Digital Teaching Archives

Designing Historical Video Games

by Adam Clulow with Ashley Gelato, Michael Rader, Izellah Wang and Alex Aragon.

In early 2020, we set about recruiting students for an experiment: Could four History majors design a fully functional, historically accurate video game across the course of a single semester. The experiment was driven, first, by an awareness of the dramatic growth of the video games industry in recent years and, second, by a sense that History departments including our own needed to engage more closely with what has become a key conduit for students in our classes.

At current estimates, video games are a $120 billion industry and one that is growing rapidly every year. For university students in particular, video games are pervasive. According to surveys, more than 70% of college students play video games, even more watch gaming content streamed on a range of services and the overwhelming majority report some exposure to video games across multiple platforms. At the same time, video games have become an increasingly important gateway for majors. Many students who enter our classrooms come to History via historically-based games which proliferate across multiple platforms.

Historians can engage with video games in two basic ways. First, we can deploy them much as a film or a novel to interrogate popular understandings of particular topics, moments or figures. Second, we can use them as a learning tool by asking students to design their own games. This was our approach. After an open call for applications followed by interviews, Julie Hardwick and I recruited four students, Ashley Gelato, Michael Rader, Izellah Wang and Alex Aragon, for a semester long Digital Humanities internship focused on game design, story-telling, programming, and history.

*The Game Design Team: Ashley Gelato, Michael Rader, Izellah Wang and Alex Aragon*

The task for the semester was to design a fully playable game that could be used in the classroom. The game was constrained by a set of guidelines. First, it had to be built around a historical episode known variously as Chushingura, the 47 ronin or the Akō incident. One of the most celebrated but also controversial episodes in Japanese history, the Akō incident took place between 1701 and 1703 and centered on an act of revenge carried out by a group of samurai against the perceived enemy of their dead master. It laid bare the tensions between the myths and the realities of samurai life in this period, between legality and morality, and between the need for order and the desire for honor.

Second, the Games Team had to develop a game with a clear educational payoff that could provide a window into the difficult life of a low-ranking samurai family in the eighteenth century. To ensure stability, the Tokugawa regime that governed Japan worked to preserve and secure the samurai class while also stripping them of the right to use violence. Placed on fixed stipends, many samurai and their families fell deeply into debt. The game had to draw on and make connections to the most recent scholarship on the lived realities of the Tokugawa samurai, providing a series of teaching points that educators could use to design lesson plans around. Third, the game had to be developed on zero budget, using only free, publicly available platforms and software without purchasing game assets. With these requirements in place, the Games Team was given total freedom to design the characters, the narrative and the game as a whole. As part of the internship, they worked closely with Ian Diaz, a UT graduate and experienced Games Designer.

Promotional video for the Ako game

Video games take many forms. Working within the confines of a single semester timeframe, the decision was made to develop a Visual Novel, a popular genre that is also highly flexible. Visual novels, which can broadly be characterized as Choose-Your-Own style adventure games, are typically presented in the first person with the player making a series of choices that govern subsequent actions. They employ branching storylines that offer multiple paths through the narrative and for this reason players often replay them to experience the full range of different options.

In designing a functional game, the Games Team faced four overlapping challenges: creating a believable central character, developing a branching storyline with consequential choices, writing compelling dialogue and producing realistic and historically grounded artwork. The most successful games push the player to invest emotionally in their character and the choices they make. The first hurdle, therefore, was to create a believable character that could stand at the center of a first-person game. The Akō game allows the player to view Tokugawa Japan through the eyes of young samurai, Kanpei Hashimoto. As Hashimoto, the player progresses through the major events of the Akō incident. The game is divided into four chapters with each chapter designed to expose Hashimoto to new decisions and conflicts while exploring the realities of samurai life, the economic structures of early modern Japan, the role of women in society, the commercialization of religion, and the nature of samurai ideologies in an age of peace.

