Last semester’s methods class students had to keep a weekly journal and I decided to have them do it electronically, using Google Sites which comes standard with their Gmail accounts – you can blog on a Google Site using the…

One of our last discussions in the methods class concerned professionalism and integrity in the history profession. There are probably many useful case studies, but I used two that had come across my desk recently.

I really enjoyed reading and thinking about Cathy Davidson’s brilliant cover story for Times Higher Education last month, “So Last Century.” I read it on my iPhone, captured via Read It Later, which was perhaps ironic given that it was…

So, this is partially a plug for one of the best little under-attended regional history conferences out there, the New England Historical Association. What? You don’t know of it? It’s affordable (nay, even cheap) to join. It loves new faces…

Following on our week about historiography and before our week on public history, we looked at history and film. This was really three discussions in one, so I’m not sure how well it all meshed together: film as a historical…

Last week was the time to level with my methods course students. No, you won’t all get academic or teaching jobs, even if you wanted them. And let’s be honest: history learning happens in many settings that aren’t classrooms. Let’s…

In this last unit of the course, I’m hoping to expand my students’ sense of who “does” history. We’re looking at people who construct historical narratives, who make historical interpretations, and who profess history – people who work as historical…

For the last Historian’s Craft “sandbox” week we looked at visual images, particularly maps. This is because the HistoryMatters survey course has a terrific essay by David T. Stephens, “Making Sense of Maps,” with some online exercises (although a few…

Yesterday when I was driving home from campus I heard a radio piece on the global show “The World” about researchers in Antarctica who are taking ice cores and melting them to release the air bubbles so that they can…

Last week I conducted a workshop for Honors students called “Notetaking for the 21st Century” (if you’re interested, my “online handout” and Prezi are posted on my site). I began by reflecting on what research was like when I began…