Unit rationale, description and aim
Understanding the history of globalisation is essential to confronting the challenges facing our globally-connected world in the twenty-first century. This unit equips students for the present by exploring how communities around the globe have become increasingly interconnected, and the complex networks of people, goods, ideas and technologies that have driven global transformations over time. The unit explores contemporary debates about globalisation and how history helps us to evaluate them. It also introduces students to perspectives from different continents or regions and core research skills.
The aim of this unit is to enable students to understand the major forces that have shaped the world and how and where they unfolded over time. The unit also aims to empower students to use this historical knowledge to critically evaluate contemporary approaches to globalisation, and to develop core research skills.
Campus offering
No unit offerings are currently available for this unit.Learning outcomes
To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.
Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.
Explore the graduate capabilities.
Identify major causes and consequences of globalis...
Learning Outcome 01
Develop an evidence-based argument or narrative re...
Learning Outcome 02
Evaluate the relevance of history and historical t...
Learning Outcome 03
Communicate clearly in written and/or oral form ta...
Learning Outcome 04
Content
Topics will include:
- Major causes and consequences of globalisation over time
- Public debates about globalisation today, and how history helps us to evaluate them
- Key historical debates relating to the history of globalisation
- Historical perspectives from different continents or regions.
The more specific topics covered by the unit may differ from semester to semester, but will include some of the following:
- Nationalism and transnationalism
- Imperialism and settler colonialism
- First Nations peoples’ responses to globalising forces
- War, violence and genocide
- Free, unfree and forced migration
- Trade, finance and the global economy
- Natural and human resource development and exploitation
- Global ideas and knowledge
- Revolutions and counter-revolutions
- Gender and sexuality in global context
- Technology, transport and communications
- The role of art, popular culture, material artefacts and social media in promoting globalisation, or in people’s efforts to protest or resist globalising forces over time.
Assessment strategy and rationale
Assessment for this unit has been designed to scaffold the development of students’ research skills and critical thinking, and move from lesser to greater degrees of complexity in their approach to the making of the modern world and the history of globalisation.
The first assessment is a case study focused on a particular era or issue that requires students to work with set texts or other resources. The second assessment is more ambitious both in that it requires students to cover a wider geographic range and conduct independent research. The final assessment is summative. It requires students to synthesise knowledge from across the unit, reflect on key themes and relate them to debates about globalisation today. Students must attempt all of the tasks and obtain an overall pass mark (50%) or better to pass the unit.
Overview of assessments
Assessment Task 1: Case Study Requires students ...
Assessment Task 1: Case Study
Requires students to explore an element of the history of globalisation through a case study. Students will apply critical reading skills to set resources and present an evidence-based narrative or argument about their case study.
30%
Assessment Task 2: Research Task Requires studen...
Assessment Task 2: Research Task
Requires students to identify a range of sources on an aspect of the history of globalisation and use them to construct a historical argument or narrative. Students will also identify and evaluate key concepts and/or debates that historians and/or other scholars have used to understand global history in this task.
40%
Assessment Task 3: Summative Task Requires stude...
Assessment Task 3: Summative Task
Requires students to reflect on and evaluate major issues and developments covered in the unit, drawing on the lectures, readings, other resources and content consulted or generated across the semester. Students will be advised before the start of semester of the exact form that this task will take, but it will likely be a formal written exam or oral exam, based on the cohort and students’ needs.
30%
Learning and teaching strategy and rationale
This unit is designed to support students in their first year of university study by developing foundational historical knowledge, academic skills and confidence in independent and collaborative learning. The key concepts are introduced through lectures, set readings, and other online learning materials. Depending on the mode of delivery, students then engage in active learning in the tutorials or through guided online activities. The learning activities are carefully sequenced to support transition to university study and different learning paces.
Multi‑mode (On‑campus and Scheduled Online)
In these delivery modes, learning is supported through lectures and tutorials delivered on campus and/or online. Lectures introduce essential content and interpretations, while tutorials emphasise active learning through small‑group discussion, collaborative source analysis, peer‑led questioning and shared research tasks. Attendance and active participation in scheduled classes are required because these learning activities are integral to achieving the unit learning outcomes and support forms of collaborative and communicative learning that cannot be fully attained through independent study alone.
ACU Online
In ACU Online mode, attendance at scheduled classes is not required; however, consistent and active engagement with weekly modules, collaborative activities and online discussions is essential to achieving the unit learning outcomes.