Second, the Games team worked to construct compelling narratives filled with choices that matter. In total, the Akō game has five possible outcomes depending on the individual decisions players make. These five outcomes represent unique branches of the story, but the player is also presented with numerous smaller decisions that open up additional pathways.

Third, the Games Team wrote thousands of words of dialog for use in the game. Visual Novels contain some background information that is displayed at key junctures in the story, but the vast majority of interactions take place through dialog as the player engages with individual characters. The scale of this dialog is magnified by the fact that it has to be written to accommodate multiple different pathways through the game. For this project, the Games Team wrote over 30,000 words of dialog, a significant challenge that required extensive research in topics as diverse as agriculture, diet, currency, dress style, architecture and funeral ceremonies.

Comments from Ashley Gelato, a member of the Games Design Team

Finally, the Games Team made the decision to develop original artwork rather than using public domain images. In its final form, the game has 4 chapters with 30 background images and 13 characters. Each of these 13 characters has multiple expressions, creating a total of around 50 individual “sprites” that display varying emotions and postures. In order to ensure that the artwork was historically grounded, hundreds woodblock prints and other images were collected to serve as reference material. Even the smallest of artistic decisions required extensive research.

Over the semester, the Games team dedicated hundreds of hours to the task. The result was impressive: a deep learning experience and a fully functional game, Ako: A Test of Loyalty, that is linked to contemporary scholarship. By the end of the semester in May 2020, the game was distributed to beta-testers who provided feedback. In September 2020, it will be used for the first time in a university setting as an educational resource and then released on commercial platforms where it will be available for download at no charge.

As an educator, it was remarkable to watch a group of students start from zero and build up an immersive historical experience over the course of a semester. Such experiments show how video games can be viewed as something more than just a distraction separated from the core study of history. Instead, used properly, video games can provide a highly effective vehicle for learning about the past. At UT, the experiment was so successful that it led directly to the creation of Epoch: History Games Initiative, which aims to develop a pipeline of historical games over the coming years.

Digital Teaching: Mapping Networks Across Avant-Garde Magazines

By Meghan Forbes

In “The European Avant-Garde in Print” (REE 325), students explored the unique and vibrant print culture in Central Europe between the two world wars and the social and political context that produced it. I sought to expose students to the networked qualities of magazines that were published in Czech, Hungarian, Serbo-Croatian, Polish, and German. We examined contributor lists, the aesthetic qualities of the “New Typography,” and the way that the magazines cross promoted each other through advertisement.

Students discovered the transnational and multilingual interconnectivity of these magazines through the use of various digital mapping and open source publishing resources, such as Kumu and Scalar. Using Kumu’s Social Network Analysis tool, for instance, I could help students visualize how one figure, such as Karel Teige, the leading member of the leftist Czech avant-garde group Devětsil, leveraged his connections with editors elsewhere to make magazines that facilitated relations with major figures of a pan-European avant-garde. To offer just one example, through the Brno-based magazine, Pásmo, the Czech avant-garde actively collaborated with the Russian born and Berlin-based artist El Lissitzky, the German Bauhaus director Walter Gropius, and French-German correspondent Yvan Goll.

(via author)

I used digital mapping in my lectures to make this fluid exchange more concrete and dynamic for students. Then, a major component of the class was built around students developing their own digital mapping and visualization group projects. In this way, students had the opportunity to engage critically and interactively with the materials covered in the course.

One group drew on our extensive discussion of Dada periodicals published both in Europe and the United States—which we had the opportunity to view in person at the Harry Ransom Center—to reveal how some prominent artists appeared in Dada publications on both sides of the Atlantic. They also used their map to comment on who did not figure in these publications—namely, women, with the exception of the New York-based 291 contributor Agnes Meyer, whom they featured.

(via author)

Another group of students chose to document connections across a series of publications not via their contributors or geographic locale, but rather in relation to shared principles of design, such as color, shape, and textual form. This group even built their map to visually reflect in its own design the various components that they chose to highlight.

