Syllabus – Experiments – Schedule – D2L – Home – Book it!
2021-05-17, 16:52: Final Grades Posted
I’ve posted the final grades to the Normandale system, which is outside of D2L. Please review my comments below on final grades before emailing.
I’m proud beyond words of the work students did this semester. Commencement is an hour and a half and I can’t wait to see effort made tangible in the conference of degrees.
I welcome all of you into my future courses this fall(World History 2 anyone?, tell your friends) and look forward to meeting you face to face. My new office will be C 3050 in the fall.
2021-05-14, 16:19- Grading Scheme
Below you’ll find the grading scheme, which includes the 1 point curve I mentioned earlier.
2021-05-14, 14:56: Grading Experiment 16 Now
I will not conclude grading Experiment 16 until Monday. Please read below for other important grading criteria.
What I’m reading thus far is consistently well sourced, formatted, and written. Some theses are a bit wobbly, others rock solid.
2021-05-13, 12:08: Closing 16 Quiz and Grading
Everyone who submitted Closing Quiz 16 got full credit for it.
With only your Experiment 16 left to be graded, I’ve switched the D2L gradebook to treat all unmarked items as zeroes. Functionally this means your current calculated grade is the lowest you can earn if you submitted Experiment 16.
I still have housekeeping to do for grading as well, sorting through my email for assignments that had bad links or I didn’t catch in my batch grading.
2021-05-13, 10:26: Consultations and Experiment 15
Consultation grades are now finished.
Experiment 15 is graded. PLEASE NOTE: I only give zeroes when I can’t see work. So, if you entered a Hypothes.is annotation, but did not receive credit, login to hypothes.is, copy the URL of your note, and send it to me so I can give you credit.
A range of annotations: some were very creative.
2021-05-12, 21:22: Grading
Reflections are now graded. There were a number of generous and grateful comments this week, and I’m touched. It’s especially touching to me to read the gracious statement given how many of you struggled this semester, with sickness, death of loved ones, addiction, racial injustice, and the regular course of life/work/school, which is "normally" hard enough. I cannot adequately express how impressed I am with you.
On to grading.
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I will switch from D2L showing ungraded items as null values to showing ungraded items as zeroes soon.
- I own all the grades so I can change your grade anytime. That is to say, please do not call in the middle of the night fearing a grade will be permanently on your record. Once final grades are submitted I must fill out a digital form to change it, and I can change it 5 minutes, 5 weeks, or 5 years after it’s been submitted.
- Data errors (as in, "I submitted that assignment and can see it in the discussion folder, how come there’s no grade?") are easy to fix and I welcome your emails.
- Technical errors (as in, "I know I submitted that to the Submission folder, but it’s not there now") will involve a longer discussion that goes beyond when grades are due. I have never had a technical error reveal a failure of D2L that resulted in a grade change.
- Your class citizenship grades are based on your participation in consultations, reflections, and respectful behavior towards other students. Good citizens show up and make their communities better places. If you did that, you scored well.
- I am willing to discuss individual assignments, but not the final course grade. Please consider your communication carefully when asking for regrading.
- I round at .56. Please see my previous post about the COVID curve.
- Grades are a measure of your performance on a set number of tasks over the course of four months. Grades are not a measure of intelligence, effort, ability, or my afinity for you. Grades reflect what you turned in, and only that.
More updates as I have them.
2021-05-12, 16:34- Grading
Lots of email communication the last 24 hours, and some are high-stakes (in terms of emotions or grades), so I need to be respectfully diligent about answering these quickly. I’ll have Reflections done tonight, and will post a longer note about what to expect from grading and final grade submission.
2021-05-11, 16:27- One last Consultation
I just dipped into the Consultations to answer questions one last time for those students who posted in the last 24 hours. FYI.
2021-05-11, 15:37: Experiment 14
The strongest of these Experiments clearly tied one of our subjects (Yuan Mongols, Mansa Musa, Black Death, or the Renaissance) to a modern issue with a thesis. There were lots of comparisons without theses, and plenty of folks who just needed another round of revisions to tighten up their organization, language, or argument.
The most interesting paper for me was one that highlighted the appropriation of Asian cultural clothing for Star Wars movies. https://youtu.be/vKDwzRjCn7g?t=394 Racism in Star Wars is not new, but this Experiment called out the racism as it related to historical clothing. Great source and great Experiment.
There were two cases of plagiarism this week, which saddens me. Please, when using others words or ideas, give credit with quotation marks and a citation. I would rather read crappy original work that ends in "Sorry Jack, I’m tired from work and this is all I have" than have copied work.
Lots more grades soon.
2021-05-10, 20:32: Slow grading progress
I’ve graded 1.5/3 sections of Experiment 14, and will post when I finish all sections. Lots of questions in email and on the Consultation board.
2021-05-7, 15:52- A good thesis
Several students asked about how to craft a good thesis in our Consultation board.
A thesis is a provable opinion that is non-obvious. "Provable" means your claim can be shown. Many opionions, such as what is the best color, are not provable. Mayan astronomers offered the most advanced map of the stars of the 14th century is provable.
An opinion means that you take a stance. For history, you can’t "talk about" something or indicate "it was the best of time and the worst of times." Historians are like lawyers: we always take a side and advance that side.
To be non-obvious means something that is not commonly agreed upon. "Alexander the Great had a large impact on world history," "The Plague influenced the economies of Asia and Europe," and "Mansa Musa was a great leader" are obvious, that is, well-established historical conclusions. "The sky is blue" can be proved and it is an opinion, but it’s so obvious we wouldn’t ever investigate this.
Happy writing.
2021-05-06, 15:18- Grade updates
I’ve updated Reflections, Quizzes, and assigned Good Citizenship grades. Good citizenship is a reflection of your actions in our course, which includes attendance, respectful behavior, and contributions that help other students. From your Reflections I’ve seen that some of you are super-contributors, so I was able to bump grades for Citizenship for those who showed up frequently in other’s comments. Most Citizenship grades strongly help overall grades.
I know that at this point in the semester students are focused on grades. Thus, I get lots of email that read something akin to "I appreciate how you designed and taught this course but, grade, grade little grade monkey, I need my grade now." This focus on grades is not your fault, but the education system that has fostered this obsession. I get it. I remain laser focused on getting your work assessed, and around 94% of your final grade is already graded. Outside of this last week’s assignments, Experiments 14 and 15 are the only ungraded items.
Hang in there: we’ll get there together.
2021-05-05, 16:48- When things are due
Your Experiment and Consultation due dates are pushed to next week, and are reflected in the D2L due dates. Your closing quiz and reflections are due this Friday, as usual. There is no opening quiz, because our semester is concluding.
Your last day of this course is when you submit your last Experiment and Consultation. Per the syllabus, there is no final examination, only your final Experiment. This is by design to maximize student learning and the number of students who pass this class.
