Had a relaxing fourth of July in northern Minnesota. I arrived too late for fireworks, which were held on Wednesday the 2nd. Just as well, since there was a thunderstorm Friday evening. I returned to the Tool store and discovered that the person behind the counter who said she was going too order parts to repair my chainsaw, actually did not. The guy who "helped" me really had no excuse for that, and HE DIDN'T order the parts either. He said the store had a really bad relationship with Husqvarna and it would be "better" if I just went out on the web and ordered them myself. He did jot down the part numbers for me, but this is a little less service than I expected from the place that sold me the chain saw in the first place.
I borrowed a friend's saw and took care of the rest of the limbs of the oak tree that broke. He heats with wood, so he got a load of the logs in exchange. A also spent a couple of days cleaning the living space I'm using in the garage and also my office. People who have been following my videos may have noticed that not only are they sporadic, but I have. made most of them in my studio apartment in Saint Paul. I've done a few book club meetings up north, but I've used only a corner of that office, with a background of the books I left behind. The rest of the space had become a mess of boxes, plants I neglected, and disarray.
That has been corrected and I now have a useable space. I've begun mentioning that I'm teaching full-time during the next academic year. The classes will be two sections of Ancient and Medieval World History, three sections of Modern World History, and one section of US History, Reconstruction to the present. I'll only be teaching in person for one of those Modern World sections. I'm looking forward to that, since a couple of my best students from last semester's Ancient and Medieval World have signed up for that class. But that means I'll have five online, asynchronous courses. And I'll only be visiting the Saint Paul campus one day a week. So this will really be the ideal time to transition to a digital nomad, online teacher lifestyle.
Part of that involves thinking more about not only what content I'm producing for students to "consume", but what expectations I should have for them. I had lunch yesterday with a former colleague at Bemidji State University, who said BSU has begun requiring faculty whose courses don't have a minimum number of students to open a concurrent online section. This sort-of makes sense, since online sections tend too attract more students than in-person. The catch is that all the students in the course must be graded in exactly the same way. There are some assessments that only work in a classroom and others that are much more effective online. No matter; everyone had to be treated identically. I'm actually glad I wasn't around for that.
I think I have a pretty effective set of assessments that work across different modes of my courses. The deeper and I think more interesting question is, what goals should I have for students' experiences of my courses? What should I try to leave them with, after a semester of hearing me talk about the past and engaging with primary and secondary readings? I think the basic goal I've been working toward, over the past several years, has been that students should end the semester with a better understanding of contemporary issues, based on historical context.
This means I'm deliberately editing the past as I produce History, in a way that addresses analogies or comparisons with current events and concerns. This is of course highly artificial an arbitrary; there are plenty of past events and ideas that have no direct relevance to today's issues or the cultural climate and controversies of 2025. But also, of course this is the way History is most frequently used; and especially American History in the run-up to our 250th anniversary. I'll be thinking about that anniversary and preparing content addressing it, both for my college students and for online viewers. I'll also be watching and probably reacting to what I imagine will be an increasing number of posts by others.
I'll also be working on transforming my content a bit more, so it is a bit more direct in the ways it approaches the themes of each course. This will be a slightly different approach for me, so it's going to take some thought and experimentation. But this will be the project for this academic year. That way, if it turns out I do NOT find myself working full-time in a university/college system, I'll be ready to offer my content to the world at large, in a more organized way.
It’s so interesting to think about why and how to learn history. There’s so much of it, and so many angles to take. My attention and focus change dramatically over time based on what I’m doing and studying otherwise. I too am feeling the ramp up to the 250th. I remember 1976. The 4th felt different this year. With the ebb of globalism and retreat back into nationalism history is going to foster some new takes on American identity. That’s my prediction. Better history than race, gender, class! At least we have a chance to assess the past and decide what to identify with or not, claim for the present and future or not. Will we make good assessments? Good judgements (as Arendt would say)? I don’t know.