Tapping into the "Online": Making the Internet Work Historically

Friday, January 6, 2012: 2:30 PM
Chicago Ballroom VIII (Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers)
Jodie Noelle Mader, Thomas More College
World History is not new.  However, for a college freshman taking a world history course is new.  The question is how to make the course to freshmen engaging and analytical.  How does a professor employ creative methods in the classroom to induce critical thinking?  These questions have bogged professors for ages and it is imperative that we keep evolving as teachers. 

I plan to discuss how I use the Internet to engage the student.  Online services have become the fabric of our lives and I tap into this medium in my World Civilization courses.  The students are employing multiple methods of research, reading, and analytical thinking.  Second, I will reveal how I use creativity to encourage critical thinking in their writing pieces.  Often as professors, we are given certain texts—sometimes we have a choice on what they read, sometimes we don’t.  What I do is use the primary sources we have and encourage the students to “think outside the box” and engage in research and creative inquiry to produce an admirable piece of literature.

Previous Presentation | Next Presentation >>