United States History (to 1877)
Gregory Beyrer
I implemented two OFAR projects for my history class in spring 2024. For the course I used the first 16 chapters of the text U.S. History by P. Scott Corbett, et al., published by OpenStax.
Historians' Identities
Reusable Resources
The image is the thumbnail and link to a module in the Canvas Commons with the following items from my course:
Identity introduction (Discussion)
Optional identity introduction reflection (Assignment)
Identity and learning (Discussion)
Identity and memory (Discussion)
Theme project overview (Content Page)
Activity Description
I have students attach their personal identity to the summative assessment that I do in my class. The summative assessment is the Theme project, and in it students analyze how one of our theme questions has been answered across the time period covered by our class. I invite them to connect their study of the past to our present by sharing an example from their lifetime of how history sometimes rhymes.
To help my students get to a place where they feel comfortable sharing part of their identity, I have three different discussions where I ask them to scaffold their identity. The first one is the introductions icebreaker for my class. I call it the Identity introduction, and in it I ask my students to share how one or two apsects of their identity are important to them. A few weeks later, in the Identity and learning discussion I ask them to share how their identity has affected their learning. The third scaffolded identity is called Identity and memory, and I ask my students to share how they document memories (I call it a memory marker) of something that's important to them.
Student Responses
Of the 40 who participated in the Identity and memory discussion, 38 of them shared memory markers of personal events (including one dog!) and only two mentioned public events.
On the anonymous feedback survey at the end of the semester, the following were among comments:
"When taking a fully online class, assignments like these really do help us connect to our classmates more. Even if we don't see or meet them, it feels more like we are taking a class with other real people, not just following along an online course."
"The discussion posts which weren't tied to the readings and videos were very interesting to engage in. I enjoyed participating in the identity discussions and had not had a similar assignment in any other class."
I asked students to rate their comfort level with sharing their identities, and only 2 respondents (5%) said they were uncomfortable and 20 (49%) responding very comfortable.
Primary Source Reader
Activity Description
My text does not have a primary source reader, and my second OFAR project is to have my students help me create one. I created a Google Site and invited students to have their submissions to my assignment Find a primary source reader included and if they want their contributions to be anonymous.
The assignment helps students envision themselves as historians, as they find the sources that meet their interests. In addition to the source details (author, date, etc.), students share which chapter from the text (or course lecture) connects to the source. They also identify a quote that they find interesting and explain why. The chapter/lecture and quote questions help prepare students for the module's writing assignment, which is to analyze the meaning of a primary source within its context.
I divide my class content into six modules, and for each the students read two or three chapters from the text. Each module has several lectures, which imperfectly align with the chapters in the text. History is an interpretive discipline, after all, and that interpretation includes how textbooks, lectures, and courses are organized.
Student Responses
I invited 33 students to participate and 14 filled out the form. None of them said they did not want their quote used, and two wanted their contribution to be anonymous. Several responded directly to my message and wrote that they were excited to be included in this. At the end of my first semester, I have a site with 27 entries. I would have had more, but many students chose to align their source with a course lecture instead of the text.
Reusable Resources
The image is a screenshot of the primary source reader that my students helped create with a link to the site.
This link makes a copy of the form I used to get my students' permission:
I sent the following message to students when I invited them:
Will you help me build a primary source reader for our text?
Our class has been doing an excellent job finding primary sources, and I would like to use your work to help me build a primary source reader to accompany our text. I am impressed by what you have found and want to share your hard work with other historians.
It is important that scholars honor the contributions made by others, and I want to know if you would like to be recognized. Please let me know by filling out a form I created for this:
[link to form]