(via author)

Another project focused on a single magazine—the Italian Poesia—to make manifest the various personal connections between the leading figure of Italian Futurism, F.T. Marinetti, and other artists and authors related to the movement.

(via author)

The digital mapping component of the course was largely made possible with the assistance of UT’s Slavic and Digital Scholarship librarian, Ian Goodale, who made multiple class visits in which students had the opportunity to workshop their digital projects, and who also held weekly office hours in the Slavic Department. Ian also created a Scalar platform that holds all the mapping projects in one place, with the Kumu maps embedded, and includes other analytical content generated by students, allowing for further connections to be drawn across the group projects.

I observe in my own classroom, and in the work of my peers both across UT and at other institutions, the need for universities and colleges to commit to allocating funding for their libraries so that they may train and hire staff who are able to support digital pedagogy. For example, this past semester, Ian Goodale also helped my colleague in the Slavic Department, Vlad Beronja, create another digital project, Yugoslav Punk, with students in his course on Punks & Divas in Southeastern Europe.

Another aim in teaching “The European Avant-Garde in Print,” was to expose students to non-European periodicals, to explore the variety of responses to inter-war social and political conditions, and also to find actors outside of a European male cohort largely not represented in the Central European set. By giving students the opportunity to create their own mapping projects, I hoped to reveal unexpected connections between these cultural products. There is more work to be done in achieving these goals in a future iteration of this course, and data visualization and digital mapping tools will facilitate students’ active learning towards this end.

You may also like:

Digital Learning: Starting from Scratch, by Joan Neuberger
Media and Politics From the Prague Spring Archive, by Ian Goodale
The Prague Spring Archive Project, by Mary Neuburger and Ian Goodale

Digital Teaching: Behind the Scenes in the Liberal Arts ITS Development Studio

The Liberal Arts Development Studio has served as the production force behind the development of live-streaming and other online courses at The University of Texas at Austin since 2012. The Development Studio is an integrated team of professional and student staff assembled to work with faculty to create rich and effective online courses. Software development professionals create tools to support student/professor interaction online. Audio, video and graphic design experts recruit top-notch UT student staff to create high-quality multi-media experiences for students. Project management professionals work with faculty and technical staff to coordinate the production and delivery of multiple courses each semester, including the summer terms.

Credits:

Interviews conducted by Teaching Assistant Shery Chanis.

Musical intro prepared and performed by Natalie Suri and Zachary Suri.

Digital Teaching: Prioritizing Public Speaking

Every year thousands of students take introductory courses in U.S. History at UT Austin. This spring Prof Jeremi Suri is experimenting with an online version of the U.S. History since 1865 survey course. He and his teaching assistants, Cali Slair, Carl Forsberg, Shery Chanis, and Emily Whalen will blog about the experience of digital teaching for readers of Not Even Past.

By Emily Whalen

A good presentation, like a good lecture, should look effortless. Whether it’s a Youtube tutorial, a formal debate, or an academic job talk, practiced presenters know that seamless public speaking requires planning and practice. History courses focus mostly on reading and writing skills–vitally important in a world where remedial writing classes cost businesses an estimated $3.1 billion a year. Because of time restraints and high enrollment in general survey courses, some undergraduates won’t ever need to craft a formal presentation for a grade. In a world where presentation is a critical element of success, why don’t we prioritize public speaking?

When we began planning for our new online course, we were looking for ways that the online format could not only meet the standards of a traditional class, but exceed them. We wanted to raise the bar for what we expected of our students, all while preparing them in tangible ways for life beyond college. That was when Dr. Suri came up with the idea of having students record a short verbal presentation based on one of the class’s assigned essays. Students would have already done the intellectual work–analyzing a primary document–but would need to use time management and organization skills to turn the essay into a 2-minute speech. They would get a sense of the work that goes into the lectures they see every week, and gain important insights into how to present themselves in a formal manner. And, given the online format, we could download and view the presentations on our own time for grading – without sacrificing valuable lecture time.

