Museum Skills I: Objects (826V4)

30 credits, Level 7 (Masters)

Autumn teaching

The module sets out to equip you with a range of core museum skills, above all in familiarity with the objects of display.  Skills you will develop include how to describe an object in various ways depending on audience, how to handle an object, and how to look after an object. You will deal with issues such as materials and visual appearance such as style analysis, iconography/subject matter, describing an object, and thinking about where visual appearance of an object comes from. You will also cover issues relating to the practical interpretation of objects in museums, including catalogue entries of different sorts, web materials, labels, and exhibition publications.

Contact hours and workload

This module is approximately 300 hours of work. This breaks down into about 44 hours of contact time and about 256 hours of independent study. The University may make minor variations to the contact hours for operational reasons, including timetabling requirements.

We regularly review our modules to incorporate student feedback, staff expertise, as well as the latest research and teaching methodology. We’re planning to run these modules in the academic year 2024/25. However, there may be changes to these modules in response to feedback, staff availability, student demand or updates to our curriculum.

We’ll make sure to let you know of any material changes to modules at the earliest opportunity.