Perspectives on Time & History

On successful completion of the module you will be able to:

• Describe different conceptualisations of time
• Analyse the relationship between time and history
• Reflect on and document a range of understandings of your own place in history with reference to different scales of time and place
• Critically relate ideas about time and history to your own personal experience
• Demonstrate collaborative and independent working skills

During the initial part of the module, we will explore different conceptualisations of time - drawing from religious ideas such as cyclical, (wheel of time), linear and directional views of time, and the ancient Greek concepts of chronos and kairos.

We will consider the big philosophical divide between time viewed as a fundamental and structural element of existence, and time as an intellectual and social construct. We will consider drawing from physical and scientific understandings of time to further our own understandings of our experiences of time.

We will relate all these ideas to our own experiences - creating personal histories of our relationships with time at different moments in our lives. We will consider pragmatic approaches to time, such as time management, efficiency and productivity.

We will critically explore history and histories - thinking about how this relates to time. We will be thinking about what it means to be at this moment in your lives - and this will propel us into individual personal explorations of time in our projects. You will be supported to design your own multimedia project to explore your relationship with time in the past, present and future. 

We will explore different concepts of time with workshop sessions, in class activities and collaborative research in teams. Each session will include dedicated journalling time so that you have plenty of opportunity to relate the big ideas to your own experiences. You will be introduced to a range of reflective techniques and prompts to help you explore your own reflective practice and creativity. This will help you prepare for the projects. We will spend some time in class preparing to design and complete our own projects, before having seven weeks of dedicated class time to complete your projects with the support of your class teacher. 

In addition to your weekly journalling activity, you will be asked to respond to six prompt questions that will be submitted for assessment. You will be able to draw from your existing journal entries and any feedback that you have received on your journal. You will receive feedback on these before you commence your project. This feedback will include commentary on your independent and collaborative working skills. You will then complete a multimedia project to explore your relationship with time. The project will be of your own design, but must demonstrate personal reflection, autobiographical insights and engagement with different perspectives on time and history. You may submit in any media, with an equivalent word length of 1200 words. This will be accompanied by a structured questionnaire submission to elicit the technical details of your project of no more than 800 words in length. Completing the required elements and technical aspects in the questionnaire leaves you free to be as creative as you like in your project submission. 

• Practical: Reflective Journal - 6 prompt questions with 100-200 word responses (20%)
• Practical: Project Questionnaire - approximately 800 words (40%)
• Practical: Multimedia Project - self designed project, equivalent to 1200 words (40%)

We recognise the interrelated nature of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and do not consider individual SDGs in isolation.  We adopt a systems-based approach that recognises their cross-cutting nature. 

In this module you will have the opportunity to focus how your own and others’ perspectives on time and personal histories impact wellbeing and sustainable living and working.

In particular, we will be reflecting on issues related to SDG 3 (Good Health and Wellbeing), SDG 4 (Quality Education), SDG 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and SDG 12 (Responsible Consumption and Production).

In your final project, you will be able to select which SDG you wish to focus on.

• Requirements: You are expected to attend all classes and undertake approximately 85 hours of independent study in total during the module. Independent study includes reading and preparation for classes, researching and writing coursework assignments and preparing for other assessments.
• This module is designed as an undergraduate Level 5 module. For an explanation of levels, view the Imperial Horizons Level Descriptors page.‌