We had already written this exciting idea into the syllabus when we learned about the Sanger Learning Center’s new Public Speaking Center. There, students could schedule one-on-one appointments with student speech consultants to hone and polish their presentations. The Public Speaking Center even reserved a block of time specifically for our students to come in and take advantage of this wonderful service. It was also a fantastic way to showcase for students some of the fantastic supplemental resources available to them as members of the UT community! We had 89 students sign up for the Public Speaking Center’s appointments. This participation shows how an online class can encourage students to use on-campus resources.

The positive effects are clear. We’ve enjoyed watching and grading some truly outstanding presentations, like this creative submission from freshman Janessa Lynch.

Response to the assignment has been generally positive, and the videos have been a great way for us to see a different side of our students–and for them to participate in our historical-technological experiment.

Digital Teaching: Behind the Scenes – Students Serving Students

By Marla Gilliland

Jeremi Suri’s HIS 315L course is one of the newest additions to the growing list of online courses that have roots in the Liberal Arts Development Studio. Since its inception, Liberal Arts Instructional Technology Services (LAITS) has employed video, audio and graphic design Student Technology Assistants (STAs) as a key part of its organizational model, which continues to be the cornerstone to cost-effective delivery of online courses as well as other digital learning projects.

STAs are involved in every part of the broadcast production; behind cameras, video signal switchers, graphics computers, stage managing, lighting, audio and tech support, according to Daniel Garza, LAITS’ Manager of Media Production Services. “Our students ensure that each class will have a consistent presentation of the expectations of the professor’s class experience, while the students working on these courses also gain invaluable practical experience.”

Video STA Bryce Seifert greatly appreciates the enthusiasm Dr. Suri brings to the course. “The class takes place at 8:00 in the morning, so (we) are there early, setting up the studio. As soon as Dr. Suri enters the room he is always ready to go, has a smile on his face, greets everyone by name and is excited about teaching history. I think this enthusiasm resonates not only with the crew, but as he teaches in front of the camera.”

Video STA A.J. Ahmad wears many hats. Ahmad acts as the floor manager for Dr. Suri’s course, where he makes sure that everything is set up and ready prior to going live at 8 a.m. and ensures that the class runs on schedule. “I (also) technical direct an Economics class, I help edit classes and complete walk-in jobs, including off-site shoots LAITS is hired to do, and I help to maintain, build out, or readjust the production studios for LAITS.” Says Ahmad about the STA position, “I came in simply wanting to help edit some classes or operate the cameras, but I’ve come away with an understanding of how to run a small, but growing, production studio. I feel like I’m part of a small TV station,” says Ahmad. “I’ve learned far more than I ever thought I would.”

Video STA Peter Northrup is the technical director for Suri’s class and also serves as camera operator, floor manager, graphics operator and editor on other courses, but his favorite title is that of self-proclaimed “Lord Vacuumer of the studio.” Northrup says he has “gained a much better understanding of a “broadcast” environment and of the importance of procedure when many people work on a project.”

“Suri makes history more enjoyable for me that than it ever was (in class), and I like history.” Northrup enjoys the team production environment at LAITS and believes this camaraderie carries over to the on-air style of Dr. Suri. His favorite moments in HIS 315L are when “Suri pokes fun at the TAs. It’s great to see the TAs’ laughter and reactions.”

Samantha Skinner, recent UT graduate and former audio STA, is currently acting as audio engineer for Dr. Suri’s live online broadcast. She handles “everything-audio”, from playlists to in-class audio stings to mixing the professor/TA banter, while making sure the students receive high quality audio for every class.

Skinner credits her time as a STA for providing her with a real world production experience. “I learned to perform multi-channel mixes in a fast-paced environment and to deliver quality work to a high volume of students. I pushed myself to learn and do my best work every day; a sentiment I believe the professors and fellow co-workers in LAITS all share.“ Samantha appreciates the enthusiasm of the HIS 315L teaching assistants and Dr. Suri. “His sincere excitement to teach is definitely infectious to the production crew, not to mention very helpful for our 7 a.m. call times.”

