History and Art History double major Lauren Close (’12) created a digital exhibit examining the monumental art of nineteenth-century Paris. Her exhibit includes a virtual Paris street tour, as well as audio slideshows examining Parisian cultural history.
History and Spanish double major Christopher Culbertson (’12) published his Independent Study research on Mapuche poetry and its cultural reception in contemporary Chile as an iBook. In addition to making his research available to a wider audience, the iBook let Chris incorporate photos, audio, and video from his multiple research trips.
History and Archaeology major Jacob Dinkelaker (’11) created the first fully-digital Independent Study thesis at the College of Wooster. Jacob shows how the College of Wooster’s evolving curricular goals and institutional priorities shaped the construction and use of campus buildings.
Lauren Close created this Vuvox collage as an introduction to a student digital exhibit on the world before 1000 ce (Global History fall 2009). Her presentation brings together images, texts, and videos to highlight exhibit themes, as well as the way historians can inform modern debates over globalization.
Students from Colonial Latin American History including Chris Culbertson, Mike Haggerty, Laura Kuster, Kenny Libben, & Tyler Linvill created this video highlighting Inca material culture through an analysis of the ice maiden Juanita.
Modern Latin American History students (spring 2010) kept reading response blogs where they analyzed primary sources and related them to larger course themes and their own experiences. Tadd (Richard) Pinkstons’ blog “Inserte Retruécano Mal Traducido de Español Aqui” is a great example of their engaging commentary.
In a survey that covers a large swath of time in a large number of countries, it is helpful to have students focus on one national experience. Dana Culbert, Casey Green, and Erin Plews-Ogan (Modern Latin America, spring 2010) created this thoughtful timeline of modern Chilean history. They highlight key events, but also analyze how Chile’s history fits with – or in some cases, diverges from – the narrative presented in course lectures and texts.
As a complement to her Senior Independent Study research on the evolution of American food culture from 1950 to 1980, Callie McCune (History 2010) created a website that presents her arguments about how changes in American home cooking – for example, the shift from cooking casseroles to Julia Child’s boeuf bourguignon to Thai beef salads – mirror larger social transformations. Callie’s entry won first place in the Digital I.S. competition sponsored by Instructional Technology.
