BA (Honours) Humanities: Broad-based humanities pathway

Stage 1

You’ll begin your studies with the compulsory 60-credit module The arts past and present (AA100)The arts past and present::This broadly-focused course introduces you to university-level study in the arts across a range of subject areas - art history, classical studies, English, history, philosophy, music and religious studies. It is structured around four themes, in order to guide you through some of the basic concerns of arts subjects: Reputations; Tradition and Dissent; Cultural Encounters; and Place and Leisure. Your studies will range from poetry to string quartets, and from sculpture to short stories – across a wide variety of cultures and historical periods. This key introductory Level 1 course is also a useful means of acquiring the key skills required for further study of arts and humanities subjects.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,AA100,,1, an absorbing and broad-based grounding in the arts and humanities, including:

• history    
• philosophy
• music
• literature
• art history
• classical studies
• religious studies.

You’ll develop essential study skills while engaging with a wide range of topics, periods and approaches and enhancing your enjoyment and understanding of fascinating and diverse aspects of human culture.

We recommend that you build on this with two 30-credit Level 1 modules designed to hone your critical and analytical skills and prepare you for study at Level 2. In the first, Voices and texts (A150)Voices and texts::Designed to follow our key introductory course in arts and humanities, The arts past and present (AA100), which you are strongly advised to study first, this course focuses on language in a wide range of contexts and from the perspective of different academic subjects. These include subjects familiar from studying The arts past and present - classical studies, history, literature, music, religious studies - and two additional subjects, creative writing and English language studies. Voices and texts will help you to prepare for your studies at Level 2 by giving you opportunities to sharpen your analytical skills and to develop new approaches to your own writing.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A150,,1, you’ll explore language, particularly English, in a wide range of contexts and from the perspective of different academic subjects. In the second, Making sense of things: an introduction to material culture (A151)Making sense of things: an introduction to material culture::This course is designed to follow our key introductory Level 1 course, The arts past and present (AA100), which you are strongly advised to study first. It introduces you to the study of objects, or material culture, in both the past and present from a variety of different perspectives. These include heritage studies, art history, classical studies, history, philosophy and religious studies. Making sense of things will prepare you for Level 2 study, giving you opportunities to develop a range of critical and analytical skills within the context of this exciting new subject.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A151,,1, you’ll be introduced to the study of objects, in both the past and present. From October 2014, these 30-credit modules are being merged into one 60-credit module Voices, texts and material culture (A105).

Alternatively, you could choose from other options which include languages, social sciences and design.

Stage 2

Before deciding on your Stage 2 options you should think ahead to Stage 3, because most modules recommend you should study a particular Level 2 module first.

At Stage 2 you can continue your study of interdisciplinary humanities, or focus on subjects such as:

• art history: Exploring art and visual culture (A226)Exploring art and visual culture::What is art and how has it changed through history? What is visual culture? These and many other issues are explored through case studies focused on artworks, buildings and other visual artefacts from 1100 to present day. 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. You will also gain an understanding of the art-historical debates that have shaped approaches to this exciting subject. The course is taught using lavishly illustrated course books, alongside extensive audio, video and interactive material.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A226,,1
• classical studies:  Exploring the classical world (A219)Exploring the classical world::This course is for anyone interested in classical Greece and Rome. You will investigate a wide range of topics (such as the world of Homer; political uses of theatre; art and rhetoric in Athens; the history of the Roman Republican period; Latin poetry and Roman social history), studying sources as varied as poetry, drama, history writing, art, architecture, archaeology, inscriptions, and philosophy. Whether your interest in the classical world is long-standing or new, this course will give you a fresh perspective, develop your skills in analysis and evaluation and lay a firm foundation for further exploration.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A219,,1
• classical languages:  Reading classical Greek: language and literature (A275)Reading classical Greek: language and literature::This course combines an introduction to classical Greek language with the study of classical Greek culture and literature in translation. It is intended for beginners in Greek and assumes no previous experience of language learning. The course teaches you basic vocabulary and grammar, and sets you on your way to reading Greek texts in the original. The course uses the JACT Reading Greek series, augmented by Study Guides. Your language learning is also supported by specially designed interactive resources. Alongside your language work, you study set texts in English (Euripides’ Medea, Aristophanes’ Clouds and Plato’s Defence of Socrates) from literary, cultural and performance angles.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A275,,1, 
• creative writing: Creative writing (A215)Creative writing::This course takes a student-centred approach to creative writing, offering a range of strategies to help you develop as a writer. The emphasis is highly practical, with exercises and activities designed to ignite and sustain the writing impulse. The five-part course starts by showing ways of using your memory and experience and building a daily discipline. This is followed by demonstration and practice of the three most popular forms – writing fiction, writing poetry, and life writing (biography and autobiography). The concluding part aims to demystify the world of agents and publishers, teaching you how to revise and present your work to a professional standard.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A215,,1
• heritage studies: Understanding global heritage (AD281)Understanding global heritage::What is the nature and value of heritage? Why are certain objects, places and practices considered more worthy of protection than others? This course will introduce you to the study of heritage and its function at local, regional, national and global levels. You’ll develop a critical understanding of how heritage is created and consumed across different cultures, and the roles heritage fulfils in contemporary and past societies. Using case material from around the world you’ll explore the global scope of heritage, from the ways in which local communities use heritage to build their own sense of identity, to the ways in which the state employs heritage in nation building.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,AD281,,1, 
• literature: Reading and studying literature (A230)Reading and studying literature::Reading and studying literature builds on the introductory courses in arts and humanities, The arts past and present (AA100), Voices and texts (A150) and Making sense of things: an introduction to material culture (A151). It will introduce you to the study of English literature by looking at a selection of texts from the Renaissance to the present day. The course offers a stimulating mix of classic texts and less well-known works from a range of genres, including drama, poetry and prose fiction as well as autobiography, travel-writing and film. An overarching concern of the course is the uses we make in the present of the literature of the past.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A230,,1
• music: Inside music (A224)Inside music::This course is an introduction to the principles of music, in which you will learn how music ‘works’. You’ll begin by examining the fundamental elements of Western music and comparing them with those of other musical cultures (such as India). In later units you will develop a more detailed understanding of western rhythm, melody, harmony, polyphony, instrumentation, structure and form. You will learn how to use these elements in song composition and – by the end of the course – will have written a complete song with piano accompaniment, using Sibelius music notation software.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A224,,1