STAs also play a central role in the post-production process. STA Bryce Seifert is the editor for Suri’s HIS 315L video-on-demand, which means that after each live broadcast he puts together the final video for students to review. The timeframe for this turnaround is very demanding so he must work quickly and accurately to ensure that students have what they need to review for the next class or exam. He also acts as a technical director, camera operator and editor for other online courses. Seifert notes that his work on HIS 315L and others will serve him well as he pursues opportunities after graduation this year. “I have gained many hours of real-world production experience that has allowed me to better understand the technical aspects behind the video production of a live event.”

Media Manager Mike Heidenreich has recruited, trained and worked with many student assistants during his tenure with LAITS. According to Heidenreich, the students play a critical role in the online courses, because their talents are called upon during all portions of production. “Whenever we need a light adjusted, a new graphic logo created, a video edited, or a multi-channel audio recording mixed and mastered, you will likely find a student handling the job.”

But Heidenreich stresses that it is not just the work of the students that helps make LAITS successful, as he feels that the energy they bring to projects inspires the full-time staff. “We are only able to accomplish our large volume of work due to the professionalism of our student assistants. We depend on them and they consistently deliver work that far exceeds their years. Because they view each project as a new opportunity to improve their skills, working alongside them reminds us of why we do what we do and why it is so critical to deliver the best work possible.”

Dr. Suri will be teaching an on-demand version of the course in the first Summer session in order to accommodate students both in and outside of Austin. For more information about this and other upcoming UT Summer and Fall online courses, please visit http://www.laits.utexas.edu/tower/online/courses/.

Marla Gilliland is a Senior Project Manager in Liberal Arts ITS, working with LAITS’ professional and student staff, UT faculty and graduate students to assist in the delivery of courses online. In addition to having a background in systems support, service and project management, she is an educator and a parent of two college students.

All images courtesy of the author.

Digital Teaching: Worth Getting Out of Bed For

Every year thousands of students take introductory courses in U.S. History at UT Austin. This spring Prof Jeremi Suri is experimenting with an online version of the U.S. History since 1865 survey course. He and his students will blog about the experience of digital teaching for readers of Not Even Past.

By Asаad Lutfi

It’s not easy to wake up at eight in the morning especially with a cozy blanket over you and a comfy pillow under your head – I’m sure we all put up quite a fight. What astonishes me every time I wake up for my history class with Dr. Suri, is that unlike my previous morning classes, the web based class promotes interaction at a time when only birds can be heard chirping.

Having lived the greater part of my life getting spoiled in private schools in Pakistan, I have had the privilege of experiencing a variety of teaching and learning methods. The subcontinent, India and Pakistan, having been under the British rule for hundreds of years, is unfortunately still very dependent on the British when it comes to education. Though at the grassroots we are forming our own curriculum, higher education is still totally dependent on British Educational Boards. Pakistani education is characterized by private tutoring and personalized attention leading to a system of teacher-dependent learning. I came to America two years ago and I still have a lot to learn before I get accustomed to the teacher-independent learning system, as I will call it, that is prevalent in universities here.

One may argue for and against both, but what amuses me as I wake up every morning for my history class, is this new form of online education that never fails to captivate me. We are fortunate enough to be part of a generation that has seen the rise of technology that has transformed the world within the past 20 years. Not only do we not use paper maps anymore, we have gone so far as to replace human interaction with text and emails. But can we go far enough to say that online classes will revolutionize the learning experience by providing instant, low cost education designed for convenience? Attending a class in bed is something we would all love to do but what about the distractions at home? Do we actually learn as much as when we go to class? YES.

The class chat between the students and the teaching assistants leads to many fruitful discussions that are uncommon in a normal class setting. Not only that, it also helps people who are intimidated by the thought of speaking out in front of 300 other students. I believe that asking questions is the key to learning. The online class platform not only promotes discussion between the students, it also allows the teaching assistants and the teacher to have a better idea of the mentality and direction the students are heading.

