[This Common Core course is delivered in an Open Platform format, a flexible learning structure for an advanced level course with Common Core prerequisite requirements. The course is a small research- and project-based seminar in which students and staff co-create the course. It is open to students from ALL Faculties.

Students who wish to take this course need to have fulfilled the following requirements:

1. having successfully completed at least three CC courses on campus and have accumulated at least twenty-four CC credits;
2. having already passed one course in the Humanities AoI and cannot have completed two; and
3. possess a strong record attainment in the CC with grades B+ (3.3) or above.

Students who are interested in taking this course and have fulfilled the above prerequisite requirements should apply to enroll on the course by email to commoncore@hku.hk together with a copy of i) academic transcript (student copy); and  ii) letter from your home Faculty granting Advanced Standing / Credit Transfer for CC credits (if applicable). Application period: August 7 – 13, 2019. The selection of students will be performed by the course co-ordinator. Applications submiited outside of the application period will NOT be considered.

Please note that in the event that a student has failed a CC Open Platform course, s/he will not be allowed to take another one.]

Course Description

In a present saturated by social media and often characterized as a ‘post-truth’ era, powerbrokers in society seek to reinforce their authority by laying claim to the past. As a result people often encounter ‘history’ in formats where discussion is quite deliberately closed down, events are fabricated or finessed and inconvenient truths are obscured. In this mode the past functions as a pedagogical and political tool preserving the interests, authority and influence of already-dominant groups. Ordinary people are often skeptical of such self-serving narratives and consider academic history – known for its emphasis on evidence, critical argument and open debate – to provide ‘truer’ and more authoritative accounts of the past. In this form, the past can serve as a source of ideas, inspiration and identity. But since few people read academic history books ‘truer’ versions of the past remain only partly accessible, while ‘fake’ histories proliferate on our screens, streets and heritage sites.

Can new technologies help to address this dilemma? We are now producing increasingly visually accurate and rich simulated worlds. Games in particular enable us to reach vast audiences, especially younger people. Can games help provide a new medium for engaging with the past? This course challenges students to bring together interactive technologies with the disciplinary conventions of professional history. They draw on interdisciplinary knowledge to design a new genre of immersive game or historical simulation combining truthfulness with playability. Together students work to design gaming experiences capable of enhancing societies’ access to the past as a source of open-ended discovery and debate. No prior experience is necessary! And as they address this challenge students not only become more aware of the critical role of the past in the present but re-imagine and replay the past with a view to enhancing historical awareness.

Course Learning Outcomes

On completing the course, students will be able to:

1. Identify the role played by historical awareness in addressing contemporary problems in society by engaging with the challenge of designing research questions and projects.
2. Acquire and apply research skills in the design of simulacra of the past; historical research and document retrieval; use of technology for simulation and computer grading; visualisation and representation of social interaction, data acquisition and analysis.
3. Conduct, collaborate and create an inquiry-based solution to the real-world issues created by the prevalence of state-sponsored and commercial representations of the past by creating a critical history game based upon knowledge drawn from different disciplines.
4. Communicate research output effectively, to stakeholders (i.e. potential audience), by enhancing societal access to the past as a source of critical, and open-ended discovery and debate.
5. Elaborate and substantiate arguments for the essential benefits of developing a research project designed using an inter-disciplinary approach.

Offer Semester and Day of Teaching

First semester (Wed)

Study Load

Assessment: 100% coursework

Required Reading

• Carr, E. H. (1961). What is history. [Selections]
• Champion, E. (2015). Critical gaming. [Selections]
• Champion, E. M. (Ed.). (2018). The phenomenology of real and virtual places. [Introduction]
• Chapman, A. (2016). Digital games as history: How videogames represent the past and offer access to historical practice.
• Clark, D., Tanner-Smith, E., & Killingsworth, S. (2014). Digital games, design and learning. [Selections]
• Elliott, A. (2013). Playing with the past: Digital games and the simulation of history.
• Garrelts, N. (Ed.). (2017). Responding to call of duty: Critical essays on the game franchise.
• Marwick, A. (2001). The new nature of history. [Selections]
• McCall, J. (2011). Gaming the past. [Selections]
• Munslow, A. (1997). Deconstructing history. [Selections)
• Whalen, Z., & Taylor, L. (2008). Playing the past: History and nostalgia in video games. [Selections]

Recommended Reading

• Betts, B. W., Bal, J., & Betts, A. W. (2013). Gamification as a tool for increasing the depth of student understanding using a collaborative e-learning environment.
• Chapman, A., Foka, A., & Westin, J. (2017). What is historical game studies?
• Dondlinger, M. J. (2007). Educational video games design.
• Egenfeldt-Nielsen, S. (2007). Third generation educational use of computer games.
• Elton, G. (1967). The practice of history. [Selections]
• Evans, R. J. (1997). In defence of history. [selections]
• Federoff, M. A. (2002). Heuristics and usability guidelines for the creation and evaluation of fun in video games. [Selections]
• Flanagan, M. (2010). Creating critical play.
• Flanagan, M. (2013). Critical play. [Selections]
• Frasca, G. (2003). Simulation versus narrative. [Selections]
• Gee, J. P. (2007). Good video games plus good learning. [Selections]
• Holleis, P., et al. (2006). Playing with the real world.

Recommended Website

• Play the past

Course Co-ordinator and Teacher(s)