The American Historical Association held its third annual Texas Conference on Introductory History Courses at Houston Community College Southeast campus on September 15-16, 2017. You can find resources, including presentation slides, from the event below.

This two-day, statewide conference brought together teachers of college-level introductory history courses from high schools, community colleges, and four-year universities. Attendees explored disciplinary goals and approaches to teaching and learning history at the college introductory level; shared experiences in each of the course topics; discussed the state policy context that sustains them as a graduation requirement for every student at a public college or university in Texas; and considered the challenges and opportunities for high-quality students learning in the state's expanding dual-enrollment programs. Some participants took advantage of an opportunity to workshop their own classroom materials in an assignment "charrette."

The AHA extends its thanks to the Department of History and the Division of Liberal Arts and Humanities at Houston Community College, particularly department Chair Gisela Ables and Dean Theodore Hanley, for hosting the conference, and co-organizer Kent McGaughy.

Featured Speakers and Presentations

Steven Mintz

Reimagining the US History Survey: Rethinking Learning Objectives, Design, Activities, Assessments, and Delivery Modalities (PDF)

Steven Mintz is Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, as well as former director of the University of Texas Institute for Transformational Learning. Mintz is is a pioneer in the application of new technologies to history teaching and research. A recipient of the Organization of American Historians' Merle Curti Prize, he is the author and editor of 14 books, including, most recently, The Prime of Life: A History of Modern Adulthood. He previously served as the founding director of the UT System's Institute for Transformational Learning and has taught at Columbia University, Harvard University Extension School, Pepperdine University, Universitat-GH-Siegen in Germany, and the University of Houston. A former fellow at Stanford's Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, he is past president of H-Net: Humanities and Social Sciences Online and the Society for the History of Children and Youth and has chaired the Council on Contemporary Families.

Andrew Koch

Many Thousands Failed: A Wakeup Call to History Educators (PDF)

Andrew "Drew" Koch is the Chief Operating Officer of the John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education. During his career, Dr. Koch has garnered substantial experience in the areas of undergraduate education, strategic planning, reaffirmation of accreditation, enrollment management and academic affairs / student affairs collaboration. He currently serves as the Principal Investigator on the Gardner Institute's projects funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kresge Foundation, and Lumina Foundation. Over his career, he also lead undergraduate education improvement projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Lilly Endowment, the National Science Foundation as well as various corporate partners. Koch's scholarly and professional interests are focused on the ways in which colleges and universities both reflect and shape democracy and culture in the United States. Through this work, he serves as a passionate advocate for historically underrepresented and underserved students - seeing higher education as a vehicle for advancing equity and inclusion imperatives.

Nancy Quam-Wickham

Assessing Student Learning Outcomes (PDF)

Nancy Quam-Wickham is Professor of History (and Chair Emerita, 2005-2015) at California State University, Long Beach. A past editor of The History Teacher journal, her research interests include history pedagogy, assessment, teaching with technologies, as well as the environmental history of the energy industries of the 19th and 20th centuries. Her current project, The Global Ship, is a digital humanities project that documents the impact of the whaler Charles W. Morgan on the world. She currently works as a Senior Assessment Specialist at Washington State University.

Details

Date and Time

Friday, September 15
9:00 AM to 4:30 PM

Saturday, September 16
8:30 AM to 2:30 PM

Location

Learning Hub
Houston Community College
Southeast Campus
6815 Rustic St.
Houston, TX 77087

Please explore resources and recordings from the previous conferences:

• 2nd Annual Texas Conference on Introductory History Courses, San Antonio College, 5-6 August 2016
• 1st Annual Texas Conference on Introductory History Course, University of Texas at Austin, 28-29 August 2015