Snapshot impressions #3 -- third class of the Fall 2012 term

Finally, a chance to let loose and really experiment. The third class of the term was a public history seminar with five students. The professor wanted me to talk about challenges and opportunities for archives. She gave me three hours to do so. Let’s have fun and generate some interesting discussion too!

Since I had lots of time, I also wanted to get their feedback on my own (future) research question. So, two weeks in advance of the class, I asked each student to select and read a finding aid created by my institution. I gave them no further instructions. They all came in with difference ideas of what would happen. Because they had advised me of their choices in advance, I had pulled the records for them. When they arrived for class, I gave them a printed copy of their finding aid and asked them to look at it in conjunction with the online version. After a few minutes, I have each student the records that matched their finding aid. When they had looked at all of this information for 30 minutes, I gave each student six questions to answer with a 25 minute deadline. We then came together for a group discussion. I collected some great feedback on our finding aids for my future research project.

Now, let’s turn to the challenges and opportunities that I was asked to address. I wanted to get the students’ ideas instead of leading them to see my points of view. As each student arrived for the session, I gave them a paper with the words “opportunities/challenges” and lots of blank space. I asked them to do a word association and write down their ideas. After a few minutes, I collected all of the slips of paper for my review. While the students worked on the finding aid exercise, I had an hour to prepare for the opportunities and challenges portion of the class. I was already semi-prepared as I had guessed many of their responses would be about funding, digitization, etc., but I wanted the time to get organized for the discussion. When we came together for this exercise, they found that I had written all of their responses on two white boards. I started by asking the students which point they wanted to discuss first. This was their chance to tell me what they wanted to talk about in the class. As we talked, we also discussed some prepared, supportive, and relevant videos (e.g., Tom Nesmith’s questions to Min. Moore in a Winnipeg café), newspaper articles (e.g., the funeral and protest in front of LAC), and digital documents.

In the final part of the class, I asked them a few questions about personal responsibility with respect to public history. Amber and I had prepared six questions and written them on flip charts. In this portion of the class, I brought out the flip charts and placed them all around the room. The questions literally surrounded us with the intent to generate discussion. Each student selected a question to ask the group and start a discussion. The questions had no specific order and we discussed them randomly.

Want to see how I did it? Check out “No expiration date” at this address: http://archivallessons.blogspot.ca/2012/11/no-expiration-date.html

How did it all go? There were mixed results. I found the students were, at first, reluctant to engage in the open format. As the class continued though, the students became more comfortable with leading the discussion. The finding aid section was very productive. When the students were working individually, looking at records, and answering questions about the finding aid, they were very engaged.

All five of the students have returned to ask additional questions and work on their assignments. They have come to me with well-considered questions and a list of potential research sources.

Will I try this format again? Yes—yes, I will.