The self-based learning system not only captivates its audience, it also promotes independent learning and research. Being only a click away, students can look up any event and topic they want to learn about within minutes without the fear of the professor’s disapproval. My former history teacher did not let us use any electronic devices in class. In contrast, the online platform, in my experience, promotes web surfing and research. This makes the online class a whole new experience for me. It alters my learning strategies and makes me focus on something I would like to do much more than I do in my classes — research.

I think the online learning platform can help raise the literacy rates and promote education through online means in third world countries like Pakistan. I would also note that, it could be the key to promoting learning for girls in Pakistan who are from families that are against sending their daughters to school. I believe that with affordable electronic devices or even a library that lends out laptops or tablets in the rural areas of Pakistan, we can solve the huge problem of education for women in the rural areas of Pakistan. I think a more educated Pakistan along with other third world countries would resolve a lot of broader problems.

It is certainly a big step to move away from the classroom but with the online classes at our disposal, I think it is about time that we should acknowledge the beginning of a new era of education and give it a try.

Digital Teaching: From the Other Side of the Screen: A Student’s View

By Abigail Griffin

When most college students think of online courses, they often imagine basic, boring classes that are convenient and easy A’s. Online classes often require little effort and minimal time commitment, while still satisfying a graduation requirement. So, students drudge aimlessly through the mandatory course, get their completion grades, and move on with their lives, without actually gaining anything from the experience. Dr. Suri’s online course, however, is so much more than a mark off of an undergraduate’s to-do list. Professor Suri revolutionizes this old, bland style of online coursework and provides a unique and active learning experience to students anywhere—from the comfort of their own beds to a quaint coffee shop down the street to the studio classroom in Mezes.

Going into the course, I was skeptical. Not because I didn’t have full faith in Professor Suri’s ability to make the course the best it could be, but because I was worried that even the best online class could not beat traditional, classroom-style learning. I had been unimpressed by the reputation of online classes in the past, and I never previously had the desire to take one. I always preferred a classroom setting because it just seemed more “right.” But boy, was I wrong.

Not only is Professor Suri an incredibly energetic and knowledgeable professor, but he makes his lectures engaging, informative, and entertaining. The online setting does not take away from the education at all, in fact, I think it enhances the learning environment. Students are more willing to participate in class through applications like “Class Chat” and “Ask the Professor,” and the TA’s and Prof. Suri actively respond to their comments, which would be nearly impossible in a huge lecture hall. When students take an active role in their learning like this, they benefit significantly more from the lecture. I know from experience that there is practically no class participation in a 300-500 person lecture hall, but having the same class size online encourages significantly more student involvement.

For example, Dr. Suri uses images in his lecture every class period, and the pictures pop up on our video screens so we can easily see them. When he asks us to comment on the images, students begin contributing to the discussion in a matter of seconds. In a normal classroom setting with the same number of students, almost no one responds to the professor’s questions, and never that quickly and eagerly. So the online forum actually makes the lecture easier for the students, the professor, and his assistants. It is also wonderful because the slides and images that come up on our screen are clear and easy to understand and interpret, whereas, it would be more difficult for some of the students to evaluate the images in a lecture hall.

Overall, I am incredibly impressed by what Dr. Suri has done with his online course. Obviously, it isn’t perfect. Sometimes the technology doesn’t work correctly or people get off track in the class chat. But as a whole, the class is a lot of fun. I think that the online and in-person office hour options are great, the class pings ensure that students are paying attention (and are super easy participation points), and the lectures are always interesting.

Plus, I have never been a morning person, so it’s great to be able to wake up 5 minutes before class and still make it on time.

