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The History Department is unveiling a new curriculum in Fall 2020. We have compiled a brief FAQ of questions students have raised regarding how they will be affected by the curriculum change.
Continue reading08 Wednesday Apr 2020
Posted Undergraduate Student News
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The History Department is unveiling a new curriculum in Fall 2020. We have compiled a brief FAQ of questions students have raised regarding how they will be affected by the curriculum change.
Continue reading18 Wednesday Apr 2018
Posted Undergraduate Student News
in≈ Comments Off on New Course: Slave Resistance, Fugitivity and the Underground Railroad
The Department of History is pleased to announce that Dr. Jackson will be offering a new course in the fall: HIST 3910, “Slave Resistance, Fugitivity and the Underground Railroad.”
The course counts as an elective in the History major and minor, it is cross-listed with Ethnic Studies 3000, and fulfills the upper-division requirement of the Multidisciplinary Core of the College of Arts and Sciences. It will meet on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays 11:30-12:20.
From Dr. Jackson:
There are only a few well known instances of slave rebellion in the United States, and only one successful revolution in the Americas, a fact that slave owners often used to assert that enslaved people were happy with their bondage. But as Harriet Tubman allegedly said, “There were two things I had a right to, liberty or death; if I could not have one, I would have the other.” Enslaved people constantly resisted the dehumanization of their enslavement in any way they could, even if it cost them their lives. This course looks at the history of slavery through the eyes of people who refused to let the institution of slavery rob them of the large and small freedoms all humans crave. We will consider slave narratives, rebellions and representations of slave resistance in popular culture (films, novels, television). The course will also investigate the important role that Ohio, especially northwest Ohio, and Michigan, in particular Detroit, played in the history of the Underground Railroad and free Black communities.
15 Thursday Mar 2018
Posted Graduate Student News
in≈ Comments Off on “Patriots, Loyalists, and Revolution” Activity in Revolutionary America
This entry, written by BGSU student Nicole Schwaben, is about a “Reacting to the Past” game led by Dr. Andrew Schocket in HIST 4220, America in the Revolutionary Era, Spring 2018. If interested, secure your spot in this Fall 2018’s reacting to the past (HIST 3910) course!
In the game, Patriots, Loyalists, and Revolution, which our class played in HIST 4220, all students are assigned a role, whether it be in the Crowd/Gallery or within the Provincial Congress. I was assigned the character of John Cuyler, Jr., a member of the Moderate faction within the Provincial Congress. Additionally, there were also Loyalist and Patriot factions in the Provincial Congress. Along with the other Moderates, I had a unique position in which I could sway the direction of the game. Both the Loyalists and the Patriots needed the votes of the Moderates in order to reach their objectives.
As Moderates, we tried our best to provide a fair and level-headed perspective of the issues at hand. However, this
proved to be difficult at times. Many of the Moderates, myself included, were in debt; therefore, a member of the Loyalist faction somewhat controlled us. This was frustrating for the Moderate faction because we also desired to maintain autonomy. Without autonomy, we would not be able to make our own thoughtful decisions. Instead, we would be forced to put our personal beliefs aside and act as our creditors wanted, or face the consequences.
In my role, I was also the publisher of a newspaper that was distributed twice throughout the game. This gave me control of the media, including the ability to report on other events, cover what speeches and debates happened during the game sessions, and leave my own commentary on what actions I believed the Provincial Congress should take. The other factions seemed to notice the power that the newspaper held, and both sides attempted to use that to their advantage. At the beginning, the Loyalist faction nominated me to be speaker. I assumed I was nominated so that the member of the Loyalist faction, Frederick Phillipse, whom I was indebted to, could control my actions. Luckily, I was not chosen to be speaker. On the Patriot side, Judge Livingston also tried to gain control of the newspaper. Livingston offered to pay off my debts, as long as chose to vote in favor of the Committee of Inspection and write my newspaper in a way that benefited the Patriots. I refused to agree to these conditions, largely because I desired my newspaper to be relatively unbiased.