• English language: Worlds of English (U214)Worlds of English::What are the origins of the English language? How has it spread internationally? Is the worldwide influence of English a cause for celebration or concern? How is it changing in response to social, cultural, and technological developments? These are just a few of the questions that you will investigate in this course which looks at the history, diversity, and use of English around the world. Using a combination of printed materials and computer-based resources you will be introduced to the major debates in the field, and to some of the ways language is described and analysed.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,U214,,1, 
• philosophy: Exploring philosophy (A222)Exploring philosophy::This introduction to philosophy considers fundamental questions from six core areas: the self; philosophy of religion; ethics; knowledge and science; the mind; and political philosophy. What makes me ‘Me’? Does God exist? Why should I act morally? Can I trust science? How can I, a physical being, have thoughts and emotions? Should I obey laws I disagree with? Philosophers – both past and present – have offered radically diverging answers to these and the other questions asked in this course. Guided engagement with this philosophical tradition will provide the platform for you to tackle the big questions of philosophy for yourself.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A222,,1
• religious studies: Introducing religions (A217)Introducing religions::This course offers an introduction to the study of religions, and to six living religious traditions that have had – and continue to have – a major influence on world affairs: Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism and Sikhism. You will explore their historical development and contemporary manifestations, developing your knowledge and understanding of different practices and beliefs and their underpinning concepts and principles. You will also examine aspects of the religious dimension in current affairs – while developing skills of analysis and evaluation that will benefit future studies in religion and other academic disciplines.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A217,,1
• history: Exploring history: medieval to modern 1400-1900 (A200)Exploring history: medieval to modern 1400-1900::This course is a varied and wide-ranging introduction to historical study and will teach you the techniques of professional historians. It covers: fifteenth-century France, Burgundy and England during the Hundred Years’ War; the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century; the civil wars of the British Isles in the seventeenth century; slavery and serfdom in the Atlantic world in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the development of nation states in western Europe following the French Revolution; and European imperialism in Africa. To ensure coherence and focus, the course is linked by common themes, enabling you to study a long chronological period.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A200,,1
• modern languages: Envol: upper intermediate French (L211)Envol: upper intermediate French::This course builds on Ouverture: intermediate French (L120), or equivalent knowledge. It will extend your language skills, enhance your cultural knowledge, and develop the skills needed to study at a higher level. You’ll learn to communicate in a wide range of situations; express your opinions; report what other people have said; explain processes and trends; communicate by letter and telephone; make structured notes; and write different types of text. You’ll also improve your command of grammar and vocabulary. A compulsory residential school takes place in France (or you can study an online alternative).undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,L211,,1, Motive: upper intermediate German (L203)Motive: upper intermediate German::This course builds on Auftakt: intermediate German (L130), or equivalent knowledge. It will extend your language skills, enhance your cultural knowledge and develop the skills needed to study at a higher level. You’ll learn to communicate in a wide range of situations; express your opinions; report what other people have said; explain processes and trends; communicate by email, letter and telephone; make structured notes; and write different types of text. You’ll also improve your command of grammar and vocabulary. A compulsory residential school takes place in Germany (or you can study an online alternative).undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,L203,,1 and Viento en popa: upper intermediate Spanish (L204)Viento en popa: upper intermediate Spanish::This course builds on En rumbo: intermediate Spanish (L140), or equivalent knowledge. It will continue to develop your practical language skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing. By studying a variety of authentic audio, video and printed materials from Spain and Latin America, you will learn how to communicate in situations ranging from everyday conversation to putting forward your point of view in a debate. You will also have the opportunity to work on grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary acquisition. A compulsory residential school takes place in Spain (or you can study an online alternative).undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,L204,,1.

