The exploration, excavation, and restoration of physical sites at Indian Woods will serve to mirror digital enhancements by providing a ‘historical laboratory’ where students can visit and witness the material of history firsthand. Moreover, the use of streaming video and multimedia applications will allow for further interaction between students and scholars and the physical historical site from institutions around the country as well as globally through a newly designed website. The streamlining of historical research and its presentation will have a very powerful impact on the designing and teaching of history courses. Not only will students be exposed to cutting edge technologies in classes, they will also become more familiar and comfortable with the interaction of historical sources, both primary and secondary; the interpretation and presentation of data from these sources through writing, pictorial images, artifacts, and audiovisual and web based access; and the ability to interpret the past and present based on firsthand experience and enhanced presentation of new and existing data. Newly designed courses, therefore, are expected to increase student learning, boost their interest in the discipline, and reflect positively in their class performance. Following from this, increases in enrollment in undergraduate classes, and overall retention and the undergraduate level, declaring of history majors, and subsequent applications to the graduate history program are anticipated.
The overall objective of this project is to enhance student learning throughout the department. The project proposes to achieve this objective through targeting several areas of the student learning process. At the most basic level, increased access to historical data affords the student a more enriching learning experience both in-class and at home given the web-based approach. It is anticipated therefore, that the student will be able to demonstrate a higher conceptual level of knowledge surrounding vital aspects of historical understanding, such as geography and map reading; identifying visual characteristics of a particular time period, such as dress, architecture, and landscape; distinguishing between primary and secondary sources; as well as understanding the crucial intersections between history and other disciplines such as archeology, law, cartography, and language, to mention a few. This access becomes invaluable when provided at the web-based or virtual level as it captures both existing materials as well as reconstructed fragments of foregone historical artifacts through CAD designing and other similar reconstructive software packages. Such enhanced learning will be tested through interactive tools implemented by this project and will be reflected in students’ ability to transfer conceptual learning into advanced scholarship and well rounded articulation of historical problems relevant to courses addressed through this project.
It is anticipated that the estimated time to complete this project will be 3 years, comprising three phases. The first phase constitutes the launching of the technological aspect of the project; the second will involve the further excavation of the physical project site at Indian Woods, North Carolina and the submittal of a proposal to have this location declared an historic site; the third phase seeks to branch out to other physical sites that will complement the already existing sites that feed the web-based system. The first phase, to which the IEL grant caters, is further categorized into three subsections which will span the duration of one summer and the subsequent fall and spring semesters, respectively.
This first phase will constitute the primary analysis and design of the structure of the project. This segment will be implemented over the summer 2007 period and will include the procurement of hardware and software, designing of maps, collecting and scanning of photographs, designing of a main website, and general marketing of the project. Completion of this segment will pave the way for a transition into the second phase of the project, which entails the piloting of the project through its application to two fall 2007 U.S. history survey classes as well as the ongoing training of faculty and teaching assistants. Successful testing of the project will then feed into the third segment, which will entail a massive launching of the project in the spring 2008 semester both across the history department here at the University of Memphis and at other history departments at institutions such as Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The final aspects of the project will take place toward the end of the third sub-phase and will include an evaluation process that will assess the effectiveness of the project on student learning. As outlined below the major component of the student learning evaluation process will employ a pre-test and a post-test that will speak to the change in student performance levels over time.
This research uses maps, photographs, oral interviews, and archival materials to complete a detailed community history that covers over 400 years of recorded history. This work will serve as a model for how local histories can be written and should offer new historical insights into the relationships between Indians, Blacks, and Whites and how those relationships have impacted America today. Also, this approach to research will also serve as a model for teaching and learning enhancement throughout the discipline and the humanities in general.