Doing Digital History Clouds

Film Classes

Experimental Student-Centered Learning:
My classes are adventures in experiential or process learning; that is, students actually "do digital history" by making a history documentary—not unlike Ken or Ric Burns. As a Public Historian, I give students the opportunity to work with the growing and increasingly accessible range of new media tools, not only as a means of presenting history to students and other audiences but also as an approach to learning history through selecting, researching, and making documentary film. Learning history in this manner is unlike writing a typical term paper, and necessarily involves a different approach to the study of the past.

Skills:
Students come to the classes with a variety of skills, but by the end of the class each student will develop enough digital history skills to complete a documentary film. Students learn the following skills in my class, but should be aware that doing so asks them to assume a level of responsibility rarely experienced as part of their undergraduate education. Students learn to:

  • Operate still and video cameras to take original images
  • Light and mic at least one oral interview
  • Prepare appropriate questions for an oral interview, including Institutional Research Board (IRB) Certification and approval of film project
  • Scan documents at appropriate resolutions for films
  • Download still and moving images from the internet
  • Develop their stories through storyboarding and student/professor feedback
  • Select appropriate music and develop skills with audio, such as narration
  • Master a digital editing program (iMovie ’08 or ’09) sufficiently to make a technically proficient documentary history film
  • Save their finished films on a DVD

Equipment:
In addition to checking out a laptop for the semester of the class, students have access to:

  • MacBook Pro laptop computers with iMovie and Adobe Photoshop CS3
  • Canon EOS Rebel XT still cameras
  • Canon GL2 video cameras with headphones and mics
  • Manfrotto tripods
  • Epson Perfection 4490 scanner and printer
  • ARRI light kits with headphones and mics
  • G5 and iMac desktop computers with filmmaking software (iMovie), including the full Adobe Creative Suite (with Adobe Photoshop CS3) and Final Cut Pro

Students:
While most of the students in this class are History majors, many are not. Students from all disciplines are welcome, and there are no prerequisites. Past students were comfortable with computers, but few had experience with Mac (Apple) computers and none (so far) had actually completed a documentary film before taking my initial class. Keep in mind that these are history classes, so the topic selected (family history, local history, or MTSU history) must have an historical dimension, regardless of the approach. Other historical topics may be allowed in consultation with the professor.

For undergraduate and graduate students, the film classes may be counted as either an American History class or an elective. See your advisor or me for details.

Student Commentary:

"The skills I have learned in this class are very valuable to me and my future."

"Class … changed my life and my career plans …. I believe that film is the future of history …. and I would like to [be] part of it."

"Taking this class has helped me become more rounded as a historian, and a scholar in general."

"The class ended up delightful because it is the perfect blend of education and art. I felt academically satisfied by doing the research for my project and being instructed in the ways of documentary filmmaking …. [The class] lit a sort of fire deep inside me."

"The documentary film I produced … is something I know I will view over and over again and that I will show my friends and family."

Student Testimonial on YouTube: Chris Wright

Other History Classes and New Media:
In addition to my filmmaking classes, students in all of my classes (introductory, upper division, and graduate) are encouraged to consider using digital media to present their work, possibly by making a film or by using such digital platforms as Facebook, PowerPoint, or websites. This work must be coordinated with me, and guided by rubrics designed to encourage interactive thinking about historical topics. In taking on a project different from, say a typical term paper, students are provided the opportunity to take ownership of their work. My goal is to empower students to take control of both the research they complete and its presentation.

Dr. Michael Wesch, an anthropology professor at Kansas State University who utilizes many forms of New Media in his classes, asserts that the digital landscape has "no natives," meaning that we are all learning together how to think about and utilize newly created digital platforms. Another New Media analyst, Dr. Jason Ohler, Professor of Educational Technology at the University of Alaska, argues that New Media documentaries are "rapidly becoming a respected and even expected format for student presentation."

In this spirit of these scholars, my classes explore the 21st Century's rambunctious new media cultural landscape in such formats as documentary filmmaking, but also in new and ever-expanding networks such as MySpace, Twitter, Netvibes, and D2L. Digital technology has changed the rules of the game, so that becoming digitally literate citizens in the 21st Century is now not only necessary, but fun.

Here are three short examples of my use of new media tools, produced at Freedom Forum/Diversity Institute ("Boot Camp" Multimedia Workshop), First Amendment Center, Vanderbilt University, November, 2009.