Several of you have emailed me about single grade issues. I’ll address them as quickly as I can, and I will get them all. Thank you for your patience as I address the crush of work faculty face at the end of the school year.
2021-05-4, 15:14- Keeping up on Experiment 16
No big updates today. I’m answering questions on Experiment 16 in our Consultations.
2021-05-03, 11:00- IMPORTANT GUIDANCE
There are multiple changes to our regular course week, so please read below carefully.
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Our survey of instruction is posted to our D2L landing page (right when you arrive at our D2L course page, before you click on anything, but after you’ve clicked into our page). Please take the survey.
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Your final Experiment requires sythesizing multiple skills and historical information from the semester. It’s not a "Final Project" in size, but it requires 10-25% more effort than your usual Experiment. The Consultaiton deadline is next Monday, and the Final Experiment is due on Tuesday. Theses deadlines are reflected in D2L.
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You final Closing Quiz contains two questions, both open-ended, one to give me feedback and one to help the history department evaluate your skills. Please take the quiz, even if you do not need the points as it will help future students, both my own and in other courses: thank you.
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I hated this semester. I never rarely talked to students (though lots of email), some people died while other people refused vaccines that will keep people from dying, and I often had to work while simultaneously teaching my kids in distance education. Given how hard it was for me (and I’m privileged in so many ways), I can only imagine how hard it was for you, my students.
So, I’m instituting a COVID CURVE of 1%. This isn’t going to bring a 55% up to a D, but it’ll save around 8 students from a grade of F or D.
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Stay tuned here for explanation of grades, how I tally them, what they mean, later this week.
2021-04-29, 14:32- Experiment 13
Lots of 9/10 scores. The minor issues I saw were failure to label numbers. For example, 14,000,000,000 is not a historical source, it’s a number. $14,000,000,000 GK is a historical source. A couple students struggled to add the correct number of zeroes (six) to the GDP data.
The question that asked you about fear of dying at age 35 was revealing. Many students pointed out how the mode indicated a skewing of the data and the extent to which you explained your logic determined if you got a full point for that answer. The statistical answer is that average age of death is not the predicted age of death for a person- they are two different measures.
Shout out to the students who indicated they wouldn’t be afraid of death at 34 because god will take you when god takes you. Not an answer that gets credit for demonstrating historical statistics knowledge, but you’ve got flex, so good on ya.
2021-04-29, 13:04- Closing 15
I deleted question 6 on the Closing 15 quiz but forgot to delete the instructions, which I have done now. Apologies for the confusion.
2021-04-29, 09:25: Consultation 15
Great collaboration on display this week. There were still a few "I think this assignment will be interesting" no credit responses, which breaks my hear to see. Several of you were creative in bypassing your school security settings, including with VPNs, logging in as a guest, and just ignoring your school’s security warning. Well done!
For anyone who wants to see the power of annotations with music, check out Genius. Artists often annotate their own lyrics, such as Lynn Manual Miranda’s annotation of Hamilton.
2021-04-28, 13:20: Experiment 15 tip
Only use the annotation tool in hypothes.is, not the page note tool. Page notes are not attached to specific picture or text: they are like a post-it note attached to the back of a book. Annotations are attached to a specific image or group of words, just like when you annotate textbooks.
2021-04-27, 13:49: Closing 14, Opening 15
The Opening 15 question about Mansa Musa was largely answered well, with about 50% of students able to trace the map back to the National Library of France.
The Closing 14 question has perhaps a generational vocabularly issue. In grading them, I concluded y’all are not familiar with the difference between source and publication. A source is created by an author, in this case likely a notary. When the document is put together with other documents– either in its original form or printed– and produced for the public, that’s a publication. So, the will was created, that is dictated, by a butcher, but it was published by both Archivio di Stato di Bologna, Memoriali, volume 230, folio 1r. Annotated by Shona Kelly Wray (which you could find in the "Credits") and the World History Commons group.
The great thing about my grading scheme for Question 6 is that as long as you make a good faith effort to answer and don’t write something incorrect (it’s a pickle relish recipe-) you get minimum 3.5 points. I’ll have to think about how to define "publication" for future classes, as I missed a teachable moment here.
I’m tired from my second shot, so that’s it for today. I’ll crash the discussion board hard tomorrow morning.
2021-04-27, 10:14- Two opportunities
Hamilton
Do not miss your shot! Normandale Community College is excited to announce a June 2022 travel course focused on the life, influences, and historical legacy of Alexander Hamilton. This course will earn 3 credits in History or Economics and culminates with travel to New York City to visit the historic sites of Hamilton’s time in New York, eating in the same restaurants as the revolutionaries, and attending the Tony Award winning musical Hamilton! Join us to learn more about this exciting opportunity and how you can reserve your spot. Info sessions are Wednesday, May 5 at 10am and Thursday, May 6 at 2pm at this link. If you cannot attend either session but are still interested, please contact Lisa Rude (lisa.rude@normandale.edu) or Brooks Herrboldt (brooks.herrboldt@normandale.edu)
Job at Normandale
Americorp Vista Job: The goals of this position are to increase low-income and underrepresented students’ access to health, wellness, and basic needs resources on campus by increasing student access to food and healthcare resources, in addition to expanding campus awareness and student involvement in the Student Resource Center.
2021-04-26, 21:38- Reflections graded
My students are amazing. Tiana and Grace M. were especially well-thanked in Reflections this week for their analysis. 80% of students who already have 60/60 chose to write Reflections, often long and engaging ones.
2021-04-26, 14:46: Quick update
Be sure to refresh your Experiment 15 page to get the appropriate link for our Spring 21 course sections.
I’ll enter some grades tonight: busy day with history department business, and, blessedly, my second shot! Two weeks to go- come on antibodies, do your thing.
2021-04-22, 16:18: Consultation 14 and I’m nervous
I graded Consultation 14 and they are fine, but I’m nervous. I responded on average 14 times in each course, and my responses to some of the posts were to warn students away from topics that are too late. Only pre-1400 CE topics are part of our course for your primary courses. Your articles about contemporary topics are fine, but, for example Guttenberg’s printing press, the Protestant Revolution, the Atlantic Slave Trade, and Gandhi are all too late as historical subjects for this assignment. I’m nervous because many students dropped in their Consultations and when I offered guidance, I didn’t always see "oh, if subject a doesn’t work, what about subject b?"
I’m keeping my fingers crossed my guidance was received and there’s great stuff coming my way by tonight.
Many of you are writing about how culture responded to Plague (and Covid) and about Mansa Musa. When in doubt, make the smallest argument possible, not the biggest.
2021-04-19, 16:35: Experiment 12 and Reflections Updated
Reflections 12 were strong with good arithmatic and research for questions 9 and 10. Some folks forgot to cite their noted articles, and a quarter of the paragraphs for the last two questions could’ve been longer to full articulate your ideas. On the whole- brilliant.
Reflections remain great. I read everything written, regardless of whether you’re at 5% or 100%.
A note on the potential trial verdict.