Throughout this stage you’ll continue to develop your critical thinking, writing and analysis skills. You’ll also begin to work and think more independently in relation to a range of problems and questions posed by your course of study.

Stage 3

Your Stage 3 options are chosen from a wide range of specialist subjects including:

• art history: Renaissance art reconsidered (AA315)Renaissance art reconsidered::This is not simply another course on Renaissance art. It questions the traditional geographical and social boundaries of this subject – one of the most traditional in the art history discipline – in line with contemporary developments in academic research. Instead of focusing on the Italian peninsula and Florence in particular (as has been the tendency for most histories of Renaissance art c.1420-1520), this course ventures to England, the Netherlands, France, Italy and Crete. It includes art forms such as prints, tapestries, manuscripts, painting, sculpture and architecture, centred around three main themes: Making Renaissance Art;Locating Renaissance Art; and Viewing Renaissance Art.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,AA315,,1
• classical studies: Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds (A330)Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds::What is myth? This Level 3 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.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A330,,1, 
• creative writing: Advanced creative writing (A363)Advanced creative writing::Advanced creative writing develops your writing ability by widening your generic range and developing your knowledge of style. The course works on the forms introduced in the Level 2 course Creative writing (A215) – fiction, poetry and life writing – and supplements these with dramatic writing, showing you how to write for stage, radio and film. You’ll explore how these scriptwriting skills might enhance your prose style, improve your writing across the range of forms, and further develop your individual style and voice. The course offers guidance on professional layouts for the dramatic media, and is a natural progression from Creative writing (A215).undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A363,,1
• literature: Shakespeare: text and performance (AA306)Shakespeare: text and performance::This intensive study of ten Shakespeare plays and the Sonnets takes close account of the social and political circumstances in which they were written and performed. This broad historicist approach is complemented by a strong emphasis on the diversity of twentieth-century critical responses to the plays and on modern productions of them, both on stage and on screen. The course will develop your knowledge of the range and variety of Shakespeare’s dramatic and poetic work; examine how its reception and status has been shaped by cultural and institutional factors; and explore themes such as questions of genre, politics, sexuality and gender.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,AA306,,1
• music: From composition to performance: musicians at work (AA302)From composition to performance: musicians at work::This theme-based course draws on a wide variety of musical traditions and periods, including western art music of the last 500 years, jazz, popular and film music, and music of non-western traditions. You’ll examine the processes by which music is formed and transmitted – composition, improvisation, performance, editing, and publication – and social and historical factors that shape those processes. You need appropriate knowledge of harmony, form and score-reading before you start the course; these will enable you to develop technical skills in tasks such as transcribing and editing music. The assessed essays require evaluation of historical and contemporary sources, listening to music and engaging with musical controversies and debates.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,AA302,,1
• English language: The art of English (E301)The art of English::The art of English looks at creativity in the English language: from everyday language use (conversation, children’s language, letter writing, online chat) to ‘high culture’ literary language and new kinds of media texts. You’ll consider how ‘verbal art’ works in a wide range of texts, and the extent to which the seeds of literary creativity may be found in more routine uses of English. The course has an international dimension too, enabling you to explore language use in different parts of the English-speaking world, and should help you consider your own daily experiences of the English language.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,E301,,1, 
• philosophy: Thought and experience: themes in the philosophy of mind (AA308)Thought and experience: themes in the philosophy of mind::On this course, you will explore a number of central philosophical questions concerning the nature and activities of the human mind, and its place in the natural and social worlds. You will encounter the opinions of great thinkers from history as well as of contemporary philosophers, and examine related issues in aesthetics, the theory of knowledge, metaphysics and the philosophy of language. You will examine the development of conceptions of the mind and explore four topics in detail: emotion; thought and language; imagination and creativity; and consciousness.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,AA308,,1
• religious studies: Why is religion controversial? (A332)Why is religion controversial?::This course focuses on the intricate connections between religion and controversial issues, including politics, tradition, gender, multiculturalism, animism, atheism, violence, sex and capitalism. You will study processes of upheaval and change within religious traditions and some of the complex – and sometimes clashing – local, regional and national perspectives on familiar and unfamiliar controversies. Using a mix of historical, sociological and ethnographic sources, approaches and methods, this course will help you to develop your understanding of the nature and role of ‘religion’ in historical and contemporary societies. You will make significant use of the rich resources available online via the Open University library.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A332,,1
• history: Empire: 1492-1975 (A326)Empire: 1492-1975::Empires have had a remarkable impact on world history over the last five centuries. The six blocks of this course each focus on a particular question, from ‘What are empires?’ to ‘Why do empires end?’, considering the British Empire in detail before drawing comparisons with others, including those of France, the Netherlands, Russia, China and Spain. You’ll study a wide range of primary sources, including letters and diaries, newspapers, political papers, paintings, photographs and newsreel footage. The course is a natural choice if you have already studied Exploring history: medieval to modern 1400-1900 (A200), and can be included in a range of degree programmes.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,A326,,1
• modern languages: Mises au point: advanced French (L310)Mises au point: advanced French::This course follows on from Envol: upper intermediate French (L211). It continues to develop your knowledge and understanding of the society and culture of contemporary France and French-speaking countries, and to extend the practical skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The study resources include online authentic audio and video, comprising interviews, documentaries and reportages, and illustrated printed materials. You will also develop your academic writing, critical and analytical skills, and intercultural competence. The course has six themes that give both broad and focused coverage of different aspects of historical and contemporary France and French-speaking countries.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,L310,,1, Variationen: advanced German (L313)Variationen: advanced German::This course follows on from Motive: upper intermediate German (L203). It continues to develop your knowledge and understanding of the society and culture of contemporary Germany and German-speaking countries, and to extend the practical skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The study resources include online authentic audio and video, comprising interviews, documentaries and reportages, and illustrated printed materials. You will also develop your academic writing, critical and analytical skills, and intercultural competence. The course has six themes that give both broad and focused coverage of different aspects of historical and contemporary Germany and German-speaking countries.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,L313,,1 and A buen puerto: advanced Spanish (L314)A buen puerto: advanced Spanish::This course follows on from Viento en popa: upper intermediate Spanish (L204). It continues to develop your knowledge and understanding of the society and culture of Spain and Latin America and to extend the practical skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing. The study resources include online authentic audio and video, comprising interviews and documentaries, and illustrated printed materials. You will also develop your critical, analytical and intercultural skills. The course is structured around six themes, which give a broad introduction to different aspects of society and culture in Spanish speaking countries.undergraduate.qualification.pathways.Q03-1,module,L314,,1. 

You should bear in mind that most of these modules recommend that you have studied a particular Level 2 module first.

(If you live in England and intend to apply for a student loan, please note that some of the Level 3 history options are produced in collaboration with other universities and are therefore not eligible for student loan funding.)

At Level 3, you’ll work more independently than you did at Levels 1 and 2, and devote some of your study time to exploring topics and issues in greater detail.

If you have already completed some successful study at higher education level at another institution you may be able to transfer credit for this study and count it towards an Open University qualification. If you wish to apply to transfer credit you must do so as soon as possible, and before you register for your chosen qualification. If you are awarded credit for study completed elsewhere, you may find that you need to study fewer OU modules to complete your qualification with us.

Visit our Credit Transfer site for more information and details of how to apply for credit transfer.