UMUC

Center for Teaching and Learning

Online Faculty Innovators: Wayne Smith

Scanned Artifacts for HIST 462

photo of Wayne Smith.

"Faculty can make history come alive by providing students with access to documents which tell the story beyond what you find in the textbook."

— Wayne Smith
Wayne Smith, professor emeritus of Indiana University of PA, has been teaching HIST 462 The U.S. Civil War for UMUC since Fall 2001. The object created here has been used in the online version of the course since he has been teaching it in spring 2003.


How did you come to scan these letters? audio | transcript
What is the pedagogical value of this object? audio | transcript
How do your military students react to this exercise? audio | transcript

Object Snapshot

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snapshot of Samuel Carbaugh letter.

Student Comments

Read what students said about working with the scanned letters:

"I enjoyed reading a first-hand account from a soldier who experienced the CW.... there is nothing like reading about the personal experiences of someone who lived through a historical event." — Student 1

"It is important to look at all aspects of history that are available. These letters provide a glimpse of life during the war that wouldn't be covered in any history book. ... I was amazed at the handwriting and its flow and distinction." — Student 2

"Primary sources are so valuable to one's study of history and I think students should be grateful when their professors go the extra mile to provide them with genuine documents for the pertinent time period....The content and manner of the Carbaugh letters is invaluable to students' true understanding of an ordinary Civil War soldier." — Student 3


Background

HIST 462 The U.S. Civil War is an elective course that can be taken to fulfill requirements for the Bachelor of Arts in History. The course examines the war and explores its economic, social, and political impact (see the catalog course description for more details). The main challenge Dr. Smith faced with this class was how to distribute original artifacts to students at a distance.

Nature of the Project/Intended Outcome

In his face-to-face classes, Dr. Smith had been giving students photocopies of authentic letters from a soldier of the Civil War era (Samuel Carbaugh) and had the students write an essay about those letters. When he began to teach online, he wanted to make these same resources available to those students as well. Upon learning about the resources in the Faculty Media Lab, Dr. Smith jumped at the opportunity to scan the letters as a way to:

  • Enrich the online course by allowing students to view and work with historical documents;

  • Provide access to artifacts electronically;

  • Experiment with different methodologies of online learning;

  • Integrate the new material to an already well-structured course;

  • Determine whether technological enhancements to the course were worthy to the students;

  • Enhance student appreciation of history and first-person accounts.

Programs/Applications Used

Development Time

Dr. Smith had spent time years prior researching files at the National Archives when he stumbled upon Samuel Carbaugh's letters by accident.

Scanning the six letters into a single PDF file was a relatively simple task. The 13-page document featured here took about 10 minutes to create. The file takes approximately 15 minutes to download and 10 minutes to print.

Support and Assistance

Dr. Smith enlisted the assistance of Dr. Theo Stone, director of the Media Lab, in getting the letters scanned into the correct format. A brief introduction and demonstration of how to use the equipment was provided, and Dr. Smith also received support in uploading the files into his WebTycho classroom; all the help he received was performed "efficiently and quickly."

Lessons Learned

  • Students appreciate items that add value and have a different perspective; they don't find items like these letters in their textbooks: "I felt honored to read from someone who actually fought in the war."

  • Take into account download/printing times. Students with a dial-up connection may get timed out when trying to download or print a very large document on the Internet. It may be more efficient in this respect to divide a large PDF file into two or three parts.

  • Consider text alternatives with care. A number of student indicated that the letters were difficult to read due to the aging of the materials. Some wished for a text transcription to read after viewing the original document so that they could know what was written in the parts that were illegible/worn out. However, some transcribers may produce errors if they interpret something different than the actual letters. In addition, part of what makes this type of exercise unique is trying to figure out what is there. As one student put it: "I liked the challenge of trying to figure him out as well as his hand writing."

  • Make initial photocopies of documents as clear and sharp as possible. Working from a good photocopy makes the final scanned object easier to read.

  • Find ways to meld these objects into other activities. By giving students a first-person account of what life is like as a soldier, students can be encouraged, for example, to embark on a virtual field trip to explore battlegrounds where the soldier has fought.

  • Share your work with other faculty so that all students can access the documents. Beginning in fall 2004, the Samuel Carbaugh letters will be available for other sections of the Civil War class that are taught by different instructors.