History 332.004/632.004: History in the Digital Age
Fall, 2003

Click on these to navigate the web site for History 332/632:

About the Course	Getting Started	The Schedule
The Assignments	The Projects	Assessment
Readings	Blackboard	For Graduate Students
Technical Training	Help	Groups

Notice: although this web-based syllabus is reasonably complete, I will make changes in it from time to time as circumstances change or as new opportunities for learning present themselves.

Most class meetings will be divided into two parts.  The first part of each class will be devoted to a discussion of weekly readings and assignments. The second part will give you a chance to enhance your technical skills. The part of the class will include presentations by campus IT professionals, visits to computing and media labs, and talks by experts.

For the undergraduates: the course will include a collaborative team project that will take the form of a web site.  For details, see The Projects.

For the graduate students:  Graduate students taking the course will be expected to undertake three projects: the first, a brief presentation using Power Point; second, an essay review (complete with links) on the impact of new information technologies on a particular historical problem or area of historical studies; third, a web site exploring a particular historical problem.  For details, see For Graduate Students.

 Patrick Reagan, History and the Internet: A Guide ( B. McGraw-Hill, 2002).

Journal of the Association for History and Computing at: http://mcel.pacificu.edu/JAHC/JAHCindex.HTM (various articles).

Journal of Multi-Media History at: http://www.albany.edu/jmmh/ (various articles).

A variety of online articles and web sites.  See especially George Mason University's Center for History and New Media at: http://chnm.gmu.edu/index1.html. For additional details on assigned readings, click on The Assignments.

Dennis Trinkle and Scott Merriman (editors), The History Highway 3.0 (3rd ed., M. E. Sharpe, 2003.  [Do not purchase earlier editions, as they do not have the enclosed CD, which is critical to effective use of the volume.]

Patrick J. Lynch and Sarah Horton, Web Style Guide: Basic Design Principles for Creating Web Sites (New Haven, Ct.: Yale University Press, 1999).

And a variety of other books, articles and web sites.

Blackboard: 

Much of the work of the class will be conducted through Blackboard, the University's preferred "course management" software.  Blackboard provides a virtual classroom environment where you may find a link to this syllabus and other course materials.  Blackboard also provides "discussion forums" in which you will be required to post your weekly assignments and comment on the work of your classmates.

To access Blackboard, you must go to my.american.edu, enter your Eaglenet ID and Password, click on "My Academics" and then on "My Blackboard."  Login, again using your ID and Password.  Click on History 207.  Follow the instructions.  You may also go directly to Blackboard by clicking on: http://ausolaris1.american.edu:8090/?bbatt=Y

To learn more about Blackboard, click on: http://www.american.edu/cte-consulting/blackboard.htm.

Need Technical Training?

Technical instruction.  This course will provide a very general introduction to a few important applications, including Power Point and Dreamweaver.  Some may not need this introduction.  In the past, some of the students enrolling in this course have been professionals in technical fields.  Others have been relatively new to such applications.  Those who need more than the introductions we will offer in this course are expected to take advantage of campus-wide opportunities for instruction.  See, especially, the workshops sponsored by the Center for Teaching Excellence at: http://www.american.edu/cte-consulting/studenttraining.html.

For Help:

tel: x5-2550 (helpdesk).

e-mail: helpdesk@american.edu.

web: http://www.american.edu/technology/sites/helpdesk/content.cfm?id=92

Click on these dates to navigate the Schedule for History 332.004/632.004:

Monday, August 25: Introduction to the Course.

See Getting Started.

Lab: Introduction to Blackboard

Monday, September 8:

Assignment One: A Short History of the Internet

Wednesday, September 10: September 11 as History: Collecting Today for Tomorrow.  For details, click on: http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/911symposium/ I have registered the entire class to attend this Library of Congress symposium.  The conference begins at 8:30 and continues until 4:30, followed by a reception. Please arrange your schedules so that you may attend until at least 2:30 p.m. Details to follow.

