US History II Redsign Online

Dr. Tom Mach has been teaching US History at Cedarville University since 2000, and has taught it online for several years. He approached the Center for Teaching & Learning to help him make some changes to freshen and improve the course. In the original version of the course, students would complete weekly readings from two textbooks and journal, and every few weeks complete an examination.

Our revised edition of the course involved a few revisions to the assessment methods and some structural and visual upgrades using the Online Classroom model. Now students work on a weekly schedule that involves textbook readings and quizzes early in the week. Dr. Mach also records a short “podcast” for deeper learning on the topics at hand. Students complete one polished group essay based on their discussion of opposing viewpoints from one of their textbooks. Finally, the course involves a capstone assignment that ties the course together. At the beginning of the course, each student chooses one of three prompts for their final paper. Each week they are given provoking questions from the relevant chapter to help them collect their thoughts on their topic throughout the course.

A few weeks into the course, the students have kept on task very well and Dr. Mach is pleased with the content each group and individual has submitted for their weekly assignments.