Have you got a question about Oral History Made Easy? You're likely to find the answer here.

Oral History Made Easy is  designed to give you the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to be transformed from a novice to proficient oral historian as efficiently and effectively as possible using easy to follow actionable steps throughout. The programme is delivered on-line using Zoom in 6 live sessions. Each session lasts 1.5 hours and is delivered on Sundays at 14.00 hrs GMT.  Have a look at Oral History Made Easy's special programme features to get a sense of the programme overall. This world clock convertor will help you check the time of delivery in the country from which you will be joining us..

We believe that everyone should be given the chance to practice oral history. So you do not need any special qualifications or experience to become a student on the Oral History Made Easy programme. All that is required is a keen interest in oral history and a passion for recording eyewitness accounts of the past regardless of your level of experience.

Your tutor throughout the Oral History Made Easy programme is renowned oral historian Dr Angela Maye-Banbury. Dr Maye-Banbury, an award winning university lecturer and research methods specialist has practiced oral history for over thirty years. She is Emeritus Fellow in Oral History at Sheffield Hallam University, Chair of Achill Oral Histories and Founder of Oral History Made Easy. Dr Maye-Banbury has taught research methods to undergraduate and postgraduate students, specialising in oral history and narrative accounts, for over three decades. Her research using oral history has been published in a number of high ranking peer reviewed journals and her selected publications were  included in her university’s Research Excellent Framework submission 2009 – 2022. You will be joining Dr Maye-Banbury from her home on Achill Island, County Mayo Republic Of Ireland.

Yes, Oral History Made Easy is designed to enable you to complete the course at your own pace. So all sessions are recorded so you can watch them in your own time and have a refresher on the themes covered. The recordings along with all the materials you will need are on the dedicated Student Portal. Content is released on a week by week basis

Your tutor, Dr Angela Maye-Banbury, has over thirty years of teaching and mentoring students of all abilities. To ensure your training needs are met every step of the way on the Oral History Made Easy programme, we ask you complete a post enrolment training needs analysis. This enables you to tell us more about your individual learning needs. It also gives you the chance to let us know what media you prefer when accessing learning resources. For example, do you prefer audio visual resources? Perhaps you like audio only, written texts or other formats. Your unique training needs analysis also enables you to tell us, in confidence, if you have any particular learning needs so we can ensure you are supported throughout the training and mentorship programme.

It’s really important to us that Oral History Made Easy is the right choice for you. So there are several ways you can find out more about Oral History Made Easy. You can join one of our special free  pre course enrolment webinars where we explore why oral history is more important than ever and how we can ensure the voices of those whose stories have bene marginalised may be recorded and curated for current and future generations. Alternatively, you can email us arrange a Zoom or WhatsApp call with Dr Angela Maye-Banbury to talk through the programme and make sure it fits your individual needs and expectations. Even if you don’t enrol, we hope you come away from the discussion feeling inspired to take your interest in oral history further.

Yes, absolutely. Oral History Made Easy is uniquely designed to give you the knowledge, skills and attributes you need to practice as an oral historian. You are the centre of your own oral history journey and the training need analysis we ask you to complete before the course begins ensures your learning needs stay uppermost. The Six Steps To Success programme then guides you through the essential aspects of oral history with easy to follow actionable steps along the way. As you will do a pilot oral history interview between weeks 4 and 6, you will be a practising oral historian before you even finish the programme. To achieve the best results from Oral History Made Easy, you need to commit to the programme, engage with the content, your tutor and fellow students. Your individual mentorship sessions and the mini assignment at the end will also help you consolidate and develop your learning.

You can book your course place with us directly by going to our bookings page.

​Absolutely. You have two dedicated mentorship slots, each lasting 30 minutes, on the Oral History ‘Six Steps To Success’ training and mentorship programme. This is your time so the agenda is entirely yours. Your first slot is scheduled for week 4, just as you are about to do your first pilot oral history interview. Your second slot takes place at the end of the programme in week 6 after the final celebration session. You can bring a mentor or anyone else to your mentorship sessions. This is your time to talk through any particular challenges and opportunities you have encountered so we can be empowered to take control of the next stages of your oral history journey.