This week could see the verdict of the Chauvin trial. As you need support, please reach out to friends, family, me, or Normandale counselors. I’m a historian, so while I share the emotional makeup of humanity, I’m vocationally vaccinated against surprises. My hope is that whatever your emotional response is to the verdict, you can lean on history to provide yourself with context for what’s happening.
2021-04-16, 12:34- Consultations and grades
I graded Consultation 13 yesterday. Mostly good. Please keep engaging the Experiment, skills, and content of the course, even if you don’t have questions about how to do the Experiment. I need some indication that you’re engaging the work to give credit.
I’ve updated final grades. Those student who currently have less than a C received an email to help them think about their options. I’m here to talk, so never suffer in silence.
Be safe, be well, and get vaccinated.
2021-04-14, 10:39: Opening quiz 13 and closing quiz 12
Question 6 about the trade map had a range of answers. Strong answers mentioned specific regions, cities, historic occurrences, or questions about the map as a source. Less strong answers were short (one sentence) or spoke vaguely about trade or cities.
Question 6 about per capita GDP in Sri Lanka was looking for defining what per capita gross domestic produce meant, and for what a statistic from 1300 CE might tell us when compared across regions or when compared with today.
Reminder: one sentence answers to Question 6 will almost always earn only 1 point. The open-ended Question 6 requires a short paragraph answer.
There’s an increasing number of students interrogating the sources in Question 6, including evaluations of source credibility and source citation: this increased interrogation of sources is awesome historical thinking. Well done!
2021-04-13, 16:27- Reflections, total grades, and last day to withdrawal.
Reflections are updated. Almost entirely great- deep dives into what’s working, what’s not, and why it matters to you.
Reflection grades are now included in your final grade calculation. If you’ve turned in every one, you have 60/60 points. If you haven’t you still have four more Reflection grades to earn (weeks 13-16).
Because the Reflection grades are now included in your final grade, you have a clear picture in the gradebook of your grade. I am happy to chat with students who want to further understand their grades. Please understand that I will prioritize time for those students who have grades of less than 75% for this week, responding to all asap.
The last day to withdraw from classes is April 20th.
If you are uncertain about this decision, you may want to check in with:
• Advising and Counseling to discuss the academic impact of a withdrawal. You can schedule an appointment online or by calling 952-358-8261. You can also use the Live Advisor Chat, which is available from 9 am – 3 pm. You can also use that contact information to schedule with our virtual counseling or mental health services.
• Student Services if you have concerns that withdrawing may impact your financial aid. You can schedule an appointment online, call 952-358-8100, or use the Live Chat with a Student Services coach, which is available Mondays – Wednesdays and Friday 9 am – 4 pm, and Thursdays 9 am – 2 pm.
There are many reasons why a course doesn’t work out, and for many students a withdrawal is a temporary setback and they go on to reach their academic goals. Getting the support you need is essential in reaching those goals.
2021-04-12, 21:49- Lotta pain out there
There’s a lotta pain in MN tonight, in Brooklyn Center, in Minneapolis, at Normandale, both big, in-the-news pain, and small, family pain. As you are comfortable, I’m here to chat, about history or just whatever you want. You know how and when to find me. Take care of yourselves.
2021-04-12, 8:42- Experiment 11, a scholarship, and justice
- Students succeeded in using Voyant, but struggled to generate historical analysis for Experiment 11. There was abundant evidence that students used the tool correctly, which is reflected in the overwhelming number of high B grades. Few students took their word counts and then analyzed that those word counts meant for historical people. Most analysis focussed on theology divorced from history. I’m not disappointed: distant reading is tough, so operating the tool competently is great.
I would caution students when writing about history that intersects with your personal faith not to assume your reader believes as you do or that your religious beliefs are timeless. This is really only an issue for Christian students, but expressions such as "Our Lord and Savior," unless direct quotations, aren’t accurate because you assume your reader believes in the same theology you do. The faith ideas and practices of today are significantly different than those of the authors of our texts.
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Normandale is seeking STEM students interested in up to $7,500 for next year’s PRISM scholarship.
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Last night a black man, Daunte Wright, was killed by police after a traffic stop in Brooklyn Center. As a historian, little surprises me. As a professor and Minnesotan, I feel pain and anger at the needless death of this man. If you would like to
2021-04-08, 15:32: Consultation 12
Lots of great questions this week: hopefully I did them question justice with my answers. I’m grateful to all who shared their search strategies for question 7-10.
Did you know you can sort the discussion by names? Just in case you wanted to read everything one author wrote? See the box in the upper right corner of the discussion board.
2021-04-08, 10:04: Closing Quiz 11 and Opening Quiz 12
Many Consultations came in between 6 pm and 10 pm last night. I’ll go through them this morning to answer what questions I have not already. Lots of questions already answered by you and me, so please review our collective wisdom in Consultation 12.
Closing Quiz 11 answers were mostly strong. The best answers asked the "W" questions (who, what, where, when, why, how) to address historical significance, queried if the word use was literal or symbolic, and asked questions about the source itself, such as who was its author, why was the source written, can we trust the source?
Opening Quiz 12 had widely divergent answers, with more "1" grades than usual. The strongest answers ran an appropriate SIFT analysis, which may have included a reverse image search, a search for the term "tabularogeriana" which was the file name of the image. Evaluating wordpress is not useful: it’s a web platform. As well, evaluating decolonial atlas is good, but only to the extent that you can trust they haven’t altered the image.
Many students did not run a SIFT analysis and only discussed what they saw in the map. Without any context from a SIFT analysis, most of the conclusions that people offered about "What can we learn about the world of the 12th century from this map?" lacked evidence. I suspect many students were working quickly, as other SIFT analysis questions have had stronger answers by whole classes.
2021-04-06, 16:11: Reflections and Experiment 10
Reflections for week 11 were, as usual, largely excellent. Many students struggled reflected on their challenges with their assignment, and wrote smartly and at length about what they learned. I love it when students rise to challenges.
Experiment 10 was all over the place, with several small, but persistnat issues. Of the issues: if your paragraphs confirmed that an article was about the subject mentioned in the title, that’s not analysis. For example, analysis of an article titled "Humans eat food around a table with drinks" should tell us something other than human, food, table, and drinks as keywords.
Several students wrote convincing thesis about the articles they read closely, and then tried to use word counts to back up their arguments. The best thesis started with the word counts, even if the conclusions were tentative.
A little issues: if you see the name of a publication turn up tons in Voyant, it’s because the web page has it all over the place, not because it’s the most important word. This was especially true for older web pages that have lots of cross-posted links.
I’m tired now from a day of grading, emailing, and responding to discussions, and my body responding to the vaccine. So until tomorrow.
2021-04-5, 20:18- Short update
Some decent email communications and phone calls today, though no grading.
On the Experiment this week, pay close attention to the wording. I use "or" or "and" intentionally.
