Broadening
the Dialogue: UW-Stout's Diversity Connections Program uses
Technology to Expand Students' Experiences
by
Jennifer Smith
Discussion
of distance education abounds in today's academic world.
But how about "closing-the-distance"
education? Two innovative, enthusiastic professors from
UW-Stout have found a way to bring students together,
increase diversity, and expand the academic dialogue through
their new Diversity Connections Project. As co-directors,
Dr. Brian Fitch and Dr. Alec Kirby not only share their
subject areas with their students, but connect them with
peers at other colleges in the U.S. through two-way video
and the Internet. In this way, UW-Stout students are able
to learn with their peers at colleges demographically
and culturally different from their own. (June 2000)
Lessons
from Corporations Past: Madison History Professor Develops
Database of 19th-C. Corporate Charters
by Jennifer Smith
Business
and technology historians, legal scholars, and history
buffs will be excited to learn about a new website created
by UW-Madison history professor Colleen Dunlavy. Dr. Dunlavy,
who specializes in business history, has created a "Business
and Technology" website that includes as its main component
a database of nineteenth century corporate charters. Analyzing
these charters reveals interesting discoveries about the
history of corporations in the U.S. and Europe -- and
provokes questions about how corporations operate today.
(June 2000)
Expanding
the Graduate Seminar through Compressed Video: Linking Students
and Scholars
Article by Jennifer Smith
Much
talk about educational technology has focused on its uses
in revamping undergraduate courses and in asynchronous
distance education. What role can it play in advanced
courses for on-site graduate students, particularly in
the social sciences and humanities? With UW-Madison professors
Rudy Koshar (History) and Leigh Payne (Political Science)
as examples, this article explores how limited use of
technology can do much to broaden the research circle
of graduate students pursuing specialized topics.
The
University of Wisconsin Student History Network
Collaborative Effort: UW Professors Statewide
During the summer of 1996 fifteen UW System historians
began to craft a series of Web pages and email lists for
their students in U.S. history and world history courses.
Participating historians came from a dozen campuses across
the state. Their goal is to foster an exciting learning
process via cyberspace that supplements current classroom
activities--that is, to create an innovative, active form
of distance learning. Each of the menu choices below is
designed to take students through a self-paced learning
project as well as to help stimulate discussion on our
statewide, student-centered email listserv.
The
American Experience in Vietnam
Professor Mark Bradley
Department of History, UW-Milwaukee
ABSTRACT
(no feature article available)
For his class entitled "The American Experience in
Vietnam," Professor Bradley has created a Web page
with information about aspects of the Vietnam War. He
has also established email reflectors for each of six
discussion sections. Small groups within each section
take turns being responsible for pre-class discussion
with the goal of enhancing in-class discussion. A second
set of nine reflectors will be organized by historical
characters, such as MacNamara, Westmoreland, etc. Initially
students all playing the same character will confer, basing
their discussion on documents given to President Johnson
at the time. Later they will play their own character
alone in a group of other characters. Professor Bradley's
course home page is located at http://www.uwm.edu/People/mbradley/VtnWarHomePage.html
You can reach Professor Bradley at
mbradley@csd.uwm.edu
American
History 102: One of the Most Popular Televised Lectures
Professor Stanley Schultz
Department of History, UW-Madison
ABSTRACT
(no feature article available)
Professor Schultz's class "American History 102:
Civil War to the Present" has been used almost every
semester on videotape for the past five years. With heavy
use of graphics and live documentary video clips, the
course is considered much more interesting than a "talking
head" lecture. It has been broadcast, cablecast,
and placed in different campus libraries on videotape
and has been designated a pilot project in using different
technologies for course delivery by the College of Letters
and Science. During the past two years, course notes,
information, quizzes, and related links have been provided
on a frequently-updated Web page. The Web sit is located
at
http://hum.lss.wisc.edu/hist102
You can reach Professor Schultz at
skschult@facstaff.wisc.edu