Within 24 hours of booking your place, you will receive a personal welcome message from your tutor, Dr Angela Maye-Banbury. In the welcome message, you will be given your log in details to gain access to the dedicated Student Portal. The first thing you will see on the portal is the ‘Welcome Week’ resource folder. Here you will find: a welcome video from Dr Maye-Banbury’ a summary of the programme with all the Zoom links you need for the live sessions; a summary of Oral History Made Easy’s special features and the link to the high level learning resources you need for week 1.

You know how you learn best and your post enrolment training needs analysis will guide us on how we can best support you on Oral History Made Easy. The training and mentorship programme has been designed to transform you from novice to proficient oral historian as efficiently and effectively as possible. The course allows you to go at your own pace so you can feel confident as your knowledge, skills and attributes in oral history become consolidated and develop further.  In total from start to finish, the course typically takes between 27 – 30 hours to complete. Have a look at our 'Here's How' infogram to see where your time will be focused when completing Oral History Made Easy.

You might also find it helpful to look at our Programme At A Glance' to see the structure of Oral History Made Easy. 

In total, there are 10 live sessions for the duration of the ‘Six Steps To Success’ programme. This comprises six 1.5 hour online sessions on Zoom delivered by Dr Maye-Banbury in the form of interactive seminars supported by online content. We would recommend you attend all the live sessions so you may benefit from the content. But all sessions will be recorded so if you cannot be there in person, you can watch the recorded session as many times as you like. If there is anything in the session you don't understand, just email Dr Angela Maye-Banbury for guidance. In addition, you will be invited to connect twice with other students on the course as a community of learners in the special ‘Student Motivation Hubs’ for 30 minutes each time – longer if you prefer. In addition, you will be invited to join Dr Maye-Banbury on two occasions, each lasting 30 mins, for your individual mentoring session where you set the agenda and discuss anything related to your oral history journey.

No, you do not need to prepare before joining Oral History Made easy. All we ask is that you come with an appetite to learn, the willingness to engage with the programme and curiosity about oral history and its benefits.

To ensure the quality of your experience on Oral History Made Easy, the maximum number of people per intake is 20 students. In practice, group sizes tend to be anything from 6 – 14 people per intake. In smaller groups, people generally feel more confident to contribute. A smaller group size also  safeguards the ability of everyone to learn from each other as well as ensuring your individual learning needs are met for the duration of the programme. 

​Yes. Everyone benefits from diversity. we warmly welcome everyone on Oral History Made Easy so our aim is to have as diverse a group as possible. That way, we can all exchange our own aspirations about and experiences of oral history. As all course times are stated as GMT London Ireland, this world clock convertor will help you check the time of delivery in the country from which you will be joining us.

Yes. We have designed a special assignment exclusively for prospective oral historians to ensure your learning needs are  maximised on the programme and that you derive most benefit from the course content and mentorship. Dr Maye-Banbury will guide you on the assignment. The assessment is to be submitted in week 5 of the course and should take no longer than 3 hours in total to complete.  It’s very straightforward and should be an enjoyable part of the process. You will be asked to write 1,000 words about your oral history journey and how you plan to develop your oral history project. If you’d rather, you can use another format for your assignment such as producing Power Point slides, an audio recording of your experiences or even a short film. The choice is yours.

We know that as a highly valued student of Oral History Made Easy, you are very busy with other commitments. That’s why we ensure all sessions are recorded so if, for any reason, you are unable to join us for the live slot, you can play back the recording as many times as you like. Our aim is to ensure you are supported from start to finish of Oral History Made Easy. So if you have any questions after you have watched the recording, just email Dr Angela Maye-Banbury for additional guidance and/or a Zoom catch up.

​Yes, absolutely. There are two scheduled ‘Student Motivation Hub’ meetings during the programme. This is your time as students to meet and talk about your oral history development journey, any opportunities or challenges you have encountered – and anything else you like. The size of the Student Motivation Hubs depends on the intake at the time but these meetings are not likely to be more than 5 students at each gathering.

We believe that the knowledge, skills and attributes needed to practice oral history should be available to everyone. That’s why we have kept the course fee at an affordable level. The total course fee for Oral History Made Easy in 2024 is £149;€175; $188 (USA); Can$253 per student. Discounted places are available for the following people: Students /unwaged £99 /€115/$125; people who work for not for profit organisations £119/€145/$150. If you have attended one of our pre course enrolment webinars, you are entitled to a discounted fee of £119/€145/$150. 

If you have another question about Oral History Made Easy, just email Dr Angela Maye-Banbury to arrange a phone or Zoom call at a time to suit you.