Abigail Griffin is a second-year Plan II Honors and Government double-major with a minor in Arabic. She graduated high school in St. Louis and her family currently resides in Elizabethtown, KY. She is an Arabic Flagship and Forty Acres scholar at UT , an Agency Co-Director within Student Government, and a Camp Texas counselor to incoming freshman. Abigail also volunteers as a KIPP tutor and as an AISD tutor to Arabic-speaking students. Additionally, she is passionate about sports and has played on the Women’s Club Soccer team In the future, she intends to pursue a career in foreign service and counterterrorism.

Digital Teaching: Ping! Are you listening? Taking Digital Attendance

By Carl Forsberg

How do you know if students are actually watching a live-streaming online lecture? Excellent question!

Carl Forsberg. Courtesy of Joan Neuberger.

Online courses offer a number of tools to counter the potential distractions that accompany online formats. Our class uses the “ping” to keep students accountable and engaged, supplementing the chat function that Emily described in last week’s blog post.

During each lecture, one of the teaching assistants sends three randomly spaced ping questions to every student in the real-time audience. Students see a multiple choice question pop onto their screen, and have two minutes to answer before it disappears.

Screen shot of a comprehension question ping.

If you are surfing the web or answering e-mails during lecture – beware! You might miss your ping and your chance to prove you were tuned-in to the lecture. Pings are intended to motivate students to stay engaged in lecture. You might think of them as a kinder, gentler, form of the cold-call!

They also offer several labor saving functions. Teaching Assistants can easily calculate attendance grades by pulling up a log of students’ ping answers, eliminating the need to keep and compile a separate attendance roster each week.

Pings serve a pedagogical function as well. Rather than testing students on whether they caught a passing reference to a date or name in the course of a lecture, a well-crafted ping question can reinforce Professor Suri’s conceptual points.

Screenshot of the results to a ping question.

TAs get immediate feedback on how the class has answered the ping question, allowing them to see when a large number of students didn’t grasp an important point, and providing an opportunity to clarify. Pings can also be used to allay students’ confusion about logistics: for example, a poll question might ask students what time their weekly reading responses are due, after Professor Suri covers the point.

Screenshot of a logistical ping question.

For the TAs, crafting multiple choice answers for our pings provides an enjoyable exercise in pedagogical creativity, as we aim for questions that are not too obscure, drive home key points, and maybe even add a little levity.

With the exception of the first image, all images are courtesy of the author.

Digital Teaching: Talking in Class? Yes, Please!

By Emily Whalen

Some scholars wince a little when they hear the words “online class.” But what if online education wasn’t meant to supersede traditional teaching methods? What if online tools enhance the student experience? Instead of increasing the quantity of enrolled students, what if we increased the quality of the course through the use of online learning?

Emily Whalen. Courtesy of the Joan Neuberger.

Emily Whalen talking during the filming of the first online lecture on January 21, 2016. Courtesy of the Joan Neuberger.

The first week in our new, online US History survey course was a whirlwind, but the teaching team and the studio team have both entered with open minds. We all feel a little bit like we’re a part of a thrilling new experiment and that air of excitement and flexibility has carried over into our interactions with the students. The first few classes were not without slight hiccups—technical difficulties for one or two students as they learn the new engagement tools—but for the most part, we’ve had positive results.

The biggest feature for many students to adjust to, and for the teaching team to navigate, is the Class Chat. During lecture, students have a chat room open in another window, where they can talk to their classmates, ask TAs questions, and respond to prompts that Prof. Suri asks them throughout the lecture. Few students in lecture halls tapping away at laptop keyboards are only taking diligent lecture notes – many are answering emails, checking social networks, and messaging each other, much to the lecturer’s chagrin. With Class Chat, we are trying to ensure that multitasking students engage in multiple tasks without diverting their attention away from the course. In the last class, Prof. Suri asked students to share ways in which war had affected their lives, at the start of a section about how the Civil War shaped the social and cultural landscape of the American South. Students chimed in with their responses and the TA moderating the chat was able to share some of their answers on screen – something the students really enjoy! It was also eye-opening for us to see the amazing diversity of our UT student body unfold in real time. For the students to get a sense of the rich variety of their peers’ backgrounds was an additional benefit –and one that’s not easily achievable in a lecture hall.

