Teaching History Online

Crowd-Sourced Transcription and Remote Teaching

By Gabriel Moss and Caroline Newhall In 2019, the UNC Digital History Lab began hosting a series of “transcribathons.”  In these events, history students and enthusiasts came together to transcribe historical documents, using a variety of online platforms to support … Read more

Four Steps Towards Compassionate Online Teaching

By Zardas Shuk-man Lee, PhD Candidate, History Department In the Spring semester 2020, I taught as an instructor of record at UNC for the first time, offering a course on Modern East Asia. Two months into the semester, during Spring … Read more

The Case for Asynchronous: A Teacher’s Perspective

By Professor Michael Morgan, UNC History Department   In March, when the pandemic forced UNC to suspend in-person teaching, instructors on campus scrambled to adapt their courses. In the case of my undergraduate survey of Cold War history, I wanted … Read more

The Case for Asynchronous: A Student’s Perspective

By Joshua O’Brien (Class of 2022) March 11th was the one day, more than any other, that crystallized the effect of the pandemic on American life. For starters, that was the day the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. … Read more

Teaching Through Transition: Opportunities for Instructors, TAs, and Students

(By Luke Jeske, PhD Student, History Department) The pandemic caused by COVID-19 and universities’ responses to fluctuating public health guidelines have presented many instructors with a sort of pedagogical crisis. Professors and graduate students across the country have numerous questions … Read more

How Using Minecraft Opened Up a New Way of Learning 

By Julian Robles (Class of 2023) Coming into college at UNC Chapel Hill, I knew that a new level of work and effort would be required to do well and succeed. I expected the usual papers from classes, assigned readings, and … Read more

“Hybrid” Classrooms in the Time of COVID (and Beyond)

By Garrett Wright When universities across the country announced that classes would be moving online back in March, I hopped on Twitter and saw the social media equivalent of Hellmo.  Understandably, faculty and graduate students were equal parts anxious, furious, … Read more

In Which We Introduce the Blog

As recognized ad nauseum in think-pieces and university emails, these are unprecedented times. As the dust settles on the strangest semester in recent memory, history instructors around the world are reflecting on the emergency transition to online learning, and looking … Read more