851's final presentation will now be in February 2017 and A857's final presentation will now be in February 2018.
What is art and how has it changed through history? What is visual culture? Exploring art and visual culture (A226) is a 32-week course whichl explores these and many other issues through case studies focused on artworks, buildings and other visual artefacts. Topics addressed range from Gothic churches to modern design, Renaissance altarpieces to Dutch seventeenth-century painting, eighteenth-century landscape parks to recent installations and videos. In the course of your study you will also gain an understanding of the art-historical debates that have shaped approaches to this exciting subject. A226 is taught using lavishly illustrated course books, alongside extensive audio, video and interactive material. Find out more about Exploring art and visual culture (A226)
Please note that AA306 Shakespeare: Text and Performance will be extended by one year. The final presentation of AA306 will now be in October 2014, with a dual presentation in 2013. The presentations for AA306 will be: February 2012, February 2013, October 2013 and October 2014. (Information updated September 2011.)
Please note that AA316 The Nineteenth Century Novel will be extended by two years. The final presentation of AA316 will now be in October 2015. The presentations for AA316 will be: October 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2015. (Information updated September 2011.)
Please note the MA Classical Studies will be extended by one year. The final presentation of A860 will now be in February 2013, A861's final presentation will now be in February 2014 and A867's final presentation will now be in February 2015. (Information updated June 2011.)
The Careers Advisory Service is running a 'Career Progression and Development Forum' until Friday 1st July 2011. The forum is being moderated by a careers adviser who will answer your questions.
The forum is specifically targeted at those already in a career who want to either progress or change their career and is an opportunity to share advice, thoughts and experiences about all aspects of career progression and development. It provides an excellent chance to ask about and discuss a whole range of topics such as:
Students and alumni can post a question, add a helpful comment to support others or just come in and browse. To access the forum go to http://learn.open.ac.uk/site/careers using your OU computer username and password.
After 1st July the forum will become read-only, providing a continuing resource for a further 12 months.
The Faculty has decided to withdraw its third level History residential school AXR312 Total War and Social Change. This decision has come about as a result of a steady decline in student numbers and a review that concluded that the residential school is not a viable option for the vast majority of those studying AA312. As a result of this the 2011 presentation of AXR312 will be the last. If you would like to register for the final presentation you will need to do so before 1 July 2011.
The Faculty has decided to withdraw the MA in Religious Studies. Whilst the MA has achieved high numbers in terms of the rest of the sector and has been enjoyed by those students currently studying it, numbers are not high enough to be sustainable. A880 will be presented for the last time in October 2012 and the final presentation of A881 will be in May 2014.
The Faculty is withdrawing AZX300, the online version of 20th Century Literature: Texts and Debates, and its last presentation will be in October 2010. It is now faculty policy to offer blended tuition and AZX300 has been withdrawn in favour of a new version of A300, which will have a revised tuition strategy featuring both face to face and electronic tuition from 2011. Note this change applies only to AZX300 - the proposed lifespan of A300 remains unchanged.
Exploring philosophy (A222), an introduction to philosophy, considers fundamental questions from six core areas: the self; philosophy of religion; ethics; knowledge and science; the mind; and political philosophy. Find out more about Exploring philosophy A222
Inside music (A224) will replace A214 Understanding Music in October 2011. It will include, as well as western ‘classical' music, the study of jazz and popular music, and, in Block 1, examples of music from across the world. Another new feature of A224 is creative song-writing. Students will be supplied with, and trained to use, Sibelius Student music software for the study of harmony, notation and the development of song-writing skills. Find out more about Inside music A224
Reading and studying literature (A230) is a new 60 point course at level 2, designed to take the place of A210 in the curriculum from October 2011. This course samples and discusses literature from the Renaissance to the present in an accessible and lively style. An overarching concern of the course will be the uses we make in the present-day of the literature of the past. Follow this link for more information about Reading and studying literature A230. [updated 31 August 2010]
From 2011 Start listening to music will be presented twice a year, in October and February. For 2010 it will still run in February, May and October.
Over the next few years, all 60 point undergraduate Arts and Humanities courses will be moving to an October presentation pattern. In order to cause as little disruption to study plans as possible, the changes will be phased so that there is a gradual shift from February to October over the next four years.
The major exception to the change is AA100 The arts past and present which will continue to be available in both February and October. In addition, three courses will continue to start in February for the remainder of the life of the course:
Arts students can find further details on the Arts & Humanities subject website.
AA317 Words and Music will be presented for the last time in February 2011. A251 World Archaeology has been extended and its final presentation will start in November 2012.
Myth in the Greek and Roman Worlds, a new 60 point course at Level 3, will be presented for the first time in October 2010. This course is a broad interdisciplinary study of Greek and Roman myth in its social, historical, literary and visual context. It combines the detailed study of individual works of literature, art and architecture with an exploration of context, function and purpose. A particular aspect you will study is the reception of mythical ideas and images in later European culture. Interactive visual explorations of key ancient and modern sites, monuments and artefacts relevant to mythological themes are supplied on DVD-ROM – together with audio interviews with experts tracing the influence of myth on, for example, drama, science and medicine. Full details are now available from the Study at the OU website.
You can now watch brief introductions to new Arts courses on YouTube. These include the Level 2 courses Reading classical Greek: language and literature (A275) and Understanding Global Heritage (AD281) and the new MA lines in English, History and Religious Studies (introduction part 1 and part 2). All of these courses will be presented for the first time in October 2009.
From 2010 the assessment of AA318 Art of the Twentieth Century is being modified.
The Course Team feels that, at third level, students want, and deserve the opportunity for more independent study. Accordingly the old assessment format of seven 2000 word TMAs and a three-hour unseen Examination is being replaced by four longer TMAs, one for each book, and a 3,500 word End of Course Assessment. In this, students will research works and texts of their own choice, within an overall rubric provided by the Course Team, in what we hope will be a rewarding combination of guided study and independent work. Note that TMA04 is the end-of-course assessment (ECA) plan, which is primarily designed to set out your plans for your ECA in a formal way so that both you and your tutor can be confident that the topic and question that you have in mind are feasible.
AA310 Film and Television History will now be presented for the final time in February 2011.
We can now confirm that the new course A363 (Advanced creative writing) will count towards the following awards:
This 60 point course will be presented for the first time in October 2008 and a full course description is available online. The course description will be updated to reflect the above award information as soon as possible.
As a result of necessary changes to Faculty plans AA300 Europe: culture and identities in a contested continent will now be presented for the final time in February 2011.