On the whole, eight episodes were recorded and they can be seen at the UV Permanent Training and Educational Innovation Service (SFPIE) YouTube channel, on the playlist of the project named Women of the Early Middle Ages. The programmes are introduced by the Professor Aparisi Romero and a student of the subject The Formation of Europe, who has worked on the topic. All the episodes are recorded at Biblioteca d’Humanitats Joan Reglà that gave up the space for the initiative. According to Frederic Aparisi, it is a project that is aimed to continue. The videos are available for watching here.

The research group explains that ‘when talking about the Early Middle Ages, names such as Justinian I, Charlemagne or Recared I appear frequently on historiographical accounts. In turn, female figures such as Galla Placidia, Judith of Bavaria, Theodora of Byzantium or Irene of Athens, are much less known by the general public, and also sometimes, by university students.’ The videopodcast helps fix this imbalance focusing on women who had a significant role in political, social, and cultural processes from the 5th to the 10th century.

Training objectives of the project

Beyond the inclusion of gender perspective, the initiative pursues other relevant pedagogical objectives. The most prominent among them are promoting bibliographic research and autonomous work, improving synthesis skills and oral and written expression, as well as introducing students into historical dissemination through audiovisual formats. Likewise, the intention of the initiative is the for students to get used to using social media and digital channels of knowledge transfer professionally.

‘Through this videopodcast, the Universitat de València goes for innovative teaching methods in line with the students’ interests, while it helps building a more comprehensive and inclusive overview of European history’ they state.

The project was supported by the Permanent Training and Educational Innovation Service (SFPIE).