Course Evolution

U.S. History Since 1877

Required Survey Course for History and International Studies Majors

Looking Ahead

Ideas I'm Considering

Planned — Spring 2027

Implementing More Active Learning

After experimenting with active learning in my U.S. History Since 1877 course in Spring 2026, I plan to move further toward an active-learning environment in Spring 2027. This will correspond with ten years of teaching this course, so it is time for a complete rewrite anyway.

Considering

Further Globalizing the U.S. Survey

I have always included more international perspectives in my U.S. History survey courses, given my specialization in British history and my experience teaching U.S. surveys. I think there is room to continue pushing this idea. The challenge is to do so in a way that provides my students with an experience similar to that of students in other classes at VMI.

Experimenting

AI Literacy Assignments

Testing a low-stakes assignment where students submit a primary source document to an AI tool and ask it to analyze the document's argument, context, and bias. Students then write a short response comparing the AI's analysis to their own. This builds critical thinking about both historical method and AI limitations simultaneously.

Course Timeline

U.S. History Since 1877 is a required course for all VMI History and International Studies Majors, which means it evolves in response to institutional changes as much as historiographical ones.

Spring 2026

Early Experiments with Active Learning and AI

  • I chose to go back to my roots and do a U.S.-Latin American Relations focus this semester. I knew it would be especially appealing to my International Studies majors. students read Kristin Hoganson’s Fighting for American Manhood: How Gender Politics Provoked the Spanish-American and Philippine-American Wars and Stephen Schlesinger and Stephen Kinzer’s Bitter Fruit: The Story of the American Coup in Guatemala this semester.
  • Used AI to help me write AI-resistant writing prompts.
  • Used AI to help me create active learning activities.
Instructor's Reflection

AI is not going anywhere, and I think it behooves all of us to learn about the strengths and weaknesses of this new technology. I have found great success using AI to brainstorm creative activities and games for my students to replace traditional lectures. Not all have worked; all require refinement, but this is a game-changer for how I teach.

Download Syllabus (PDF)
Spring 2023

Tentatively Confronting ChatGPT

  • Like many academics, I panicked when AI emerged and implemented a total ban on the technology.
  • Abandoned the textbooks entirely—moved to public domain primary sources posted to our LMS.
  • Continued refining the semester-long research project.
Instructor's Reflection

ChatGPT debuted in Fall 2022, and I do not think anyone was prepared for what it would mean for teaching, traditional academic essays, or access to information. I responded with a total ban, but I knew the technology would not disappear.

Spring 2022

Back to Normal

  • My first Spring on Post gave me more opportunities to experiment with teaching at a military college.
  • I used Eric Foner’s Voices of Freedom, Vol. 2 document reader rather than monographs.
  • For the first time since 2017, I decided to bring back the scaffolded research project.
Instructor's Reflection

This was another period of transition. It was my second semester on Post, and I was still trying to figure out the dynamics of teaching at a military college. I had a fantastic group of students, and I became more comfortable at VMI.

Spring 2021

Still Figuring Out COVID

  • At CVCC, I asked students to record responses to weekly prompts using Flipgrid. I also had students create a lesson plan on a specific topic related to U.S. History and then use Microsoft Sway to create a visual presentation.
  • At VMI, I assigned Ida B. Wells, The Light of Truth: Writings of an Anti-Lynching Crusader, and Anne Moody, Coming of Age in Mississippi, both of which provoked excellent discussions. I asked them to write an essay based on each reading.
  • While I loved my time at CVCC, especially working with such a diverse student body, this would be the final semester. I knew by the end of the Spring that I wanted to make a full transition to VMI.
Instructor's Reflection

I was fully online and teaching at CVCC and VMI simultaneously. The two colleges required different approaches, so I used an asynchronous approach at CVCC and a synchronous approach at VMI. At CVCC, I leaned into several new technologies to make the class engaging and fairly low-stakes. At VMI, I chose to follow a format similar to that of my World History courses.

Spring 2020

COVID-19

  • The semester started normally. I gave students a choice this semester between two smaller essays or a semester-long research project.
  • Everything changed in March. I chose to adopt a synchronous approach using Zoom. I felt it was important for my students, many high school students about to graduate, to maintain some sort of social connection.
  • Most of the assignments easily transitioned to online work.
Instructor's Reflection

COVID-19 changed everything, and we all had to learn how to pivot very quickly. It was a terrifying time, but I was better prepared than many of my colleagues because I already had experience in an online teaching environment.

Spring 2019

Learning to Balance Personal Life with Teaching

  • Adopted American Yawp as my textbook.
  • Adopted the 6 C’s of Primary Source Analysis worksheet to help students learn how to analyze primary sources.
Instructor's Reflection

This was the most difficult semester of teaching in my career. My dad unexpectedly passed away halfway through the semester, so I had to learn how to deal with my personal grief while still showing up for my students. I found my time in the classroom helped with my grief, but it was definitely a challenge.

Fall 2018

My First Online Class at Central Virginia Community College (CVCC)

  • Experimented with weekly blog entries
  • Experimented with writing assignments, adopting a Book Review and Film Analysis Paper.
  • Relied on Eric Foner’s Give Me Liberty and the associated Inquizitive software for quizzes, videos, and online materials.
Instructor's Reflection

This was a series of firsts. It was my first semester at CVCC, my first online class, and my first time teaching a compressed eight-week section of the course. It would be the last time, as I found this format incredibly challenging.

Spring 2018

First Experience Teaching Early College at CVCC

  • I continued to experiment with textbooks using James Oakes’s Of the People: A History of the United States this semester.
  • Required students to serve as Primary Source Discussion Leaders once per semester. They had to send their document one week before the discussion, along with three discussion questions.
  • Abandoned the research project in favor of a Film Analysis and Book Review.
Instructor's Reflection

This was my first time teaching the Early College program at CVCC, and I found I really enjoyed working with this student demographic. I chose not to censor the course material and asked them to complete assignments similar to those in any college class I had previously taught.

Spring 2017

First Time Teaching U.S. History Survey at Lynchburg College

  • Drew on my expertise in British and Latin American History to offer a more “globalized” U.S. History survey.
  • I was committed to centering race, class, and gender as integral themes.
  • Used a scaffolded approach to have students write a 2,500-word research paper on a topic of their choosing.
Instructor's Reflection

I was asked to teach this course late in the Fall semester. While I had some coursework in U.S. History, this was not one of my teaching fields in the Ph.D. program. I was nervous. I relied heavily on Eric Foner's textbook this first semester.

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