I got my first dose of the COVID vaccine today, just behind an 16 or 17 year old with his dad getting the vaccine. From the bottom of my heart, f*ck
2021-04-02, 14:10- Starting grading on Experiment 10
The strongest paragraphs attend to word counts as the source of arguments. Weaker paragraphs lean on close readings of the articles.
Be kind to yourselves and to those around: there’s a lot of pain in Minnesota right now.
2021-04-01, 10:17- Oh my!
Student analysis, questions, and engagement in this week’s Consultation is off-the-charts fantastic. So looking forward to reading your Experiments.
2021-03-30, 15:36- Reflections and this week’s experiment
Continued excellence, particularly engaging each other’s work. A large number of you saw another student’s Voyant article and read it on your own. What incredible intellectual cross-fertilization.
Good beginning conversations in the Consultation this week. Working with religious texts that were composed from around 3000 BCE to 200 CE is not easy for history. Great questions emerging already and I look forward to more.
2021-03-29, 11:08: Consultion 10, Opening quiz 11 and Closing Quiz 10
Consultations where 75% great. Please, post comments, questions, and requests for analytical clarity AFTER you’re into the Experiment. As I’ve noted before, "I didn’t know about this tool, I think it’ll be cool, no questions" is not a credit-worthy response. Section 3 is struggling this issue.
In other Section 3 news, damn, this group excelled answering the 6th question on both the quizzes. Attending to the Ws "who, what, where, when, why, and how" along with the historical context and significance and interrogating what we know about the text (was it translated, can we trust the author, what was the purpose of the text). Single sentence answers always get 1 (nice try, keep going) point.
The week’s Experiment requires strong use of Voyant and strong analysis of the religious texts. It’s good practice when analyzing religious texts of your own faith practice to avoid drawing conclusions based on your prior knowledge. Let the historical texts speak to the what people of time believed, rather than to your belief.
2021-03-26, 15:47- Have a great weekend
Starting Tuesday, all Minnesotans over the age of 16 are eligible for a COVID vaccine. If you are 16 or 17, you are eligible for the Pfizer vaccine. I encourage students to get vaccinated. My wife is already vaccinated, I will get vaccinated as soon as I can, and we will vaccinate our school-age children when that becomes available. This is how we beat this ^@#$%^@$%@#$D%ing disease.
World historical note: clean drinking water, antibiotics, and vaccines are the greatest world history life savers of all time.
2021-03-25, 16:20- Many updates
Apologies for being out yesterday: staring at a screen for a year has taken a toll and my eyes are having some health issues.
Consultation 9: Please post in Consultations once you’ve engaged the Experiment are ready to engage your colleagues. One section had many no-credit posts that read something akin to "I think this will be a useful week and I’m looking forward to learning more about how to use the tools." I prompted students in the discussion board to post more once they were working on the Experiment, both last week and this week. Remember that 4 Consultations are dropped, exactly so I can hold you to a high standard for your posts.
Reflections remain largely brilliant. Week 9, just off break, demonstrated a renewed energy and engagement with each other. Well done!
Closing quiz 9 and Opening quiz 10 had no question 6, so they’re out of 5 points.
I’ve posted up a storm in Consultation 10 to offer support and guidance. Looks like a great week of Experiments is brewing.
The gradebook has been updated and cleaned a bit. Check out your grade: email with questions.
2021-03-24, 8:23- Out of the office
I will be away from work today: my apologies. I will push back the due dates (later today) for the Consultation and Experiment to Friday. You are welcome to complete them at the regular times. I will do my best respond to Consultation questions starting again tonight.
Thank you for your patience with my absence.
2021-03-23, 13:47- Experiment 8
Finally done grading. The strongest evaluations of crediblity recognized ESRI as a company that made ArcGIS, but a company that does not edit content made with its products. See also there are lies on Facebook.
Smart analysis noted that Salopek’s journey did not cite historical sources, but instead relied on modern photographs. He is credible as a journalist, but it was reasonable to raise doubts about his credibilty as a documenter of history.
Examples made student writing shine. Instead of writing "I evaluated many sources and concluded this website was credible," a stronger answer would include "I traced the map citations back to ancient.edu, which we have noted as a credible source in our discussions."
Many students just wanted to get the assignment done to start Spring break, which is understandable.
What "break" meant varied. Some students travelled for vacation. Many students did not and some students, like me, had more work or family obligations. If you are coming off a tough "break" I get it. Let’s keep moving forward, just one step at a time. There is no monstrous final to prepare for, just the same work you already know how to do.
I believe you can be successful in this course. Keep plugging.
2021-03-22, 21:19: Updates
I’m now 2/3 done with Experiment 8. I just have so many tasks. My left eye has started twitching I’m looking at a screen so much, so I hope that stops. I’m also hoping I see more Consultation posts with article citations so we can talk about your Experiment 10 projects. Distant reading is brand new to y’all, so give yourselves time. Also, if everyone uses the website at once, it will crash :()
2021-03-19, 16:30: Updates
I’m 1/3rd done with Experiment 8 grading- good thus far. Please refresh your browser when clicking-through to Experiment 10 as I uploaded a revised version today.
Enjoy the warmth as you may!
2021-03-18, 20:24: No new grades today
I’ve had a couple good conversations with student by phone, and I’m pleased to see those who struggled in the first half of the course are working hard to get every assignment in now.
2021-03-17, 21:26: Experiment 7
Some spectacular analysis, some less so. The strongest answers tied their conclusions either to specific historical context or to a specific feature of the sculptures. Section 3 students consistently wrote 20% shorter than Sections 1 and 2, and I’m puzzled by that: for most experiments there is no difference between sections.
Several students questioned the premise of question 4, arguing no artist would have cared about all human dignity or perhaps have cared about human dignity at all. These arguments were original and thought provoking, if sometimes short.
Overall continued great proofreading and citing of sources. Cite and you claim a space in the world of ideas by putting your words in contrast to those of professionals.
2021-03-17, 10:06- Reflections
Continued excellence on your Reflections. Students shine as thinkers and writers in their Reflections. I love that you take yourself seriously as a thinkers/writer (you write in an honest way that isn’t just for me), that you say SO MANY nice things about each other’s work, and that your learning is so clear.
Keep up the great work!
2021-03-16, 21:29- No grading updates today
I corrected a confusing, added word to the Experiment 9 assignment, so please reload your page. Hoping for lots of grading activity tomorrow.
2021-03-15, 15:36: Opening Quiz 9
Welcome back to the second half of our semester. 8 more weeks! You can do it.
Question 6 on Opening 9 was strongly answered, with students noting the need to blend GIS measurements with primary and secondary historical documents to adequately account to distance measurements.
Be safe in the snow today.
2021-03-12, 13:53 : Refresh your page for updated link.
The week 9 readings link on Augustan Rome was broken. I’ve fixed it, so if you refresh your page, you’ll get the new link.
