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Students in my class on 18thC North America were asked two questions on their final take-home paper (h/t @egan): "What was this class about? What did you learn?" This ... is a great strategy. 1/5
Especially because it's a class in #envhist, and with far more Canadian content that my American undergraduates have ever encountered. Most had no idea of events or peoples outside of New England or Philadelphia, or outside of the 1770s-1780s. 2/5
Two observations: It's worked really well as an evaluation. If you were paying attention to this class and its materials, you do well. If you weren't, you don't. You can't pull out a high-school rehash of revolutionary battles because ... we didn't talk about that. 3/5
Second, almost everyone mentions learning to read paintings, documents, etc. critically. This is not a born-anything generation. Kids these days ... still need to learn to read (whatever texts) & write, carefully & thoroughly. Clichéd, basic, & yet everything. 4/5
The longer I teach, the more I wish more universities really believed in that. #humanities 5/5
Full credit for the idea to @EganHistory. Jaysus, Twitter - my kingdom for an edit button.
