Learning about primary sources in an archives where students can see and examine materials is a unique opportunity. This exercise aims to provide a similar level of hands-on active learning while students attend a synchronous class online.

This text is intended to help students understand how to use primary sources and how to research at the University of Baltimore Special Collections & Archives in order to explore potential research topics regarding 20th century social history, arts history, cultural history, and more, in Baltimore, Maryland. The class activity is designed to be completed synchronously in an online learning environment using video conference tools such as Zoom in order to provide students with a collaborative group based experience.

This course syllabus explores the practice of public history in the digital realm. Students will learn what public history as an academic sub-field is, how it is influenced by internet cultures, and consider its application outside of university settings. Special emphasis will be placed on experiential learning in this course, with a focus on digital oral history as one form of public history practice. Oral history. Students will learn to research and conduct their own online oral history interview.