Germany & the World Wars: Creating Lives on the Wiki

Edith Sheffer, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Humanities, Stanford University

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Overlapping themes

July 2009

Project: “Facebook

meets History”

Unexpected results –

why it worked

Empowering students through

Sakai

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Open collaboration: shifting the paradigm of teaching and learning• The students of History 138A and TA Andrew Visser• TWISA Organizing Committee, Judges, and Sponsors• Sakai Community• Keli Amann, CourseWork• Christine Doherty, CourseWork• Allyson Hobbs, History• Alan Mikhail, History• Robert Moeller, History• Bradley Naranch, History• James Ward, History

July 2009

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This Sakai project in the Humanities suggests how…

Technology can shift the dynamic of classroom learning –

in dramatic and unexpected ways

Sakai is effective for a variety of fields and user

levels

July 2009

Even simple tools can have powerful impact

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Student engagement and learning

Standard

course

material

The missing link in a survey course

July 2009

Basic course requirements• Lectures, discussion section• Books, Document Reader• Analytical paper• Midterm and Final

The challenge: making history

come alive

A platform to: • Intensify student interest• Deepen historical understanding• Stimulate excitement

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Student engagement and learning

Standard

course

material

The origin of the idea: partnering with Sakai

July 2009

Consultation with CourseWork

• Multiple options, multiple outcomes

Wiki Tool: Creating Lives

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Thinking through history

July 2009

“The weekly Identities assignments were somewhat like the weekly problem sets in math or science classes. In a math or physics class, it is not enough to just listen to the lecture and read the textbook; the student actually has to practice solving real problems. The Identities Project […] forced me to consider how real people actually make decisions in historical events; I felt that I was, in essence, ‘solving’ the problem of ‘how and why do ordinary people act in history’ by ‘practicing’ on my historical avatar every week.”

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“Wolfgang is the son of nobility in

East Prussia”

“Gerhard is the son of a prostitute

in Berlin”

Students created historical lives on Sakai

July 2009

The first week, each student drew an

identity at random

They were given just once sentence – with where and to whom

they were born

All were born in 1900, but their life

circumstances were very different

“Anna is the daughter of a Jewish banking family in Munich”

“Elsa is the daughter of a Catholic farming

family from Dachau ”

Just 3 restrictions…

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First, the students constructed a childhood

July 2009

Each week, the students posted their characters’ life choices on the wiki

World War I, Revolution, Hyperinflation

Weimar Germany and the rise of Nazism

World War Two and the Holocaust

Cold War and the Iron Curtain

The Fall of the Berlin Wall and reunification

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Wiki page example

July 2009

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Wiki page example

July 2009

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Wiki page example

July 2009

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Wiki page example

July 2009

The Sakai wiki site

July 2009

Update questions posted each week

Students presented their characters during lecture

Students shared research links

Character wiki pages

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High community standards sustained the quality of the work and a productive exchange of ideas

July 2009

January 30, 1933It’s happened. I cannot believe my eyes as I look down into the streets. They’ve done it. They’ve chosen an extremist to lead our country to God knows where. I thought Hindenburg would know better than that, but apparently he’s not thinking either. The street is bursting with people. I don’t want Eva going out there alone. Or with the children.

February 27, 1933The Reichstag is no more. Now there is no longer even the illusion of a democracy, for even the building is gone. I don’t think it can be reversed any longer. They’re going to crack down on the communists. I don’t necessarily disagree, but I’m afraid what might happen next. What to expect? I don’t know what to think. It’s only Eva that keeps me from losing hope entirely. She’s always so optimistic. It’s silly sometimes but she makes me feel better.

March 23, 1933Hitler can do anything he pleases now. Anything. My thoughts are in disarray. Panic.

May 1, 1933People think it’s a holiday. They are out in the

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Sakai empowered students with a rare degree of autonomy and freedom

July 2009

Students went far beyond the required material, researching scholarly works, images, even things like period-appropriate children’s names and food specialties

Students said they grew attached to their avatars, pursued individual interests through them, and discussed them with friends and family

Students averaged 1,121 words per post, equivalent to a 4½ page paper every week for nine weeks, including the weeks of the midterm and final paper

The open platform inspired authorship,

imagination, curiosity, and

understanding

High Investment

Self-motivation

Identification

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Understanding – and complicating – history

July 2009

“It allowed us to fuse the course material with our own creativity and take away so much more than a typical survey of history would foster. […] The project forced us to see the situation as much from within as a student can, several years later and thousands of miles away. Oskar, to whom I grew attached, had a past, a family, thoughts, ideas. There were justifications for his actions that were intricately tied in with all of these, ones that I would never have considered without a specific persona in mind.”