Assignments & Projects
Discussion Posts
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Description- Using the FOLIO online platform, students will create a discussion post about a current event pertaining to world history, (for example, trade war with China). They may choose any region of the world. Discuss what the current event is, why it is relevant, and one historical event that led to the current circumstances. Students should comment on at least one of their classmates’ posts. To prevent plagiarism, students will be unable to see their classmates’ posts until they have posted their own.
Goals- Students will demonstrate interest in world affairs as well as the historical circumstances that have contributed to the state of the world.
Epidemic Project
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Description - After the unit on the Colombian Exchange, students will have the opportunity to see how contagions shape human history. Students will select an example of an epidemic from history on which to write a 3-5 page paper. It can be from the ancient past to near contemporary events. The professor(s) will supply the students with a list to choose from. Students will use information from lectures, class, readings, and any additional research materials they desire (as long as it is cited in proper style in a bibliography). The paper should include:
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The origin of the epidemic
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Relevant scientific information about the nature of the disease, its symptoms, and how it spread to large areas.
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How it was eventually stopped or contained.
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Information about its impact on the history of the areas it affected.
Goals- Students will gain an appreciation for scale in world history as they observe the local beginnings of epidemics and track how they grow and spread to affect vast areas. Students will also gain an appreciation for other disciplines like biology, geography, medicine, and statistics and how they contribute to our understanding of history.
Final Project StoryMap
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Description - Students will choose a country or region of the world that has been covered in class or that they have a particular interest in. They will then examine some of the most significant current events in that country and analyze them in historical context, demonstrating the major developments and events in that region that have led to the current situation. They will use ArcGIS maps or a StoryMap to show this progression over time. Students may wish to use their current events discussion posts from the past semester.
See https://storymaps.arcgis.com/
Goal - Students will demonstrate the historical, interpretive, and analytical skills that they have acquired over the semester. Students will also gain experience in the digital humanities and how to represent historical information through digital technology. Finally, students will have fun creating a project that they can be proud of.
Extra Credit Project - “Would You Rather?”
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Description - Students will use the global perspectives explored throughout the class to consider what it would be like to be a different person in a different country, time, economic class, etc, from their own. They will be provided with a pair of scenarios (such as “ 25 year old, middle class man in WWI era Ottoman Empire” and “50 year old woman in 18th century Hawaii under Kamehameha the Great”). Students will put themselves “in the shoes” of both characters and decide which scenario they would rather live in. The paper should be 2-3 pages long and give consideration to social class, gender, location, ethnicity, and economics.
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