Unfortunately, there were consequences for not agreeing to the terms set by the Patriot faction. Because I refused, the Patriot faction mobbed me. The mob was an incredibly stressful situation in which I was not provided much time to make a decision, but had several options. I could attempt to form a counter mob; however, there was not enough people to accomplish that. I could shoot into the mob; however, that seemed risky and I did not want to promote violence. I could submit to the Patriot’s wishes, but then I would lose my autonomy. I could resist the mob, but then I would have been tarred and feathered and my newspaper would have been destroyed. I decided to flee to a British ship and miss the rest of the session, effectively ending the game for me.
Patriots, Loyalists, and Revolution allows students to immerse themselves into history. Students are encouraged to do their research on the American Revolutionary era, which enables them to play their character to the best of their ability and accomplish historically accurate objectives in the game. Through the speeches and debates during the game, students are able to empathize and gain a better understanding of those who actually faced these issues before the breakout of the American Revolutionary War.
24 Wednesday Jan 2018
Posted Undergraduate Student News
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Universities across the country, including here at BGSU, are increasingly hosting courses in active learning classrooms. As of 2018, these rooms are gaining traction nationally due to their immense resources, mobility, student engagement and positive reviews by professors. Within the last few semesters, the Department of History has taught multiple courses in these classrooms. Today, we are going to discuss our thoughts from the experiences.
But first, what exactly is an active learning classroom? In short, an active learning classroom is one that encourages active participation from the students and professor. Rather than having the professor’s desk up front and the students in rows facing towards the professor, desks in an active learning classroom are arranged adjacently and “scattered” with the teacher being able to walk around the room freely. There is no front of the room per say or one central location that students view, but rather multiple “hotspots” of activity that draw attention. Usually, there are multiple locations in the room that a professor can use as their teaching platform, encouraging movement and engagement, and multiple television screens allowing for active listening and eye movement.
The Department of History, in our continuing effort to evaluate and provide exemplary course education to students, has recently been taking advantage of the various active learning classrooms across BGSU. So far, the results have been terrific. Dr. Rebecca Mancuso, who taught HIST 2050 with 83 students in Olscamp 225, an active learning classroom, during the Fall 2017 semester, said that she enjoyed how engaged it kept her students. Even if students are naturally hesitant to participate or engage actively, the classroom encourages engagement based solely on its layout. Dr. Mancuso even noticed a slight increase in attendance over her previous semesters of teaching the course in more traditional settings. She attributed this to the changing dynamic active learning classrooms provide- rather than the attention being solely on the professor, attention is more evenly spread throughout the classroom. Dr. Amilcar Challu, who has now taught two different courses (HIST 3790 and HIST 3380) in active learning classrooms, expanded upon this changing dynamic. “Quite often, we approach history solely as a lecture course…… this has advantages, but [active learning rooms] allows history to reach a different sector of students that we may not have been able to reach before.” Dr. Challu especially enjoyed that active learning classrooms help “break down the barriers of history,” including the cliché that history is an individual profession. Quite often, Dr. Challu and other historians actually work together on projects. He concluded his thoughts with with the following: “The nice thing about these classrooms is that they are adaptable. A professor can take advantage of its resources and encourage engagement while also lecturing, or they can simply lecture extensively if that is what they are comfortable/good at.” Active learning course rooms are not forcing a teaching style upon history professors- rather, they are designed to supplement preexisting techniques while exploring new methods of teaching.
The traditional lecture hall will always have a place in history and at the university. In fact, lectures will likely remain the staple history course for many years. However, with new active learning classrooms being built up rapidly, some of which are replacing traditional rooms, lecture heavy courses may one day soon be entirely in active learning rooms.
*If you would like to learn more about actively engaging students, considering reading Perspectives on History, whose January edition is focused on increasing student participation in History courses.
URL: https://www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/january-2018/the-mechanics-of-class-participation/never-too-far-away-tools-for-engaging-students-remotely