Monday, September 15: Romancing the Web

Assignment Two: Romancing the Web

Discussion: Searching The Web

Laboratory: Introduction to Power Point.  Nick Keefe, assistant director of the Anderson Computing Lab, will join us at 6:30 to provide a basic orientation to Power Point.

 

Assignment Three: Exploring the Library's Real and Virtual Resources.

Discussion of Library Resources, Databases and Search Engines with AU Librarian Melissa Becher.

 

Assignment Four: The Digital Archive

Discussion of Issues in Preserving the Digital Past with AU Librarian Claire Dygert.

 

 Monday, October 6: Fall Break 

Monday, October 13: Teaching History in the Digital Age

Assignment Five: Teaching History in the Digital Age

Discussion: Teaching History in the Digital Age

Graduate Student Power Point Presentations.

Monday, October 20: Scholarship on the Web

Assignment Six: Scholarship on the Web

 Discussion: How are new technologies changing how scholars communicate their work?

Laboratory: Introduction to Dreamweaver

Assignment Seven: How New Information Technologies are Transforming Professional Communities

Discussion:

Laboratory:  Introduction to Dreamweaver (2)

Assignment Eight: "Public" History, History's Publics

Discussion:  How the Web is transforming "Public" History

Laboratory:  Work on Projects

Monday,  November 10:

Assignment Nine: Issues in Citation, Copyright and Evaluation

This week's discussion will take place exclusively online. You have this time to work on your individual and/or group projects. 

Monday,  November 17: Web Design

Assignment Ten: What Makes for Good Web Design

This week's discussion will take place exclusively online. You have this time to work on your individual and/or group projects. 

Monday,   November 24:

Undergraduates: Project Prospectus. Post your prospectus on Blackboard no later than Saturday evening, November 22.

Graduates: Essay Reviews Due.  Post a link to your essay review no later than Saturday evening, November 22.  Post your comments on the work of your fellow students before class on Monday. 

Discussion:  Prospectus and Essays. 

Thursday-Friday, November 27-28, Thanksgiving

Monday,  December 1:

No Class.  Work on Projects.
 

Presentation of Web Projects.  Everyone (undergrads and graduate students): Post links to your web projects on the Combined Graduate and Undergraduate Discussion Board no later than Saturday, December 6.  Post comments on each of the individual web sites on the Discussion Board no later than Friday, December 11.

Student Web Projects:

Undergraduate Web Site:

A History of the Washington College of Law at:  http://www.wcl.american.edu/history/

Graduate Web Sites:

Joshua LeVasseur’s New Information Technologies Portfolio, including his Power Point presentation on Reorganizing the Senate, his essay on internet sources for the study of veterans’ oral histories, and his web site on the impact of the anthrax attack on the U.S. Senate, all at: http://www.american.edu/bgriff/dighistprojects/LeVasseur/index.html 

Elizabeth Hogan’s web site on prohibition in Washington, D.C. at: http://www.american.edu/bgriff/dighistprojects/Hogan/prohibition/index.htm
Elizabeth Hogan’s essay on Internet Sources for the Study of Irish immigration at: http://www.american.edu/bgriff/dighistprojects/Hogan/irish.htm

Cathy Johnson’s web site on Opulent Movie Palaces at:
http://www.american.edu/bgriff/dighistprojects/johnson/page1.htm

Robert Williams, Rodney Young and Walter Montano’s web site on “memory studies” at:  http://www.american.edu/bgriff/dighistprojects/wym/indexintro.htm

Jamie Boyle’s website on Chinese immigration into the United States at: http://www.american.edu/bgriff/dighistprojects/boyle/index.htm

December 9-17:  Evaluation and Revision of Projects

Final Revisions of web projects due no later than December 14.

For those students who did a group project, please complete an evaluations of web projects and e-mail it to me no later than Friday, December 11.  For details, click on Evaluating Your Web Project.

Return to top of Syllabus