Teaching Corner / Espace enseignants

Abstract

In the coming weeks, an online questionnaire will be made available to history students across Canada with the goal of assessing the learning experiences of undergraduate students registered in history programs at Canadian universities. This national survey will complement international studies on students’ learning experiences and historical consciousness conducted in Europe, the United States, Canada and Australia by focusing on students currently enrolled in history classes at Canadian universities, and collect much needed Canadian-specific data that focuses on learning history at the university level.

Yes, we give lectures and probably always will, especially if we remember that these are not rehearsals of textbooks or secondhand notes but more like performances of our own struggles to achieve historical understanding. And history classes will continue to encourage questions and discussions and offer a range of readings and assignments. But here I want to give a few examples of role-playing exercises that I have used in Canadian history courses. My pragmatic working assumption has been that a closer engagement with historical information is a good thing. And that, if students are called upon to show what they can do with that information in class, they will do their best to rise to the occasion.