Friday, January 3, 2020: 1:30 PM
Nassau East (New York Hilton)
Stephen K. Stein, University of Memphis
Essays bemoaning the declining number of history major are invariably followed by essays calling for the revitalization of history education or expounding on the value of history courses, which teach students to analyze sources, question evidence, and think critically. Online courses provide ideal environments to “flip the classroom” and encourage students to hone these skills by engaging deeply with historical sources. Well thought out online courses, which are parts of robust curricula in which instructors establish common approaches to communication, grading, and student and teacher interaction, also offer excellent opportunities to attract new history majors.
When teaching in the classroom, instructors generally do everything themselves. They create their own learning objectives, write lectures, design exams and other assignments, and craft their presentations. Relatively few faculty members, though, have the technical skills to develop online courses entirely on their own. They need the support of instructional designers and other specialists. While managing these relationships can be challenging, they also offer the opportunity for collaboration, not only between history faculty and IT specialists, but among the faculty themselves. This collaboration offers opportunities to improve courses, both individually and collectively, producing engaging courses and a coherent curriculum that encourages students to move from one course to the next. This essay will explore the process of course creation and teaching in the online history program at the University of Memphis and how this program—for many years the largest online program offered by the university—increased history enrollments in both our traditional classroom courses as the online program grew and attracted new history majors.
