One of the enduring (and horrific) tales of the expansion of the American Republic westward is the story of the ill-fated Donner Party. A group of more than 80 emigrants to California, the Donner Party set out for the West Coast in 1846, but made the mistake of following what was known as the “Hastings…
Category: Posts
Tests we don’t need, but probably ought to prepare for
The once and former president of Harvard, Derek Bok, published an interesting op ed piece in the Washington Post last week. Bok takes notice of the growing demands for assessment tests in higher education and neatly summarizes the reasons why they are a bad idea–at least in some disciplines. I’m all for assessment in disciplines…
Whither Wiki?
Anyone teaching history these days knows how ubiquitous the Wikipedia has become in our students’ imaginings of what sorts of historical information they might use in their research. This semester I’ve received more papers that rely almost exclusively on the Wikipedia than ever before. To try to get my students to think a little more…
Historical Hoaxes Online
Of late the Internet has spawned some very interesting historical hoaxes. My current favorite is Boilerplate. Mechanical Marvel of the Nineteenth Century. Another recent example is the Old Negro Space Program documentary about America’s now forgotten Blackstronauts. I think it’s easy to imagine a student finding his or her way to one of these websites…