Aug 16, 20208 min read

Module 1: Course Introduction

Updated: Aug 20, 2020

Hello everyone! Welcome to Week 1 of Fall 2020, and Module 1 of HIST 110. I'm so happy you decided to join this course. In this first module blog post, you'll find an overview of the course and my introduction. You'll also find a lot of helpful information in Module 1 on our Canvas site and a few tasks to complete to get set up and start getting into some historical material next week. This first week is all about an orientation to the course. Take your time getting set up and practicing with the tools so you're ready to go in Week 2.

Ready to get started?

This is me!

Part I: Introduction

My name is Mary Klann. I'm a historian of US History and a lecturer here at Miramar and at UC San Diego. My research interests are in Native American history, the history of welfare and politics, and women’s history. I’m currently working on a book (based on my doctoral dissertation) about Native peoples’ access to welfare benefits in the World War II era. If you want to read more about me or my work, you can check out my personal website.

This is my fourth year teaching at Miramar. I teach HIST 109 and HIST 110. I also teach courses in Native American History at UCSD. I received my PhD in US History from UC San Diego in 2017. I also have an MA in Women’s History from Sarah Lawrence College (Bronxville, NY), and a BA in Psychology from Willamette University (Salem, OR).

Long story short, I love history! I like to analyze all of the messy and complicated relationships people have with each other, with the environment, with the state and politics, and with society and culture. Thinking critically about historical topics can provide valuable tools to assess and understand contemporary issues.

Is this not the perfect time to take a history class? We've got a global pandemic, a presidential election, an economic downturn, and national conversations about institutional racism. You're in the right place! I can't wait to get into all of the context for our current moment in time.

By becoming invested in the study of the past, we can better understand ourselves as historical agents who can shape our communities, our nations, and the future!

In this first orientation week, you'll also be introducing yourself! Take a minute to visit our Introductions Padlet to add a post and comment on a few others posts. (You can also access the padlet in Module 1 on Canvas.)

If you'd like, share a little bit more about yourself in the comments.

A few questions to help me get to know the class:

Have you ever taken a class online before? Respond in the poll below. You'll be able to see the class results immediately once you respond. (If you're having difficulty accessing the embedded poll, respond here.)

If you answered "yes" to the poll above, please share any tips you have about being successful in an online course. If you're having trouble viewing the embedded word cloud below, please access it here.

We'll be using tools like Slido and Answer Garden throughout the module blog posts this semester. What do you think?

If you've never taken an online class before, please share any concerns you have going in, so those of us who have previous experience can help out!

Part II: Course Overview

This week, you’ll be completing the the Interactive Syllabus through Canvas. After completing this assignment, you'll see 10 points in the Canvas gradebook. (Woo hoo!)

The Interactive Syllabus provides lots of information about what you can expect from the course. In addition, you’ll have the opportunity to ask me any questions you have about the assignments and course structure. I’ll respond to your questions in Canvas.

The syllabus will be thoroughly broken down for you in the Interactive Syllabus, but I've included a few key pieces here as well:

Course Description:

This course, which covers the history of the United States from Reconstruction to the present, provides an overview of the diverse peoples who influenced the history of the nation and its maturing economic, social, and political institutions. Concentrating on class, ethnicity/race, and gender, students are required to analyze a variety of primary and secondary sources, think critically, and write thesis-based essays. This course is intended for all students interested in United States history.

Eleanor Roosevelt raising her hand to answer a question in a 1957 interview — Eleanor Roosevelt in a 1957 Interview

In this class, you'll learn all sorts of information about modern US history, and you'll have a chance to practice the skills historians use.

Here are the Student Learning Outcomes for HIST 110 (these apply to all sections of HIST 110 across SDCCD):

Upon successful completion of this course:

Students will be able to establish the historical significance of an event or an individual in Modern US History.
Students will be able to analyze and use primary source evidence in historical context when studying Modern US History.
Students will be able to identify continuity and change in history by comparing some point in the past (in Modern US History) with the present, or two points in the past.
Students will be able to analyze the causes (actions, beliefs, or circumstances) that led to a historical event in Modern US History and the consequences of change.
Students will be able to demonstrate knowledge in various historical periods in Modern US History.

And here are the skills you'll practice:

Locating primary sources through online research.
Analyzing primary sources by putting them into historical context.
Formulating your own historical arguments and effectively communicating them.
Situating yourself in contemporary society based on historical context.

In the Interactive Syllabus, you'll have the chance to tell me any other specific learning goals you have for this class. I'll share the responses next week!

How our class will work:

We're moving outside of Canvas for most of our class. We'll mainly interact with each other through this website, our course blog. Why?

