Introducing Australian students to British history and research methods via digital sources

This chapter explores a pedagogical experiment: the development and impact of a unit on 'Britain in the Age of Botany Bay, 1760-1815' (BABB), taught at Western Sydney University (WSU) in Australia, from the perspective of the instructor and a former student. The unit, a third-year BA class in the History and Political Thought (HPT) specialism, taught in 2014 and 2016, attempted to capitalise on the ready availability of digital resources for studying eighteenth- and early nineteenth- century history. Its key assessment outcome was a 3,500-4,000-word extended essay based on original research using online primary sources. The unit operated across a fifteen-week semester, comprising thirteen teaching weeks, a one-week mid-term break and a study week. This presented various teaching, learning and assessment challenges for students and staff. The ways in which we addressed these challenges, and lessons arising from their mixed success, have wider applicability for teaching digital history and the provision of practical primary research to undergraduate students.