My team and I started the week out strong with an hour-long meeting on Monday to discuss where we were, receive some feedback, and obtain approval on various projects. Dr. Snyder approved my infographic and told me to go ahead and upload it to the History Lab. She asked that I make a few additions to the sources widget with regard to citing sources within sources and adding resources on where students can look for more information. As soon as those things are added, it should be acceptable to upload as well.
We discussed adding hashtags to the Historical Era Link Collection to make it more searchable and decided that we would begin emailing it to a few select instructors first so that we can begin to broaden its’ scope before sending it to the entire department. I drafted a sample letter for us to use along with instructions on how to add sources. Dr. Snyder just approved the verbiage, so Owen and I will begin sending those out today.
Together, we reviewed a few unpublished pages on the History Lab that have some useful information. We also talked about consolidating and adding a few things to existing published modules. We discussed some ideas that I had for additional content and agreed on a few to get started on. I began a shared team document on Google Docs that we can use to keep track of things we’re working on since that’s something I already do for myself to keep organized.
Tuesday, Owen and I ran a practice session on Zoom using the History Lab so that we can get more comfortable with hosting before we start seeing students. We also discussed the content we would be working on this week. After reviewing a document of Dr. Snyder’s that contains some common feedback she gives to students on their essays and discussion posts, we were able to hone in on some big things that might be useful to students. I wrote to one of my instructors this term, Dr. Hudson, and asked her if she would be willing to let us use some of her material on ways to use evidence. With her hearty consent, Owen will be working with this content and adding to it to make a guide on how to “weave sources” into essays. I am creating a page with tips on writing concisely. This week has been busy for both of us, so it’s unlikely we’ll complete these tasks before Friday. However, we should be able to wrap most of these projects up before the end of next week.
We are also anxiously awaiting the first of Dr. Snyder’s Age of Atlantic Revolutions and History & Historians students who will be working with us on their primary source facilitation papers and discussions. Dr. Snyder advised us that the survey level instructors that she’s spoken to do not have papers due until later in the semester so we may have some time until we have a rush of students needing our services regularly.