Session 2.4: Learning archaeology

1. Benchmarking for archaeology honours?

Wendy Beck (University of New England) and Jane Balme (University of Western Australia)

A Bachelors Honours degree in archaeology is still seen as the fundamental level of academic achievement required to gain entry to the profession and to higher research in archaeology in Australia, although there has been a recent proliferation of other kinds of similar University awards, such as specialist Diplomas and coursework Masters programs. It it timely to consider verifying and comparing the content and standards of various honours degrees in archaeology currently offered by Australian universities. What are the current expectations of the award? What are the current threshold standards for honours? What are the contents of the degree? and how comparable are grading systems used for honours theses in Australian universities?. An informal survey of practices and documentation suggests wide variation currently exists in all of these areas. It is timely to consider the advantages and disadvantages of standardisation and benchmarking practices, such as those implemented in British universities.

2. Effective teaching/learning of archaeological excavation at university: Positive lessons from 8 years inside TARDIS

Jay Hall (University of Queensland)

Effective teaching/learning of archaeological excavation at university is a complex and difficult task for various pedagogical, logistical, practical, financial and ethical reasons. TARDIS, a simulated multi-component archaeological site, was built on the UQ campus in 1996 in an experiment designed to overcome some of these difficulties in teaching introductory field research discipline to 3rd-year undergraduate students. The experiment drew considerably on the Problem Based Learning method of fixed resource sessions in combination with scenario-based problem solving. The ‘safe’ on-campus learning environment of TARDIS afforded novice undergraduate students to practice transferable management skills as well as those specific to archaeological fieldwork. Collated results from the past eight years indicate that the TARDIS experiment has facilitated more flexible, equitable and efficient student learning without compromising academic or ethical standards.

3. Archaeology out of the classroom: perspectives from the Top End

Clayton Fredericksen (Charles Darwin University & Australian National University)

Teaching archaeology in the Northern Territory’s Top End offers unique opportunities for field-based learning. In my role as an archaeologist at the Top End’s only university I have a responsibility to engage people with the past and the cultural context within which the past is written. Within a few hours drive of Darwin are Indigenous communities who continue to live on, and control access to, land they have inhabited for generations. These landscapes hold a record of history that extends from the old time of White contact to the barely remembered distant past. Communities recognise that a demographic and cultural drift from land and physical degradation of sites by nature and people is resulting in a loss of knowledge of the past. Concern is held for the maintenance of the past and the education of younger community people about that past. Archaeology out of the classroom - in which the worlds of the university and the Indigenous community are introduced – provides a potentially powerful mechanism for mutual teaching and learning. This paper examines, by reference to case studies, how field-based learning can make archaeology not only meaningful for university students (and lecturers) but also relevant for Indigenous communities concerned about the future of their past.

4. Learning archaeology online: What’s the story?

Catherine Clarke (University of New England)

This presentation addresses the use of narrative for teaching archaeology. The term ‘narrative’ has been used in archaeology in a number of ways. Although undefined in some studies, in others the concept is used more explicitly to support the argument that all interpretations, regardless of their epistemological basis, are constructions. This use of the concept has both assisted the development of arguments about practicing more critically reflective archaeology, and helped develop proposals for writing archaeological interpretations which are more attuned to the actual process of discovery, and which allow for the representation of different perspectives of the past. While the use of narrative in these contexts has met with reservations concerning the valid use of evidence, many archaeologists from a range of theoretical persuasions have acknowledged the value of narrative for developing public awareness about archaeology. However, these public education projects are primarily aimed outside the discipline: to provide socially responsible access to information about the past as well as to generate and maintain public support and funding for archaeology. There has been a dearth of attention given to the possible ways that narrative can be used in the education of archaeologists and how this education might better equip them to engage with the responsibilities of the profession. There has been a similar lack of attention given to designing educational programs that explore the use of electronic technologies for that purpose. This presentation outlines theoretical considerations for the use of narrative in education and proposes some practical guidelines for developing online teaching materials for archaeology.

5. National and international networks in teaching and learning archaeology: The story from the United Kingdom

Thomas Dowson (University of Manchester)

This paper will discuss teaching, learning and policy in the context of establishing networks both within the United Kingdom and abroad (e.g. UK links within EAA) and how archaeologists in the United Kingdom and Australia can develop teaching and learning networks.