Well, after having taught online via Canvas for awhile, there are a few things I've found to be limiting. In a face-to-face class, when I present historical material, there is a chance for you to ask me questions about that material immediately. I've found that presenting my lecture material as a PDF of a detailed slide show took away that give-and-take that is such an important part of a face-to-face class. Since our class is asynchronous, we never will get a chance to go back and forth in real time. That is okay! What I've decided to do here is to encourage you to interact directly with the lecture material in the blog posts by annotating it through Hypothesis. You'll be doing the same thing with the required readings for each module.

The orientation video below goes over how to annotate with Hypothesis. (You can also find this video on Canvas.) In your annotations, feel free to ask questions about anything in the module blog post, add reactions through emojis, or GIFs, or reply to classmates' annotations.

I've worked specific times into my schedule to respond to your annotations on the blog, so you'll see me on here too!

You can also comment on the blog posts to elaborate on your responses to the Slido polls and Answer Garden word clouds. In the comments on this post, I'd be thrilled if you let me know what you think about this format for our online course. If you have any specific concerns, put them in the comments! Or, try out Hypothesis and annotate any section where you're confused.

Here's a few of my visions for this class:

Collaborative: I envision this class as highly collaborative. You'll be engaging with me and with each other in the margins of the lectures and the readings. You'll be posting your writing to our course blog and providing useful feedback to your fellow classmates. We'll learn from each other and from the historical material.
Free: I am committed to doing what I can to reduce the cost of education--as an instructor, that means I never ask you to pay for textbooks, pay for accounts or outside apps, or pay for anything else. We'll be using open source educational material in our class, which is all free! and open! to everyone!
Student-centered: My goal with my (un)grading policy (you'll read much more about that below, in the Interactive Syllabus, and in the reading for this module) and with the design of the assessments is to give you more control and agency over your learning. You decide which sources interest you, you decide the direction of your research, you decide your grade.
Fun: Fun??? History can be fun??? (Are you having fun yet? 😜) Honestly, a lot of the stuff we'll discuss in this class is absolutely not fun. But, I hope that you enjoy or are engaged with the way we'll go about discussing it. I'm not concerned with memorization of dates and events. I'm not interested in multiple-choice exams. One of the things I love about teaching the survey (HIST 110 is a survey or introduction to US History) is that we get to sample a whole variety of historical topics and approaches. And, you get to try your hand at writing and researching history yourself. That, I promise, is fun.

(Un)Grading Policy

Before you go, the last thing we'll go over is the ungrading policy for this class. You'll find all of this information (and more) in the Interactive Syllabus. You'll also get a chance to ask me questions about how it works there--but feel free to annotate or comment with any questions that come up here as well.

In this class, I’m taking a very different approach to grading than I have taken in the past. I am eliminating all grades for individual assessments and weekly participation activities. Why? Educational and psychological research has shown that the use of grades diminishes interest in learning. Also, grades tend to stress people out! My goal for everybody is to come away from this class feeling proud of what you accomplished and having met your own learning goals. So, in this course, you will be determining your own grade.

How does it work?

I will provide feedback (lots of feedback) throughout the semester on your assessments (Primary Source Analysis Posts, I-Search Paper, and Unessay) and your class participation (annotations and comments on lecture posts and reading/podcast annotations). You’ll also receive comments and feedback regularly from your peers. But, your final grade in the course is up to you. (SERIOUSLY!) I want everybody to pass the class. Whether you want to go for an A, B, or C is your choice.

At the end of each assignment, you’ll complete a “Declaration” quiz in Canvas. (It is called a “quiz,” but it isn’t testing you on anything. It is just a true/false checklist where you confirm that the assessment is completed.) Once you complete the quiz, you will see your points in the Canvas Gradebook. (The points are there for you to keep track of your progress in the course.) You’ll also complete a Declaration quiz at the end of each week to confirm that you’ve met the benchmarks for class participation.

After every assessment and three times throughout the semester you’ll also turn in Reflections. These are informal responses to the assignment itself. I’ll ask you to reflect on what you learned, what you enjoyed about the assignment, and anything you’d like to change for next time. (The reflections will only be seen by me, so it is a good place to express concerns if you have them.)

To get started on our ungrading journey (haha) please annotate the required reading for Module 1: Alfie Kohn, "The Case Against Grades." Kohn is an educational and psychological researcher who has published widely on the impact of grades. I'm interested to hear what you think about this article!

If you have questions about ungrading and want to ask me in a synchronous environment, please join me for a Q&A via Zoom on Wednesday, August 19 at 1 pm. You can find the Zoom link on Canvas!