Henry Knight Lozano Writes about Teaching American Studies with iPads for US Studies Online

Henry Knight Lozano, “Teaching American Studies with iPads,” US Studies Online, January 18, 2016

Technology-enhanced learning. Among the many buzzwords in higher education at the moment, ‘TEL’ is among the most pervasive. In 2015 HECFE funded an in-depth programme, “Changing the Learning Landscape,” designed to explore Technology-Enhanced Learning as a “key part of modern UK higher education,” while universities increasingly employ tools such as Textwall and Panopto to augment teaching. And yet for many lecturers, TEL arguably remains an elusive if not daunting proposition: how, exactly, can I incorporate “technology” (broadly conceived) into a particular seminar or lecture? Apart from following the vogue, why should I? Above all, in what ways is student learning actually going to be enhanced?

Recent experience from my final-year American Studies module on California has given me some food-for-thought on these questions that I wanted to share. For the first time I chose to involve iPads regularly within our weekly three-hour session. This experiment had two broad aims in mind: firstly, to get students familiar with an excellent online repository of California-related primary source materials [Calisphere] that could prove useful to their research; and, secondly, to deepen our discussion of topics like the Gold Rush, the anti-Chinese movement, and the marketing of California citrus. The iPad activity was straightforward enough. In pairs, students navigated to the Calisphere site and then searched out particular collections, selecting, analysing, and introducing one of the primary sources which I would put up on the screen. read on >>>>>

Professor David Gleeson Appointed to Organization of American Historian's Distinguished Lecturers Programme

The Organization of American Historians (OAH) has appointed Professor David Gleeson as one of its Distinguished Lecturers, a high honour in the history profession.  Launched in 1981, the OAH’s Distinguished Lecturers programme is a speakers bureau, described by the OAH as “dedicated to American history,” and serving as a “reliable, and easy-to-use resource for identifying and contacting leading historians who can share their expertise with your audience.” The OAH, established in 1907, “is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. The mission of the organization is to promote excellence in the scholarship, teaching, and presentation of American history, and to encourage wide discussion of historical questions and the equitable treatment of all practitioners of history.” Scholars appointed to the selective Distinguished Lecturers programme “speak around the country every year, not only visiting college campuses and addressing undergraduate and graduate student conferences but also leading teacher seminars and engaging general audiences at public events sponsored by historical societies, museums, libraries, and humanities councils.”

David is part of a 2015-16 cohort of 47 respected and accomplished scholars and teachers from the United States, Canada, and England.  He is only one of two from England in the current class.  David’s lectures include: “The Green and the Gray: The Irish in the Confederate States of America”; “The Hidden Diaspora: The English in the United States, 1783–1914”; and “Did the Irish ‘Become White’?”  "I'm delighted to be taking part in this programme," said David, "and I look forward to delivering lectures on my research and teaching in the states."  "This recognition," he continued, "speaks to our department's strengths in American history and American studies." 

Indeed, Northumbria University now has three OAH Distinguished Lecturers.   Professor Brian Ward and Dr. Randall Stephens were appointed in previous years.  (In February Randall delivered one of his lectures at Belmont University, Nashville, Tennessee, titled: “The Devil’s Music: Race Rock and Religion in the 1950s.”) In Great Britain the only other university with three Distinguished Lecturers is Oxford University.  David’s appointment is a sure indicator of Northumbria University’s leading role in the study of the United States.

An Interview with Henry Knight Lozano on Teaching California History and Culture

Randall Stephens

One year after Henry Knight Lozano started teaching in American Studies and History at Northumbria he began offering a new, exciting module called "The Golden State: California."  Henry's current research covers Florida, California, and Hawaii, making the module a great example of research-led teaching.

The course has certainly proved to be a popular option for our third-year students.  Fittingly, some of those who have taken it have written their dissertations on topics related to the module.  Those enroled in it this semester are engaging with the history, literature, art, and themes of what was, for many years, America's most western, and one of its most dynamic, states. 

Henry says that The Golden State:

considers how California developed as both a place and an idea in the American imagination, focusing on the transformative century from the 1840s to the 1950s. While historical, our approach will also be interdisciplinary, reflecting the ways in which cultural constructions and popular representations have played a crucial role in California’s development. Thus, novels and visual culture, advertisements, films, and music, will all be consulted at different points as key elements in the Golden State’s formation. . . . Studying California’s remarkable transformation from the Mexican-American War to the early Cold War period, students are expected to take an interdisciplinary approach to the seminars and into their research on California and its “exceptional” history.

In the interview below, I speak with Henry about how he has set up the module, the kinds of reading and research students are doing, and the themes being covered.