Teaching Hidden History: A Hybrid Course Across Institutions

Abstract

Teaching Hidden History is a hybrid, project-based history course combining in-person meetings conducted on two campuses (George Mason University and Virginia Tech) through 4-VA telepresence rooms.

The session will provide a hands-on exploration of the Teaching Hidden History course and will share results from the summer 2015 pilot course. Developed for graduate students in history and social studies education across two Virginia campuses (George Mason University and Virginia Tech), Teaching Hidden History guides students through the creation of online history modules based on collaborative historical research and inquiry-based pedagogy. In addition to research and instructional skills, students learn how digital tools can support teaching and learning history and gain familiarity with the open-source software platform on which the modules are constructed. These principles can be applied to courses in other disciplines.