A (really) brief history of TuningIn History at Long Beach State Nancy Quam-Wickham, Ph.D.Professor and Chair, History, CSULB

Tuning a History Degree

Q.U.E. Project

• Clarify programmatic SLOs

• Focus on skills development

• Core Courses and “The Loop”

Tuning - AHA

• “Fine Tune” program & course SLOs

• Fine focusing the lens on scaffolding within major

• Revamping the Degree Requirements

The History Department has a Core Curriculum sequence required by all majors. The first two

classes (HIST 301/302) are foundational, and are taken early in the students’ upper-division work.Upper-division courses then require students to

complete assignments that emphasize these foundational skills.

Practicing Core Curriculum SkillsCollege of Liberal Arts, California State University Long Beach

Department of History

More information about our program may be obtained at: http://www.csulb.edu/history.

For more information*

HIST 301 (Methodology) is required in the first semester of upper-division work and the course introduces the history major to the study and practice of history. There are four expected learning

outcomes for HIST 301: Introduction, Mechanical Skills, Analytical Skills, and Presentation. The assignments in this

course develop student skills: how to ask interpretive and methodological questions; how to research primary and

secondary sources; how to evaluate evidence; how to footnote and use bibliographies; how to present findings and argue

persuasively; and how to write a historical study.

Background1

Core Curriculum: HIST 301

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Core Curriculum:HIST 302

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In their second semester of upper-division work, students take HIST 302 (History and Theory) where they learn about the varieties of historical practices. There are four expected learning outcomes for HIST 302: Introduction to the History of the Profession,

Conceptual Categories of Historical Inquiry, Theory, and Historiography. This class culminates in a

historiography paper, juxtaposing works from different perspectives.

Conclusion

The History Department’s Core Curriculum sequence facilitates student engagement with historical methods

and processes. In HIST 301/302, students demonstrate mastery of specific discipline-related

skills. These skills are then practiced and polished in subsequent upper-division courses. In the culminating

class for the major, HIST 499: Senior Seminar, students must assemble a portfolio of their upper-

division coursework to show development in the major and mastery of key skills. 

5

Our faculty design assignments for upper-division courses to assess these core skills.

I require students to write two book reviews. The reviews allow the student to develop mechanical, organizational,

writing, and analytical skills as well as to demonstrate an understanding of history

as a discipline.- Professor David Hood, HIST 313:

Ancient Greece

Designed by History Department Core Curriculum Committee

Students are required to write a paper about The Vagrants by Yiyun Li. This

assignment evaluates students’ ability to understand the changing role of Maoist

ideology in the writing of Chinese history, the consequences of Mao’s passing for the writing of Chinese

history, and the Communist Party’s search for theories to replace

discredited ones.- Professor Maggie Kuo, HIST 388:

Contemporary China

Students read two novels by Brazilian authors. They then write an essay using

the novels as a springboard to understand how cultural artifacts (like

literature) shape identity; to evaluate the difference between secondary and

primary sources; and to develop writing, analytical, and organizational skills.- Professor Lise Sedrez, HIST 365:

History of Brazil

Students analyze Three Mothers, Three Daughters: Palestinian Women’s

Stories. They must treat the book not only as a primary source but also as a historical document. The purpose is to

place the source in the larger context of historical scholarship on marriage and

family, veiling/unveiling, women’s movements, and Islamism and Islamic

feminism in the Middle East.- Professor Houri Berberian, HIST 394:

Middle Eastern Women

Students select a topic in African American history before 1877 and

collect secondary sources to trace the historiography of the topic. They then write an annotated bibliography about

their sources to demonstrate how historians’ views of certain issues have

changed over time.- Professor Jane Dabel, HIST 486:

African American History

4Assessing Core Skills

Tuning – AHA: Our redesign

• Annual assessments identified problem areas: • Uneven alignment goals & objectives• Limited base of content knowledge• Specific deficits in procedural knowledge

• Periodization• Cause and consequence• Evidence and interpretation

Course level redesign: U.S. History Survey

Aligning goals and objectives Examples from HIST 173

• Demonstrate understanding of key historical thinking skills:• chronological thinking and

periodization • formulate a historical

argument, find appropriate evidence (research) and express ideas with clarity and coherence.

Course SLO

Program

Institutional GE

LEAP

Team Research Project 2 & “Seamless Education”Skill-building in an inquiry-driven, collaborative learning environment

Redesigning the B.A. Degree

Redesigning the M.A. degree

Redefine M.A. Core: Theory, Methods 1 & 2, Historiography,

Comparative History

“Terminal M.A.”

Teaching Multiple Purpose

“Predoctoral M.A.”

Research

What “Tuning” has done for us

•Clarify our goals and objectives• Identify problems & opportunities•Emphasize our strengths•Build innovative course/programs•Empower faculty • Invest in our students