On Wednesday, I am co-presenting at May Symposium, an annual faculty development event, to help colleagues “get started” with digital technologies in the humanities and social sciences. Our session, organized by Chris Arndt, will feature hands-on opportunities to play with Google Drive, WordPress, and Google Earth. Many people on our campus are dabbling with digital projects, but others doubt the pedagogical effectiveness of certain applications or worry about the investment of time and energy needed. Our goal is to allay some of these concerns by demonstrating and discussing how we have successfully used digital technologies in our own classes. Other presenters are: Chris Arndt, Kevin Hegg, Andrew Witmer, and Kevin Borg.
Here are some links I will be using in my portion of the session:
http://people.jmu.edu/mulroomm/meghome/ (my old antiquated site from the early 2000s) and http://sites.jmu.edu/mad70s/ (my new class project). And here is the syllabus for the Mad 70s course:
HIST 337: Local History Workshop
“Madison in the ‘70s”
M & W 2:00 to 3:15PM in Maury 203 computer lab
Course Description
As a workshop in local history, HIST 337 offers a “hands-on” opportunity to research a selected historical topic relating to the Shenandoah Valley and to present the results in a meaningful way. This semester, the topic is “Madison in the 1970s.” This focus reflects a new awareness that the 1970s deserve more scholarly attention. Not only was it was a pivotal decade in US history, but it was also a time of tremendous change for this institution. Just think: in 1970, Madison College was a small, local school with about 4,000 undergraduates, mostly women from Virginia. In 1979, the newly-christened James Madison University matriculated more than 8,000 men and women from across the nation and offered both bachelor’s AND master’s degree programs. Using a range of primary sources available through Carrier Library’s Special Collections (yearbooks, catalogs, oral interviews, photographs, etc), workshop participants will recreate the texture of campus life in this fascinating era. How did national forces (eg, Vietnam, feminism, affirmative action, Title IX, Watergate) influence events here? What was student culture like (eg, fashions, music, clubs, athletics)? What about academics (eg, courses, degree programs, pedagogies)? What has changed since then and what has not? How did JMU become the institution it is today? These are just some of the questions we will explore. Additionally, workshop participants will develop career-enhancing digital skills by producing digital exhibits (not papers) like those on last years’ site at http://sites.jmu.edu/mad70s/. To this end, class will meet in a computer lab and students will also learn material related to the effective production and dissemination of digital history.
Course Objectives
History classes at the 300‑level are taught as a combination of lecture and discussion. Students will gain an in depth knowledge of the content and chronology of the theme or time period studied, learn to exhaustively collect historical evidence, and learn advanced methods of historical analysis and synthesis. Students are expected to deal with historiographical interpretations in this level class. Students demonstrate an ability to use the computer for word processing and learn how to locate source materials on the Internet. Students read between 800 and 1600 pages of material and write 11-20 pages of formal, out of class writing (book reviews, term papers, annotated bibliographies) for each 300 level class they take.
Required Readings:
Please purchase a paperback copy of Bruce Schulman, The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Politics, and Society (N.Y.: Free Press, 2001). Additional assigned readings will be placed on reserve or posted to http://blackboard.jmu.edu/.
Assignments and Grading Policy:
NOTE: All requirements must be completed in order to pass the course
1) ENGAGEMENT in the class (This portion of your grade will be based on a combination of factors: ATTENDANCE, EVIDENCE OF PREPARATION, and PARTICIPATION in class discussions/activities), 20%.
· ATTENDANCE. It is my belief that your learning–and that of everyone else in the class, myself included–will suffer from your absence. So I will take attendance regularly. Excuses are sometimes granted for absences, but do not expect them. In addition, I reserve the right to count two late arrivals as one unexcused absence. Each unexcused absence will definitely lower this portion of your grade–five unexcused absences will cause you to fail the entire course.
· PREPARATION. Besides your presence, the success of this course rests on your thoughtful responses to assigned texts. Everyone is expected to complete the readings beforehand and to discuss them in an analytical fashion. To prepare for class properly, then, you’ll need to read actively–with a pen in your hand, not a highlighter. Engage the text: ask it questions and take notes in the margins or in a notebook so you can remember what you thought. These notes should summarize the assigned text’s content, state the author’s argument, and capture the reader’s (this means you!) reactions. What passages were especially interesting, annoying, indecipherable, laughable? Why? Who was the intended audience? What kinds of evidence does the author offer to support his or her claims? How do different texts relate to each other? Do you see linkages, disparities, contradictions? These are just examples of the kinds of questions active readers ask of their texts.
