Quote 1: Major Theme

“The ability to have deliberative discussion—across racial, ethnic, class, gender, and religious differences—was the result of a teaching method based in the student engagement of primary sources. This method allowed students to “do history,” and some moved from professed history haters to history lovers, and from non-voters to first-time voters and active citizens.”

  • From “Digging in the Digital Archives: Engaging Students in an Online American History Survey,” by Carla Vecchiola, page 123

This quote speaks to the main idea of her article, which suggests that by teaching and encouraging students to search through primary sources of all kinds (documents, letters, photos, anything and everything they can find), that they might find themselves more engaged in the material. Instead of hearing other people’s examinations of what history is, they are seeing it for themselves, with their own eyes. This removes a disconnect between a student and the history they’re learning about. It humanizes it, and engages students more, allowing them to invest themselves, both in the history itself, and about what they can learn from it. 

Quote 2: A Question

“With our students so inundated by social media, we sometimes assume a degree of media literacy that is often lacking. They are aware of how to find and consume media, but not always of how to analyze it.”

  • From “Guest Post: ‘Can’t We Just Write a Paper?’ Digital Galleries and Archival Research for Undergraduates,” by Thomas Edge. 

Edge’s comment had me wondering just how this had happened. How we have so many resources at our fingertips, but aren’t taught until much later in life how to properly analyze them. This can lead to people taking unreliable sources as fact very early in life. How do we fix this problem?

Quote 3: A Critique or Point Worth Exploring

“Indeed, these Omeka projects helped address one of the chief concerns I have with my undergraduate students today: their lack of knowledge of library resources.”

  • From “Guest Post: ‘Can’t We Just Write a Paper?’ Digital Galleries and Archival Research for Undergraduates,” by Thomas Edge. 

It wasn’t until my last year here that I began to understand the kinds of resources the library had available. The university stresses that they are there, but don’t exactly teach us what they all are or how to use them in a way that is accessible and easy to understand and retain. Should students take a small, potentially online course that teaches them about what the library can be used for? Should we start incorporating library research into our first year classes? I think either could be helpful.