Teaching Using Oral History
Description
The intention of this program was to create a learning community that will evolve into an ongoing community of practice for those faculty on campus who are engaging with oral history methodology for their own personal research and want to improve or expand their practice; faculty who would like to learn more about the practice for potential inclusion in their classes; or faculty who are interested in this documentation practice that is growing in popularity both within academic and popular culture.
Faculty, full-time lecturers, and part-time lecturers who were teaching or on leave during Winter 2023 were invited to register for the Oral History Methodologies Learning Community. EMU instructors who successfully complete the work of this learning community received an honorarium of $300.
OBJECTIVES
Participants will understand what oral history is, what it is not, its place in archives and how it is utilized in research.
Participants will match their previous/current oral history work with Oral History Association Benchmarks
Participants will understand how to design and give direction to an oral history project.
Participants will receive training in effective interview preparation and conduction
Participants will understand oral history preservation methodologies and rationales, and how to partner with the EMU Archives to preserve oral history projects
Details
Participants met in-person with facilitators Alexis Braun Marks, Associate Professor and University Archivist and Matt Jones, Full-time Lecturer in the University Archives. The learning community met in the University Archives (Room 310 Halle Library) over the course of four instructional sessions. Sessions took place on:
Friday, February 3rd 1-3 PM
Friday, February 17th 1-4 PM
Friday, March 10th 1-4 PM
Friday, March 24th 1-4 PM
A final meeting was held on Friday April 21st from 1-3pm for participants to share their experience conducting oral history interviews and submit an Emeritus Faculty oral history interview packet. Interviews will be submitted and preserved and made accessible in the EMU Archives for future use by researchers, historians, students and community members.
Course participants received a copy of Doing Oral History by Donald Richie that was used as a foundational text. Additional readings were provided during various sessions.
If you have any questions about this learning community, please email us at [email protected]