Students share some of the ways that war has affected their lives. Courtesy of the author.

Even better, Class Chat seems to be cultivating a congenial, supportive atmosphere among the students. We see students answering each others’ questions, reinforcing their own learning, and creating a unique collaborative environment during lectures. Students can immediately ask their peers if they’ve missed an important point in lecture or where to find next weeks’ readings. This way, students can improve their note-taking and immediately reinforce the salient points in Prof. Suri’s lecture. Last class we had a student create a Facebook group for the course to facilitate group study throughout the semester.

Students ask each other questions during the lecture. Courtesy of the author.

Of course, some questions are worth stopping the lecture for – and we’ve had students pose some really insightful questions already in our first two lectures. This is where the “Ask the Professor” feature comes in handy. In our first class, Prof. Suri discussed the effect slavery had on the Southern economy in the early years of the American Republic. Using the “Ask the Professor” button, one student asked Prof. Suri to clarify what he meant by the difference between working for a wage and working for survival. As Prof. Suri responded to the question, he realized that the distinction between the two wasn’t as clear-cut as his lecture had suggested. The student was able to see Prof. Suri reassess and refine his phrasing to better reflect that ambiguity. It was a wonderful illustration of the ways these interactive tools create dialogue and benefit scholars as well as students.

One goal of this course was to harness the multitasking abilities of our students and demonstrate a participatory approach to knowledge to make the class both more interesting and more educational for them. Just a week in, we’re realizing that it’s a tremendous educational experience for the teaching team, too!

Digital Teaching: Taking U.S. History Online

By Jeremi Suri

This semester we are experimenting with a new online version of the bread-and-butter undergraduate survey course, “US History since 1865.” This is not a MOOC. It is an effort to use digital tools and online delivery to offer a course that will increase the rigor, fun, and participation among enrolled students. The course seeks to motivate students by bringing the material to them in accessible, thought-provoking, and creative ways. It asks them to actively engage with the material offered in lectures and to participate outside the lectures through online platforms, including a live chat, an “ask the professor” forum, and online office hours. Future posts will describe how each of these innovative online functions works and how the students use them.

Behind the scenes shot of Jeremi Suri delivering a lecture for the course. Courtesy of Joan Neuberger.

The course incorporates more primary documents, photos, recordings, videos, cartoons, and maps than I usually use in my traditional survey course — all delivered and accessed online. I deliver the lectures in a film studio in Mezes Hall on campus, and they are live streamed to students. Students will attend some live, in-class lectures on designated days, but they will all primarily participate by watching the lectures online each Tuesday and Thursday morning, encountering history as a serious learning experience from the laptop screens in their dorm rooms. It is time to consider that learning can indeed work best today in that personal setting, rather than a musty old lecture hall.

The course is built around about 150 pages of assigned reading each week and twice weekly lectures. Each lecture includes a mix of fire-and-brimstone preaching, Socratic questioning, and light entertainment. We want the students to enjoy watching their screens. They should feel included in real-time discussions about the presented material, and they should feel free to ask questions and pursue their interests.

Assessments of student work include a test of their listening within each lecture, weekly response papers on the assigned reading, and exams. Students will get frequent feedback on their comprehension of key concepts, their interpretation of major events, and their written expression through the online platform. They will also have increased opportunities to communicate with teaching assistants and the professor — both online and in-person.

A view of the studio used to film the lectures.

The goal of this teaching experiment is to raise the quality of the history survey and re-energize it for a new generation of students. If this experiment works, the course will be better and more popular than ever. If it works, the online platform will bring history alive for our undergraduates. That is the fundamental mission for a top history department and a top research university in the twenty-first century. US History Online is a more rigorous and fun history for a new generation.

The lecture delivered online.

Take a look at the course syllabus here.

All images were taken on January 21, 2016, by Joan Neuberger.

Recent Posts