Why the 2007 BBC series Cranford engages us

‘Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat’ and a bird informed me I would receive the DVD of the 2007 BBC series, Cranford. I had passed by parts of the episodes but I had not seen the whole series so I look forward to a full showing. News of the gift prompted me to reflect on its success. There are many reasons: good adaptation, good cast and performances, good stories and interesting characters presented by the talented Mrs Gaskell. The full list is long and I suspect it includes a fascination with the different responses of Cranford’s people to change. We may be more inured to change now, some 150 years after the Cranford story, but response to change continues to be a significant challenge to all. A perspective on change, and its consequences on people’s lives, is a helpful contribution from History and, in our media soaked society, historical novels and dramas to a better positioning of ourselves in the world today and thereby the possibility of sounder judgment with decisions that will help to fashion our personal and collective futures.

Contributor: Geoff Williams. Sempringham [ehistory.org.uk] eLearning Office.

The content of A-level and degree History courses

What is the value of A-level and degree courses’ content? It is a short question but a simple answer will be not useful. What can be claimed is that a course at these levels develops the students’ capacities as learners. This is a theme that we have promoted in our Study Centre presentation AS/A2 History in a World of Rapid Change [also available in a YouTube version in our The X Files section]. Vineet Nayar of Indian IT firm HCL Technologies, probably the fastest growing IT services group in the world added a gloss to this in an interview on the Today programme [BBC Radio 4] today. Not shy of controversy, Vineet Nayar stated that these courses, with emphasis on content, did not prepare students for work in business and his business trains students for some12 to 18 months after graduation. To end with a question: does the content of an A-level or degree History course matter at all? [You can be sure contributors to this question will come from this office.]

Contributor: Tom Wells. Sempringham [ehistory.org.uk] eLearning Office.