2021-03-5, 14:18- A little help
No grades today, but perhaps some help
Sstudents’ cost of living often exceed their tuition, and there are unplanned-for bills. Normandale has emergency funds to help students with their financial bumps. You can receive up to $1,000 max per request and up to $4,000 for one student over time. The application is fast, as is the response (3-5 days). I’ve had students receive money for car repairs, unforeseen medical bills, rent, food, and medicine. https://www.normandale.edu/normandalecares
If you have an emergency that requires immediate funds, please phone me as the Dean of Students has money that can be used- though it requires a Normandale staffer ask for help for a student. I do not need to know the full details of you need, only enough to frame an ask- such as "student has unforeseen car repair."
Please, if you have needs, apply today. The Normandale Cares funds can offer that little bit of help to give you the mental space you need to finish your semester successfully.
Next week’s Opening Quiz will close Sunday night, as usual, so that we start week 9 on time. Otherwise, I’ll be grading in short spurts and cleaning up the grade queries I’ve received by email.
Be safe, be kind to yourselves, and I’ll see you on the other side of break.
2021-03-04, 09:33-Consultation 8
A huge range of quality in the responses to this week’s Consultation. Section 1 and 2 had strong analysis of the form and nature of Salopek’s journey shaped the historical value of his GIS story. As well, students interrogated the use of ArcGIS as a tool, recognizing that it only hosted information and played no role in the credibility of the information on it.
Section 3 diverged from the Consultation 8 prompt significant and many students posted some equivalent to "I don’t know much about the Silk Road or GIS but am eager to learn." These statements, while honestly expressed, do not engage the readings of the week, how to do Experiment 8, or the prompts I posted for the Consultation. I called out an exemplary post in the discussion forum, hoping that by praising it other would emulate it. Perhaps I’ll be more direct next time.
In general, a good practice is to start working on the Experiment, reading everything necessary to do so, before posting to the Consultation.
For those smarting from no credit grades on this item, recall that four Consultations are dropped, exactly so that I can hold high standards without hurting final grades.
2021-03-03, 08:53- Closing 7 and Opening 8 Quizzes Graded
Great search strategies evidenced in your answers. Many folks used reverse image searches or putting the name of the horse into a search. The best answers on the stone sculpture question were kinda surly (I loved it), as in "I don’t know, look for a plaque, ask some museum dude, maybe google that" which was an perfect search strategy looking for evidence. Several of you proposed to carbon date the sculpture, and I’m hoping this was hypothetical, as museums don’t allow touching of historical objects 🙂 . Many, many students used their readings to inform their search strategy, which is outstanding. Overall a great week of quiz answers.
I’m in faculty meetings 11-2 and 3-4:30 today, so emails will likely get answered tonight: FYI.
2021-03-01, 16:32- Reflections updated
A huge amount of work reflected in the the Week 7 Reflections. Great calling out, by name, of other students for their analysis in their Experiments.
If you had an unpublished linked for your timeline or storymap, please correct it and put it in your Reflection board, not an email to me. That allows me to grade it in D2L. Thank you!
Please note that one of the GIS maps in Experiment 8 has an error that I’ve linked a correction on the Experiments.
2021-02-26, 15:44: Experiment 6
This was a brutal assignment, for you and me. There were a higher-than-average number of questions that I answered in Consultations, and most of the energy seems to have been spent getting the timeline’s correct. Most students had facts as the organizing feature of their paragraphs, which made it brutal for me to grade, because I grade how I’ve told you I would. In this case, organizing a paragraph around a fact, say events in the life of Alexander the Great, didn’t fulfill the requirements of the assignments because a fact isn’t a theme. A theme pulls together sources that explain historical significance. Facts just tell us what happened and to whom, which is valuable, but wasn’t the purpose of this paragraph.
There were some smartly argued paragraphs, including one about historical figures detachment from reality, as themes. The overall historical technology skill levels displayed were very strong, which is fantastic.
Enjoy the warm weekend.
2021-02-25, 13:41: Consultations 6 and 7
Consultation 6 was largely technical, or very short. The just-concluded Consultation 7 offered robust discussion, which was great. To reiterate an earlier point, historians try to suspend judgement when viewing the past not because our values don’t matter, but because we want to get as clear a picture about a situation as possible before applying our values. Applying value statements without clear understanding of historical context can potentially be interpreted as prejudice, as homophobia and misogyny has informed so much 19th-20th century readings of Lysistrata. Constructively, several students engaged vigorously with each other in a respectful way, and we all benefited from those discussions. Thank you.
2021-02-25, 10:16: Met Museum Backup Links posted
A student alerted me this morning that the Met Museum essays on Hellenistic and African art broke, and it appears the Met has a huge web issue. I found cached (saved) versions of the page using google (click the three dots next to the title of the search result title) and posted those links so y’all can complete your Experiment 7’s today.
This is what courage and self-advocacy does for education: it makes everyone’s learning possible. Thanks to Demetrius for today and all who have reported bug bounties.
2021-02-24, 8:51: Closing 6 and Opening 7 Graded, Lysistrata
Closing 6, question 6 answers were decent. The best answers included contextual questions about the sculpture that folded in the knowledge of the Guptan empire you had from your readings. Always read laterally, that is look to other sources, when investigating a primary source.
Opening quiz 7, question 6 was all over the place. The strongest answers focused on how a play can reveal the realities of the past. Less-strong answers focused on personal reactions to the play, which is satisfying (2 1/2 stars, too much misogyny!) but not analytically productive.
Sections 1 and 3 are having balanced conversations about Lysistrata. Section 2 is very concerned about the morality of the ancient Greeks, so I want to offer extra guidance and expertise to situate the play. Keep up the honest and respectful conversations!
2021-02-22, 22:16- Experiment 5 and Reflections Graded
The strongest Experiment 5 assignments made well-supported arguments for how your chosen artifact explained something about the past. There were a number of thesis that offered broad statement "This steele shows Hammurabi was revered by all" that would have been stronger with evidence.
I you didn’t publish your map publicly, I couldn’t grade it. Publish it publicly and stick your new URL in a Reflection post and I’ll grade it for full credit if it was posted on time.
I continue to find your Reflections the highlight of my reading week: wit, honesty, and learning.
2021-02-19, 16:06: Opening Quiz 6 graded and Experiment 5 started
Opening quiz 6 included many thoughtful question about what the lid signified to 5th century Guptan society. The strongest answers folded information that you know from your reading into your questions. Weaker answers offered generic questions that did not acknowledge the readings you’ve done.
I’ve complete Section 1’s Experiment 5 and have Sections 2 and 3 next.
Have a great weekend.
2021-02-19, 10:30: So many emails!
Sorry I missed any update post yesterday. I did enjoy the chance to talk with a bunch of you about your Experiment 6. I also spent 2.5 hours in a meeting, which is the hidden part of being a professor. More grade and comments coming later today.
