At UWG I offered survey courses (Hist 2112: The United States after 1865) and upper-level and graduate public history courses. At KSU I also taught in support of the public history program–in the fall I offered an oral history course and in the spring I taught the capstone class (Documentation and Interpretation).
Public history courses are often project-based and offer students public history experience working with community partners. Engaged classroom work is the cornerstone of public history training and it allows for a unique pedagogical approach. As the instructor, I am ready to provide expertise on content and best practices in public history methodology, but I also approach students as colleagues-in-learning on any given project. As a class, we are a project team; we make decisions and solve problems collectively. This approach best reflects my understanding of public history practice and teaching as a kind of praxis—combining action and reflection in our engaged work.
Many syllabi I’ve created to date are available via my UWG faculty page.
