History in Practice: Course Redesign for the History Gateways Initiative

Sarah Shurts will share the redesign she has introduced to her Western Civilizations courses as part of the Gateways initiative. These redesigned elements include an inquiry-based course design that models historical inquiry and research questions for students, accessible historiography and scholarship in addition to primary materials that introduce students to the practice of history, and more active forms of learning and assessment that encourages students to work collaboratively, practice historical thinking in new ways, and encourages improved participation and engagement in the course as a whole. All of these redesigned elements have produced profound results in every format of assessment, contributed to more capable student-historians emerging from the course, and yielded better retention for the semester.