Global History Lab, Part 2 - Princeton University

This course will give you a perspective on the multiple historical pathways to our present. It builds on Global History Lab, Part 1, but you are welcome to take this course without having taken Part 1.

This course begins with a discussion of industrialization during the 1800s, and continues with a close look at the 20th century and current-day globalization. The course themes include economic integration, warfare and conflict, the transformation of the ecological balance, and cultural responses and innovations. To grapple with these themes, we explore first-hand perspectives of historical actors through a collection of texts and images.

This is an overview of world history–but with a difference. We will invite you to learn the history of the world not just by watching lectures and conducting weekly readings, but also by applying your knowledge. The core of this course is a series of lab assignments in which you and your fellow students will work in teams to use historical knowledge from the course to solve problems and develop new connections and interpretations of primary historical materials. The teams will post their ideas online for other students and teams to review and respond to. Over time, the course will become a dynamic gallery of collaborative student perspectives on history from around the world.

Two weekly video lectures will be issued each week. Each lecture runs about one hour and is segmented into parts with short quizzes that enable you to apply material and concepts in order to absorb the material and check your own understanding of it. To provide additional resources for your work, we have authored a field-defining textbook for this course, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World from 1000 CE to the Present (W.W. Norton, 4th edition, 2013). Each week we assign one chapter from the textbook (approximately 30 pages).

History Labs: We will provide a selection of primary historical documents that will enable you to engage directly with the voices and images from the past (approximately 10 pages). These materials will be the basis of the Lab’s collaborative work. Students from around the world will join teams in which they will select from and tackle weekly Challenge Questions and resolve fundamental issues in understanding world history. The Labs are essential elements of the course that invite you to learn through collaboration, problem-solving, and by applying key concepts in the context of learning global history.

In addition to the collaborative teamwork, the course includes open discussion forums that enable students from around the world to share their ideas and perspectives across borders. In a previous offering of World History, there were nearly a million separate posts!

We have designed this course to offer comparable rigor and detail to an on campus class. We hope you will treat it, and each other, in this spirit. Students who complete all of the weekly lab work will receive a statement of accomplishment. It is free and not for Princeton University credit.

This course is your opportunity to participate in the scholarly process of making historical knowledge. How do historians interpret historical documents and artifacts in order to tell the history of the globe? How do historical narratives and connections become valid and convincing? How are they challenged? For you to engage in this experience, the Global History Lab will provide you with historical content and a series of collaborative lab activities.

This course is your opportunity to participate in the scholarly process of making historical knowledge. How do historians interpret historical documents and artifacts in order to tell the history of the globe? How do historical narratives and connections become valid and convincing? How are they challenged? For you to engage in this experience, the Global History Lab will provide you with historical content and a series of collaborative lab activities.

Two weekly video lectures will be issued each week. Each lecture runs about one hour and is segmented into parts with short quizzes that enable you to apply material and concepts in order to absorb the material and check your own understanding of it. To provide additional resources for your work, we have authored a field-defining textbook for this course, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: A History of the World from 1000 CE to the Present (W.W. Norton, 4th edition, 2013). Each week we assign one chapter from the textbook (approximately 30 pages).

History Labs: We will provide a selection of primary historical documents that will enable you to engage directly with the voices and images from the past (approximately 10 pages). These materials will be the basis of the Lab’s collaborative work. Students from around the world will join teams in which they will select from and tackle weekly Challenge Questions and resolve fundamental issues in understanding world history. The Labs are essential elements of the course that invite you to learn through collaboration, problem-solving, and by applying key concepts in the context of learning global history.

In addition to the collaborative teamwork, the course includes open discussion forums that enable students from around the world to share their ideas and perspectives across borders. In a previous offering of World History, there were nearly a million separate posts!

We have designed this course to offer comparable rigor and detail to an on campus class. We hope you will treat it, and each other, in this spirit. Students who complete all of the weekly lab work will receive a statement of accomplishment. It is free and not for Princeton University credit.