Curriculum Innovation at Portus

We have received the first stage of approval for a new Curriculum Innovation Programme (CIP) module focused on Portus. The CIP is adding a new level of multi- and interdisciplinary education at the University of Southampton. CIP Portus will start in summer 2013 and offer a combination of hands-on practical archaeological training and academic content. Students will receive practical training in areas such as survey, excavation, finds recording, archaeological computing, geophysics, data analysis and report preparation during a three-week residential field school at Portus. This training will be supplemented by lectures given by instructors and guest speakers and study visits designed to introduce students to various aspects of Roman history and material culture. All students will also be supported via innovative on-line materials including virtual tours, a forum and social media tools, which will also have archaeology students as members to provide peer-assisted learning.

As CIP students are drawn from disciplines from across the University the module will emphasise the multidisciplinary nature of contemporary archaeological practice and encourage all students to explore the intersections and differences between their core discipline and archaeological field practice. As archaeological field investigations are problem oriented, importance and difficulties of creating an appropriate research design to answer specific questions in a field setting will also be discussed. We hope to complete the module design before Christmas 2012 and to accept students from Semester 2 2012/13.