2021-02-16, 15:50 Opening and Closing 5 quizzes
One question asked for context surrounding ancient laws. The strongest answers offered specific contexts, such as the dominant religion of the period, the quality of life of people under the law, the government, or the geography of an area as important contexts. The best answers also noted that laws are not always (often?) followed, so we should read laws carefully as many laws are more often broken than followed (see also MPH signs on highways).
The other question asked about the death penalty in Hammurabi’s code. This quesiton is a bit tricky as most students focus on their thoughts about the modern death penalty. A law published 4000 years ago in Babylonia tells us virtually nothing about today’s death penalty. Any defensible connection between the two laws would need a book-worth of historical argument.
Strong, weak, or tangential, I love the way students are wrestling with Question 6.
2021-02-15, 17:56- Reflections and Grades
Reflection grades are up to date. Please note the previous posts below about how your Reflection grade sums in ways dissimilar to the other grades.
I pay careful attention to final grades. D2L has a tool that tells me your maximum grade. For a small number of students with few grades thus far, the window to pass this class is still open, but barely. If you are one of these students, I’ve emailed you, so please set up a time to chat with me (phone, zoom, or teams).
You likely noted today is a holiday and Normandale is "closed." I continue to answer emails, grade, and respond to discussion forums because altering our schedule tends to mess up working students’ schedules.
2021-02-13, 11:22- Experiment 4 graded, all sections
The strongest Experiments clearly tied their artifacts to an argument on how geography shaped history. A couple students did not post citations for maps or artifacts, which make it impossible to award full points. Many students needed just one more sentence to connect their artifact to their argument.
Great sourcing of maps and artifacts, overall, focused on verifiably credible sources.
2021-02-12, 10:41- Experiment 5 Extension
There was a broken link in the instructions, so I’ve reopened the Experiment 5 Discussion board to allow folks a bit more time to do their Story Maps.
2021-02-11, 16:11: Grade update
I’ve graded Experiment 4 for Section 2 for: section 3 grades are coming asap. I also updated the gradebook for work not turned in and invited many students to book some time with me so I can understand your challenges and best support you.
Many, many students are struggling with life right now, so please be kind to yourselves, your classmates, and your community. I have believe you have it in you to succeed, though the way may be rocky.
2021-02-11, 13:37- Story Map tip
Please remember to "Publish" your Storymap before copying the URL to post in Experiment 5. Thank you!
2021-02-10, 16:29: Consultations, Experiment 4, and Plagiarism
Fewer students are posting Consultations on Monday and Tuesday and there’s a flood on Wednesday. My experience is that this pattern corresponds with a decline in quality in Experiments, because students don’t have time to incorporate comments from Consultations into their Experiments. Please, Consultation 6 opens Monday morning.
I’ve finished grading Experiment 4 for Section 1 and will post when I’ve finished all 3 sections. Tip: always cite your work, whether with words or with a URL.
I’m starting to see other people’s words slip into Experiments without quotation marks or citations. You know, based on your reading on Academic integrity, that this is plagiarism. More importanlty, your words make more sense for our assignments than other peoples’ words. By using you own words, with occasional use of quotations with citations, you are claiming a space in college. Your words matter and you belong in this place: plagiarism gets in the way of that. Please, cite while you write (in any way you are comfortable). Even dropping every URL you look at in the course of writing an Experiment is fine.
2021-02-09, 15:38- Experiment 3, Quizzes Week 4
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Experiment 3: Overall a strong effort. A number of students listed items that were not metadata, such as "related items." Related items uses metadata but is not metadata itself, akin to "you just watched this movie and you might like this movie." The suggestion is based on metadata. If you included the "related items," such as geography and explained it in your paragraph, I gave full credit.
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Opening Quiz 4 puzzled me. More than 50% of the students wrote answers that did not demonstrate basic understanding of caste within the Indian tradition nor of actual Indian history. Details (what is caste, when did the concept arise, how has it evolved, how did it shape Indian history in specific ways) were lacking. Many of the answers lacked basic editing, including capitalization. Maybe it was just a tough week- that happens.
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I gave everyone full (4) points on question 6 for Closing Quiz 4 because the image did not display in a way I think is universally fair. You could have clicked through, but everyone should have the same chance to answer well, and that didn’t happen. Sorry.
2021-02-8, 20:31- Mini-update
I’m a bit behind in grading Experiments: too many committee meetings. Section 3 hasn’t posted yet to Consultations? Too cold? Warm up with ancient historical maps!
2021-02-05, 10:37- Consultation 4
I graded Consultation 4. If you’ve submitted all four Consultations, then D2L will start showing you a grade rather than a drop.
Looking at my own data, I respond around 7-12 times in Consultations, and most of my posts are answers to great questions. For example, one student asked about a subject that was outside our period (pre 1400 CE) and I responded please, no, stick to our course period. Please read through all the Consultations when submitting your own, as students ask and answer questions, and the questions I answer are often essential guidance to doing the Experiment well.
95% of Consultations are great. 5% could use a bit more detail and engagement with others.
The courtesy of the Consultations is wonderful: so much holding up of other students as fellow scholars.
2021-02-04, 14:50- Reflections Graded
Whatever Reflections were submitted by 2:50 pm today I read. Just wonderful and insightful stuff- Thank you. A smattering of folks wrote great stuff, but didn’t mention other students. It’s best if you mention students by name, but "I didn’t see anyone else working on my topic" also indicated to me you are engaging others, and earns full credit. Most students write about their fellow students with respect and admiration, making reading these a highlight of my day.
As a reminder, you grade book shows the weighted grade, which is out of 15% of your total. So, if you’ve submitted 3 Reflections which received credit, you have 15/60 or 3.75/15 points. That shows an "F" because D2L displays grades that ways, despite being full credit.
Good luck on your Experiments!
2021-02-03, 10:50: Week 3 Quizzes and Reflection Grades
- Questions 6- The answers about adopting agriculture should have referenced your reading, specifically. There were many non-evidence based answers. I recognize the error of the word "adapt" which should have been either "adapt to" or "adopt." I may make question six on this quiz a bonus, or uncount it.
The question of sources for Australian immigration had to do with genetics, archeology, and oral traditions of the Aboriginal peoples. Did people arrive by walking over land, or by sea and if by sea from where? What sources we use shapes what explanation of immigration we create.
- Reflections – I’m impressed by the thoughtfulness of most reflections. You will earn 5 points for each reflection. Over 16 weeks, that sums to 80, but I am going to drop the lowest four, so your total in the gradebook is out of 60 points. As of today, 2021-02-03, you should have 5 points for two weeks of reflections. You’re Reflections grade will look odd in the grade book as we are adding points to an eventual total. To calculate your % Reflections grade, take your earned points (5) / # of weeks x 5. So, in week one, 5/5 = 100%. Week 5 might be 23 / 25 = 92% . Right now most students see some # between 1 and 3 over 15, say 2.15/15.
