Disrupting the US History Survey Course: A First Year Report

1. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
Disrupting the U.S. History Survey Course:
A First Year Report
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Gordon E. Harvey, Ph.D.
Professor & Chair
JSU History & Foreign Languages

2. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
What do we want to get out of HY courses?
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Historical Consciousness
The fallible memory
Think like Historians

3. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
How I learned to teach
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4. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
Structuring the Course
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Begin with the End
Show them the end of the story and
expect them to put the lego pieces together

5. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
Structuring the Course
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Group collaboration
(Fall) Each group has a “cause” of the Civil War
and traces the origins and history of this cause
from beginning to end
(Spring) Each group will trace the history of a
minority/immigrant group in the US, from origin
country to immigration to role in US History

6. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
Structuring the Course
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Journaling
each student journals the day’s info
and “findings” as it relates
to their historical awareness and
the group’s assigned cause

7. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
Structuring the Course
7
My role
I’ll assume the same role as always,
albeit much less in scale.
I’ll lead micro lectures and facilitate discussion.
The professor doesn’t disappear,
he only becomes a smaller part of
the student’s journey

8. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”8

9. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”9

10. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”10

11. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
Structuring the Course
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I’ll show them how to build “historical legos” and
then get out of their way as they create
on their own, with a little guidance from me,
the “historical lego master.”

12. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
The Reality
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Delays
• Textbook issues
• iPad deployment
• Onboarding process for iTunesU
• High School schedule and firewall struggles

13. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
The classes
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JSU
Freshmen
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iPads
JHS—Dual Enrollment
HS Juniors
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iPads

14. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
The Reality
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Misassumptions about digital and tech skills
They don’t know
what WE assume they know
about tech

15. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
The Reality
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Revert to old ways
As we fell behind, I tended to fall back
to the old ways of instruction in order to
“catch us up”
Journaling was sacrificed to my
falling behind

16. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
Grading myself
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Grade: C
• Good effort, could organize better
• Tried to do too much at once
• Less Jackson Pollock, more Bob Ross
• Don’t assume
• Fall worse than Spring
• Recovered by scaling back & scaffolding

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18. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”18

19. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”
Conclusion
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A little disruption can go a long way
They can’t read your mind
Their “digital native” not your “digital native”
Don’t pig out at the buffet
Use open source Texts
Scaffolding, scaffolding, scaffolding

20. Gordon E. Harvey | CORE | June, 2016 “Disrupting the US Survey”20
Questions, comments, heckles:
gharvey@jsu.edu