Episodic Online Tasks: Enhancing Learning and Enriching the Educational Experience

Dakin Burdick, Ph.D.

Take 1-2 minutes to introduce yourself to the people seated next to you.

Please share your name, discipline, institution, and the kinds of courses you typically teach.

If you have your computer with you, please download the handouts for this session at:

http://tinyurl.com/kpug7wo

Please Introduce Yourselves

My Narrative of InstructionStudents read the assignment.

Students comment upon assignment in reflective writing.

Instructor reads student writing before class, prepares group feedback, addresses individual issues by email, and grades them.

Instructor gives group feedback at the start of the next class.

Instructor adds additional context or complexity to the issue.

Students build on their personal reflection with individual thought and in-class group work in class (jigsaws, debates, round robin discussions, concept tests, role-playing, affinity maps, etc.).

Students and instructor generalize and summarize what was learned.

What are Episodic Assignments?

They are brief assignments outside the normal narrative.

They keep students working in the middle of the week, when the primary reading has already been completed.

Because they are in the middle of the week, they should not take a lot of time.

They should appeal to diverse tastes and interests.

They should activate episodic memory by employing experiential learning.

In a survey course, they can provide tastes of what later classes or further specialization might offer.

Above all, they should be fun or at least interesting.

Nouvelle CuisineRejects excessive complication.

Reduces the amount of cooking to preserve natural flavors.

Avoids strong marinades and heavy sauces.

Made with freshest possible ingredients.

Invention and variety of combinations is emphasized.

Uses regional dishes for inspiration and variety.

The dietary needs of the guests determine the dishes.

New technology is embraced, including microwave ovens.

Learning Goals in HST104

Topics Primary Goals (Narrative)Secondary Goals (Episodic)

Cover years 1865-present

Reflective WritingTextual Analysis

Logical ArgumentationInterpreting Primary

Sources

Where possible:

Graphic Analysis where possibleWeb ResearchFilm Analysis

Otherwise:

Textual AnalysisInterpreting Primary Sources

Narrative & Episodic Competencies in HIST104

Topic Narrative Competencies Episodic Competencies1. Introduction to class; What Has Come Before

Reflective WritingTextual Analysis

Logical ArgumentationInterpreting Primary Sources

Textual Analysis Interpreting Primary Sources

2. Reconstruction; The New South

" Textual Analysis Interpreting Primary Sources

3. The Conquest of the Far West; Industrial Supremacy

" Graphic AnalysisInterpreting Primary Sources

4. The Rise of the City; From Crisis to Empire

" Graphic AnalysisInterpreting Primary Sources

5. The Progressives " Graphic AnalysisInterpreting Primary Sources

6. America & the Great War; Red Summer & the Red Scare

" Graphic Analysis Interpreting Primary Sources

Narrative & Episodic Assignments in HIST104

TopicNarrative Assignment (in addition to the textbook) Episodic Assignment

1. Introduction to class; What Has Come Before

Text: Front Page, Baltimore Sun, Nov. 21, 1863. Includes reporting on the Gettysburg Address.

2. Reconstruction; The New South

Selected WPA Slave Narratives.

Text: Compare the black codes for Louisiana, Ohio, and Mississippi.

3. The Conquest of the Far West; Industrial Supremacy

Selections from Geronimo: His Own Story (1906).

Photos: How the Other Half Lives (1890).

4. The Rise of the City; From Crisis to Empire

Selected readings on the Haymarket Riot (1886).

Cartoon: Thomas Nast, Harper's Weekly (1876).

5. The Progressives Cornell site on Triangle Shirtwaist Co. Fire, 1911. Prepare for in-class jigsaw discussion.

Photo: Identify the Street Scene.

6. America & the Great War; Red Summer & the Red Scare

"The Case Against the 'Reds'" (1920); "Civil Liberty" (1920).

Photos: German Plane Markings.

This is a cartoon by Thomas Nast (cartoonist at Harper’s Weekly) from 1876. What do you see in the picture? What do you think it is about? What seems confusing?

Evidence Analysis 4: Interpreting Thomas Nast

Explain how you went about finding out what the scene was. Explain not only the steps that worked, but also the ones that didn't.

•Where is this?•When is this?•What is happening?•What else can you tell us about the place, the time, the event and the people? Be as detailed as possible.

Bonus Points (not required): Can you find a picture of this place today? Or in other periods? How has it changed?

Evidence Analysis 5: The Street Scene

Evidence Analysis 6: German Plane Markings in WWI

Eric Goedkoop has assembled guidelines on national markings of aircraft in World War I on a discussion forum for aficionados of that era. Read through these guidelines and without conducting a reverse search online for the images, date the pictures in your handout.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxfsaHclAX-NYWdadzZnckc2WXM/view?usp=sharing

Evidence Analysis 7: Bobbed Hair

Read the three essays on bobbed hair at http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5117/

What are the reasons that women bobbed their hair in the 1920s?

Why did Mary Pickford not choose to bob her hair?

How did bobbed hair contribute to how women were perceived in the 1920s? What was the message it sent?

Mary Pickford, "America's Sweetheart"

Identify several competencies (cognitive, affective or psychomotor) that you normally do not have time to include in your teaching narrative. For each week, design a small rich online or lab-based assignment that fulfills the following criteria. Please work in groups and feel free to collaborate: •It addresses 1-2 important competencies in your field that you normally do not have time for.•It is an assignment that you would have found enjoyable as a beginning learner.•It is an assignment that the students are unlikely to have encountered before.•It is moderately challenging for beginning learners. It is a confidence builder but it is challenging enough to make students ask questions. •Students have to dig to answer the questions. They will have to think and reason.•Two hours of work outside of class is enough to earn a B in the assignment.

Your Task

 Use light grading.

Narrative assignments should be worth about 60% of the semester grade. Participation should be worth about 20%. Episodic assignments should be worth about 20%. 

Give group feedback in the first 10 minutes of the next class. 

Assessing Episodic Assignments