Here are some things to consider in your reflection:
- This assignment is to reflect on your learning. Some weeks you may focus more on new knowledge you gained, other weeks you may focus on a new skill. I find it all fascinating and useful, just keep those groups (knowledge and skills) in mind so you aren’t writing exclusively on one.
- Honesty works best for these. If you had a rough week, didn’t understand something, or struggled with motivation, it’s better to write that as you discuss your learning as it will shape my next week’s teaching. If you found something fit nicely with your existing knowledge, which let you take your learning beyond the expectations, that’ also great.
- Keep mentioning you fellow students by name. It honors their contributions and actually makes you a better thinker by engaging someone else’s scholarship.
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Students did a great job copy editing their reflections. I found almost flawless capitalization, punctuation, and language usage: keep it up.
15:35 , 2021-02-2- Recharge Day
I’ve been in meetings all day for our staff development, with occasional forays into our Consultation discussion boards. Looking forward to your posts! Check what others have found and my guidance on how to use SIFT to check sources.
2021-02-1, 16:07: Emails and Discussion Boards
I’ve answered many questions by email today and will be responding to discussion boards tonight. I love questions everywhere, and those that get asked on the discussion board benefit all- so thank you!
2021-01-29, 15:54- Consultations 3
I enjoyed reading your search strategies and am struck by the diverse curiosity of our class. Credit posts gave specific examples of their search strategies and results (Searching for Somalia turned up 3012 results yet searching for Luxemburg turned up twice that). No-credit posts often teased the reader with strong search strategies that but didn’t follow through with adequate details in the Consultation.
REMINDER: All classes are cancelled this coming Tuesday, February 2nd, for staff development. I’ll be unevenly able to respond to email and discussion posts, but I’m not checking out.
Thus far, I have no concerns with the overall quality of work being submitted. Y’all think and write well. I am concerned about the number of non-submissions, so expect more phone calls if you’ve gone quiet for a week or more.
2021-01-29, 10:1- Consultation 2 and Grading Today
Consultation 2 is graded. Several students forgot to post a second time. It happens. Recall that four Consultation grades are dropped. In my mind, I drop two for life (your computer flipped out, you had to work) and two for learning (this post does not sufficiently attest to your learning effort).
Friday is grading day, so there may be more updates. I’ll keep them brief.
2021-01-28, 15:11- Experiment 2 Graded and a suggestion followed
Student Experiment 2 assignments were overall strong, especially the writing and citations. We still need to work on using quotation marks for words of others.
Many students used Britannic, ancient.eu, and Wikipedia, which is fine. As you progress through this course, consider that "F" in SIFT is find better sources, that is more expert. So, for this assignment checking one encyclopedia with another is fine (and by design). Going forward, we want to develop research strategies that get the highest qualities sources possible.
Many student displayed creative research strategies for lateral reading. Several of you noted that history.com’s habit of not publishing authors makes it impossible to consider their material credible, even if it appears so.
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Based on the suggestion of one of your classmates, I changed "Assignments"above to "Experiments"for accuracy. She pointed out that you have 5 assignments a week (2 quizzes, consultation, experiment, reflection) but that page only showed experiments. This course is better due to smart suggestions from students, so I made the change, with apologies for any disruption.
2021-01-27, 16:28- Lots of questions: Great
I spent most of today responding in the Consultation discussion board, both to inquiries about Experiment 3 and to student discussion about metadata. I love the specific examples students use to demonstrate their metadata search, such as looking for a city once famous in the 2nd Punic War and now neglected – by metadata and history.
A bunch of students have written emails asking me to review your Experiments. I love questions and I want everyone to benefit from those questions. This is one reason I designed the Consultations as I have, to both give us a place to work out how to do the Experiments, and to give you credit for that work. There’s a reality for me as well that I grade 3-500 assignments a week (5 assignments x 100 students). It’s brutal, but has yielded better results (learning and grades) than lower work grading structures, say three exams all semester. My reality is I don’t have time to pre-grade work.
I answer Experiment questions in Consultations, or by chat (phone, Zoom, teams) and I do lots of lots of non-Experiment email (IT support, emotional support, I want to understand this grade) correspondence. But I want to keep our Experiment discussions in Consultations, both because everyone benefits from good questions, and to keep me focused on as many students as I can.
Thank you and keep up the good work!
2021-01-26, 16:34- Open and Closing 2 Quizzes
Question 6 asked about the credibility of the Northwest Tree Octopus and AskHistorians on Reddit. Most students correctly identified the hoax of the Octopus. More than half of students failed to recognized that AskHistorians is credible (if not well documented). For both websites some students jumped quickly to evaluations of the site content or layout. Ugly websites can host credible information and slick websites can be full of lies. Many students demonstrated strong lateral reading, and articulated how they used Wikipedia, google scholar, and other searches to find out what others said about the Octopus and AskHistorians site. This was especially important for reddit.
95% of the answers, regardless of their scores, were well-written, explaining in more than two sentences your research process. Keep it up!
All the Reflection discussion boards are correctly formatted now.
2021-01-25, 20:57- Long day (some updates)
Closing Quiz 1 is graded. One question asked you what a claim was- the answer was in your SIFT Lessons. Many students answered correctly- and plagiarized – oh no! Remember: if you are using someone else’s words, ideas, or media, you need to both cite your work and put words in quotation marks. This is a wonderful teachable moment, because you know that citations are incredibly important in the SIFT process. Make it as easy as possible for your readers to trust you.
I’m manually fixed Sections 2 Reflection Boards so that it should be nothing but private boards. Fixing Section 3 is my task tonight.
I was in Zoom meetings for most of my afternoon: so, solidarity with you if you’re tired in the same way.
2021-01-22, 14:51: Great engagement and a note on metadata
All three sections have been communicating with me robustly: that’s fantastic, even when your communications are of challenges. I expect and welcome questions, and I appreciate the courtesy of the email protocols thus far, especially putting the section # in the subject line.
Next week you’re going to learn about metadata, which already rules your world even if you don’t know it. I created a very short supplemental explanation of metadata using shopping websites.
Have a great weekend.
2021-01-21, 14:49: Insert curses here (UPDATE On Reflections)
Sections 2 and 3 Reflections Boards were not configured correctly to create single, private discussion boards for each student. Hat tip to Sam for alerting me to this issue. Section 1 is fine. D2L screwed me on this, but it doesn’t matter because it’s my course, so I’m to blame.
I’ve created new, correctly configured discussion boards. I now have to manually copy your original posts from the original discussion board to the new one. Please use the new Reflections discussion board for your Week 2 Reflections. And my apologies for this snafu.
2021-01-21, 10:59: Consultation 2, Quizzes for Week 1
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Consultation 2
Many, including me, offered strong advice on research and sources. My biggest task was to warn students off subject that were outside our class period, which ends in 1400 CE. Previous students have found that checking the Consultation board between Wednesday and Thursday, when the Experiment is due, has been helpful.