· PARTICIPATION. Active reading and good note-taking will enable you to participate confidently in discussions (as when I ask, “So, what did you think?”) and communicate clearly your position. Some of the texts we’ll engage are provocative and will likely elicit strong reactions. Whether in face-to-face discussions or in electronic communications, please be courteous and respectful. Turn cell phones off and refrain from texting in class. I don’t expect everyone to be “brilliant” every day; asking a really good question of your own can be much more valuable to discussion than offering an insightful comment. Either way, I will primarily reward the quality of your contribution, not the quantity. That is, your comments and questions should clearly indicate how well you have prepared for the discussion and should either advance it or sharpen it in some way.
2.) Exams. 20% each. There are two scheduled in-class exams, each designed to test your comprehension of assigned readings to date.
3) Research project. 40%. Each student will complete an independent research project based on a topic related to the class theme, Madison in the 1970s. The previous class concentrated on student culture, so your challenge is to pick something else: athletics, academic programs, faculty culture, changes in the physical campus, race relations, or a key individual. The good news is that nearly all of the primary sources you need are available right here on campus. Some have even been digitized. The “bad” news is that there are almost no scholarly secondary sources about Madison, so you will truly have to create your own analyses from scratch (which is not “bad” news at all, but actually quite excellent!) Projects will conform to standards in the discipline of History, however, they will be produced in a digital format, rather than as conventional papers. In class presentations at the end of term will allow for feedback. Guidelines and additional information will be distributed in a few weeks.
History Department Grading Guidelines: (A) means genuinely outstanding, mastery of the subject, near flawless exposition, and incisive interpretation. (B) means well above average achievements in mastery of the subject, exposition, and interpretation throughout the course. (C) means comprehension of the basic concepts, competent exposition, and interpretation, indicating that the student has learned the subject at an appropriate university level. (D) means unsatisfactory but still barely passing. (F) means failure.
College of Arts and Letters First-Week Attendance Policy: At the instructor’s discretion, any student registered for a class in the College of Arts and Letters who does not attend the first two (2) scheduled meetings of the class (or does not attend the first scheduled meeting of a class that meets once a week) may be administratively dropped from the class. Students dropped for non-attendance will be notified via e-mail by the Associate Dean of the College. Students who fail to attend the first two meetings of a class for which they are registered but who do not receive an e-mail notification have not been administratively dropped by their instructor. Unless those students drop the course on their own, they will receive a grade at the end of the semester. All students are responsible for verifying the accuracy of their schedules and changes made in their schedule via e-mail and through the web.
Schedule of Class Meetings, Daily Topics, and Assignments
(Schedule is subject to change or modification at instructor’s discretion)
Week 1:
M 1/7 Introduction to Local History: Harrisonburg, VA
Kyvig and Marty, Chapter 1, “What is Nearby History?” (Bb)
W 1/9 Background: Campus Establishment and Growth
Click on this link “James Madison University: 1908-1909 to 1958-1959; An Annotated Historical Timeline.” To read the online document by Sean Crowley,a History alum. The URL is http://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/FoundingDocs/timeline/documents/Timeline1st50yrsnonScript.pdf
Read thru to about 1930 . . .
Week 2
M 1/14 Background: The Miller Years, 1949-1970
Read Chapter 12: Another Builder President, excerpt from Raymond Dingledine, Madison College: The First 50 Years, on President Miller’s tenure in office (Bb) ; also Lefkowitz-Horowitz, “College Women and Coeds,” pp193-219 and “The 1960s,” pp220-244. For discussion: Compare and contrast the two authors’ tone, content, approach. Who was Dingledine? Who is Lefkowitz-Horowtiz?
W 1/16 Special Collections: What’s So Special?
Class Meets in Carrier Library with archivist Dr. Mark Peterson. The website for Special Collections is: http://www.lib.jmu.edu/special/default.aspx. Browse around the site before class. What is its mission? Its scope? Is this the university archives? What kinds of primary sources for Madison in the 1970s can you find?
Week 3
M 1/21 MLK, Jr. Holiday. Class does not meet. Begin Schulman.
