Abstract:

Among the practical classes that offer the Spanish universities for students of History, they are already habitual the commentary of text, the initiation in the historical research and the visit of monuments.
This modality - the visit of monuments - comes being very frequent in the last years in the studies of History of the University of Granada, under diverse modalities: archaeological deposits, archives where there are excellent documents and monuments of special historical importance (Alhambra, Generalife, Cathedral, Royal Chapel, Royal Hospital, Monastery of Carthusian, etc …). Similar experiences have been realized, visiting other cities as Seville, Cadiz, Alcalá la Real or Priego de Córdoba.
This experience of practical classes goes beyond the analysis of deposits, monuments and archives. All these aspects are included inside a wider approach: the same urban reality is an expression of historical phenomena and answers to a few certain political, economic, social, cultural and ideological parameters. With this approach the visit prospers considerably. The mere historical - artistic information remains overcome and the details of scanty interest are eliminated. Every city places inside a wide concept of space and epoch. Thus Andalusia emerges from the early modern epoch with its own projection in the colonial world (16th, 17th and 18th centuries).
The visits make concrete in:
1. Cities with pertaining to nobility (feudal estate) and ecclesiastic estate: Priego de Córdoba and Alcalá la Real.
2. Bureaucratic City during the modern epoch: Granada.
3. Baroque magnificence and emporium of the Indies: Sevilla.
4. Experiments of the Enligthenment Age: Nuevas Poblaciones de Sierra Morena (La Carolina and Guarromán).
5. American Trade and business middle class in the 18th century: Cádiz.
The innovation of this experience rests on its application to different subjects. The pupils have been implied, forming teams of work, in the preparation of the visits; they have elaborated a few dossiers, especially with images, exposed in class through presentations in power point. On the other hand, the teachers have directed all this work and have realized the opportune explanations on every locality; they have needed a long preparatory stage for the selection of cities, search of materials, critical analysis of the information and design of the presentation for the students, with the use of the new technologies. In addition they have counted with specializing personnel in the places of visit, often teachers of other universities.
The experience foments the teamwork, the pupils´desires of investigation and their exhibitions in class. But, especially, it proposes a new form, active, very visually and out of the classroom, of exposing the contents of History. The experience of these practical classes needs a great motivation by the teachers and an effort added to their process of education. Thus the efficiency of the learning process is fortified. The final paper will contain the details of this experience of practical classes, as well as the possibilities that it offers in the future.

Keywords:

Historical visits, modern history, Andalucía, professor work.