A couple note on sources. Minimal credibility is our floor. So, wikipedia, Britannica, and Khan academy are minimally credible. Consider, however, the difference between credible and expert. Wikipedia will give you a broad outline, but finding an article from a Normandale library database such as JSTOR or Project Muse will give greater details and expertise.
That said, your grades in Consultations for your sources are based on your process, not on your source. A non-credible or minimally expert source is a learning opportunity and will be awarded full credit.
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Quiz 1
All of your Question 6 answers will be about historical thinking. Grading is as follows:
I include grading feedback for the sixth question of all our quizzes. Such criteria will indicate your ability to demonstrate historical thinking at a proficient, developing, or basic level. I award 4, 3.7, and 3.5 points respectively for these levels, out of 4. If you answer in a single sentence or do not give a good faith effort in answering the question, you will earn a 1 out of four. You should expect to write at least two to three sentences to get full credit for Question 6.
You’ll note that all three grades are "A" grades even though a 3.5 means you are not displaying the tested historical skill. I do this because I want to get a picture of where you are in your historical thinking, but I am not "testing" you in a final sense. Rather, the sixth question is what we call a formative assessment, a question designed to demonstrate knowledge without a high stakes grade.
For Question 6 on Opening Quiz 1, all students noted what the text claimed to tell us about Babylonia, but only three students noted that the text was written in 1900 CE and is thus a secondary source. So, what does this text tell us? It tells us what the author, living 2500 years after the events described, believed happened. I recognize it’s really hard to learn not to trust sources but that’s part of our task this semester.
Kudos to the one student who knew Urdu is primarily a Pakistani language, and thus the text is an 19th century Pakistani history of present day Iraq. Imagine if a Peruvian in 4500 CE wrote a history of the US in the 20th century?
2021-01-20, 12:00: Consultation 1 and Reflections 1
All Consultations received full credit.
Student Reflections included strong writing and thinking. I grade these as credit/ no credit- based on what I’ve asked you to include. Several students wrote strong reflections that did not engage another student’s work. Most students did comment directly and by name on another student’s analysis.
I included a comment for all who submitted a Reflection but received no credit. Recall from the syllabus that I drop four Reflections, a policy designed to reward many different types of Reflection writing while maintaining high standards and focus on other’s work.
Including another classmate’s analysis in your Reflection is an intentional teaching strategy to foster your investment in another humans education.
Also, please note that grades are an evaluation of your work, not your person. Great chefs make terrible food sometimes, just as great students sometimes turn in less-than-great work.
2021-01-19, 15:51-Experiment 1 Graded- 1st Reflection grade in process
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Overall, students demonstrated strong writing skills with clear topic sentences and well-developed paragraphs. Section 2 wrote a little bit less, on average, than I’d like.
-The biggest opportunity for improvement is in using evidence. History, like law, is about evidence. So, rather than writing "conspiracy theories can harm democratic institutions," one might write "conspiracy theories, such as the the idea that the 9/11 attacks were planned by the US government or that the 2020 election was influenced by fraud, can harm democratic institutions by distracting from actual governmental work." This second sentence uses an example, and explains why it matters. A historians best friends are "for example" and "such as," words that lead to the use of evidence. -
Your first Reflections are being assessed. More tomorrow.
2021-01-19, 10:58- Dates and Late Assignments
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How we date history has changed in the past 20 years. Previously in the US we used a calendar system that divided time based on the presumed birth of the historical figure of Jesus. AD was Anno Domino after year 0 and BC was before year zero.
As it turns out, the date of the historical figure of Jesus’ birth was wrong, by around four years. Rather than shift our calendar, we decided to use Common Era (CE) and Before the Common Era (BCE) as notes.
So, you’ll see CE and BCE when reading history written in the last 20 years. Older histories of those who aren’t experts still use BC and AD.
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I’ve gotten a dozen emails asking for quiz or assignment extensions. I love the self-advocacy of these emails, but am pained that folks are not reading the syllabus as carefully as I’d hope. There are no late assignments or extensions. I drop two opening quiz, closing quiz, and experiments and four reflections and consultations. Reflections and consultations are credit/no credit, and I anticipate holding students to a high standard for these, which is why there are four drops. Still, I’d rather have too much self-advocacy than too little. A self-advocating student is their own best teacher.
2021-01-18, 7:25: MLK Jr Day Observance
Normandale is closed today in observance of MLK Jr Day. Given Dr. King’s focus on the importance of democracy for all Americans, and the recent unrest challenging that democracy, my wish for us all is to consider Dr. King’s words and life experience. The King Center offers these six principles of nonviolence.
I made myself available on a limited basis to several students who added the class on Friday, but otherwise will be away from my computer most of today.
2021-01-14, 10:07: Avatar and the Joy of the World in our Class
There’s been a significant uptick in students adding avatar pictures in D2L: thank you! I look forward to seeing 100% of the class with pictures.
As the introductions and personal conversations I’m having with students have made increasingly clear, we have an incredibly diversity of students. It is a joy that as we discuss world history, we have people who trace their lineages to all parts of the US and the globe and come from a myriad of backgrounds. Normandale prides itself on welcoming students of all background, treating all students "with equality and dignity without discrimination regardless of race, color, national or ethnic origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, disability, age, economic, and/or marital status." 1 As I hope you come to appreciate over this semester, that diversity is a core strength of world history students as we attempt to explain the past from historical actors whose perspectives are different from our own.
2021-01-13, 14:52: Hello! Is it you I’m looking for?
Many of you have not introduced yourselves on our Consultation discussion board. During a non-first-week of class, Consultations close tonight at 10 p.m. So, if I didn’t see that you’d posted, or read someone else’s posts, I email you today to offer my help. Those who still haven’t posted by tomorrow may receive a phone call checking in.
Why? Research shows that students who engage in a robust way in the first week in class persist in the class and pass the class at a higher rate. So, I’m going to do the things that will help students engage and encourage questions that may be stumbling blocks.
We get there together, or we don’t get there at all.
2021-01-12, 14:55- Dropped grades and pictures in D2L
Per your syllabus, I drop you two lowest quiz scores and experiment scores and your lowest four consultations and reflections. D2L will drop your lowest scores automatically, but it only drops what it can see, so you first two scores of the semester are always dropped, regardless of the grade.
To upload a picture of yourself to D2L, click on your name in the upper right-hand corner of D2L and select profile. Please use a photo of just you, or an avataar. I used Avataaars to create this:
In the midst of online courses, it’s important to highlight our shared humanity as we talk to other humans, not to generic grey figure icons. You be you, digitally. 2021-01-11, 13:55- Intro video to our course.
I made a short (5 min) video walking you through the web pages and organization of our course. Let me know as you have questions. Questions are like air in college: we should notice their absence, not their presence.
Welcome to our Course
2021-01-10, 21:57 – Please read this first, then review the syllabus, and poke around our D2L page. Questions? Email me or, even better, put them in this week’s Consultation discussion board so that all can benefit from your curiosity.