W 1/23 1970s America
For today, have read read Schulman, Intro and pp 23-77
Week 4
M 1/28 1970s America
Read Schulman, pp 78-158
W 1/30 Student Activism
Read Heinemann, “Tin Soldiers and Nixon’s Coming,” from Campus Wars, pp237-256; also Lefkowitz-Horowitz, “The Nerds Take Revenge,” pp245-262 and
Jeremy Turner, “The Madison Student Protest of 1970.” (all on Bb)
Week 5
M 2/4 Intro to WordPress etc
Read “Getting Started” and “Becoming Digital,” excerpts from Cohen and Rosenzweig, Digital History, available at http://chnm.gmu.edu/digitalhistory/
Guest: Grover Saunders, CIT
W 2/6 Gender Equity in the 1970s
Read Schulman, “Battles of the Sexes,” 159-189, also Bailey, “She Can Bring Home the Bacon,” (Bb) and Madison Women’s Caucus History (1973) (Bb)
Week 6
M 2/11 Racial Equality in the 1970s
Read Bailey & Farber, “Affirming and Disaffirming Identities” (Bb); also
Madison College Affirmative Action Plan (Bb)
Guest: Dr. Daphyne Thomas
W 2/13 Analyzing Pop Culture
Read excerpts from Kaufmann: Choose EITHER “TV and Drama,” 55-80 or “Film and Visual Culture,” 81-111; and everyone read “Music and Style,” 113-137 (Bb): Also, choose one of the songs referenced in the Schulman text or in Kaufman, track down the lyrics, and bring to class. Be prepared to discuss analytically how the lyrics reflect Kaufman’s argument in “Music and Style”
Week 7
M 2/18 Designing and Writing for Digital Projects
ReadChapter 2: “Designing for the History Web,” of Digital History (2006) online; and Adrea Lawrence, “Learning How to Write Analog and Digital History (Spring 2012 version)” in Writing History in the Digital age at: http://writinghistory.trincoll.edu/teach/lawrence-2012-spring/
First artifact and exhibit label due today.
W 2/20 Exam I
Week 8
M 2/25 Oral Interviews as Evidence.
Read Grele, “History and the Languages of History in the Oral History Interview,” (Bb); Also read the Rainey and Carrier oral histories on Bb and compare the transcripts with the audio versions.
W 2/27 Newspapers as Evidence (The DNR, The Breeze)
Read Jones, “The Many Uses of Newspapers” (Bb) and Knudsen, “Late to the Feast” available at http://www.historians.org/perspectives/issues/1993/9310/9310ARC.cfm
Week 9
M 3/4 Spring Break
W 3/6 Spring break
Week 10
M 3/11 Class cancelled for SNOW!!
W 3/13 Making Madison a Modern University
Read this excerpt from Emily Roberston’s dissertation: “Ch 4 The Carrier Presidency” on Bb (see note about reading in Bb, too). Recommended: read the Prologue to Clark Kerr, The Great Transformation in Higher Ed, 1960-1980 published in 1991 (via Google Books)
Guest Speaker: Dr. Ronald Carrier
Week 11
M 3/18 Visual Culture as Evidence: Photographs and Yearbooks
Read Borchert, “Historical Photo Analysis” (Bb) and David D. Perlmutter, “Visual Historical Methods,” Historical Methods (Fall 1994), available via Ebsco and linked in Bb under Readings
W 3/20 Faculty at Work
Read Hexter, “The Historian and His Day,” (1961); McPherson and Winston, “The Economics of Academic Tenure” (1983) all from Smith and Bender, eds., American Higher Education Transformed (Bb)
Guest speakers: Dr. Louise Loe and Dr. Jackie Walker, History Dept.
Week 12
M 3/25 Title IX and the Transformation of College Sports
Read Suggs, excerpt from A Place on the Team (2006) (Bb)
W 3/27 In-class Workshop. Bring your materials to lab today.
Week 13
M 4/1 New Ways with Old Maps
Read Kevin Borg, “Teaching with Historic Places: Sanborn Maps and Dusty Old Buildings” in Notes on Virginia (Bb); and Schlichting, “Historical GIS: New Ways of Doing History” (Bb) and Richard White, “What is Spatial History?” the Stanford spatial History Project, http://www.stanford.edu/group/spatialhistory/cgi-bin/site/pub.php?id=29
Guest: Dr Kevin Borg
W 4/3 Landscapes as Evidence: Automobility’s Effect on Harrisonburg, 1900-2000
Karl Raitz, “US 11 and a Modern Geography of Culture and Connection,” (Bb)
Week 14
M 4/8 The New Right Rises
Read Lefkowitz-Horowitz, “New Outsiders,” pp263-288; Schulman, “The Minutemen” and “Reagan Culmination,” pp193-258
W 4/10 Exam II
Week 15
M 4/15 Student Project Presentations
W 4/17 Student Project Presentations
Week 16
M 4/22 Student Project Presentations
W 4/24 Student Project Presentations
Exhibits due at 1Pm Wed, May 1st. Be sure to use the final guidelines!