Spurring collective learning
It’s 1377, in plague-ravaged Rottweil, Germany, and you’re Heinrich Berg, a priest hunting for witches; or Jos Baum, an illiterate laborer with no family sur- viving; or maybe Margaret Schaffen, a young nun having visions of the Virgin Mary. These and other identities are adopted by students in Erica Bastress- Dukehart’s introduction to medieval his- tory. She explains, “I want my students to understand, as best they can with the sources we have, what it was actually like to live in medieval Europe. To do that, we have to enter different mindsets—it takes a creative leap.”
When Bastress-Dukehart won this
year’s Ciancio Award in teaching, classi- cist Michael Arnush said, “I can always tell when I’m teaching one of hers. When students exemplify excellence in learn- ing, that means they have experienced excellence in teaching.” Bastress-Dukehart’s 300-level course on medieval warfare last spring was her most ambitious teaching experiment yet. She asked the 20 students to help design the course, and for part of it they decided to form four “alliances” on crusade to find the Holy Grail. While completing read- ings and research papers on feudalism, theories of holy war, chivalry, alchemy, and other topics, the questing kept many students engaged into the wee hours. Bastress-Dukehart gave each alliance cues for action, and a Council of Twelve judged the quality of each response. A typical cue: “One of your knights has been kidnapped. Nego- tiate a ransom.”
FROM CATAPULTS TO LUNCH DATES, HISTORIAN ERICA BASTRESS-DUKEHART WILL USE WHATEVER SHE CAN TO BRING SCHOLARS TOGETHER.
result of people reacting to the circum- stances in which they live.” Lyle Steph - en son ’15 adds that, to today’s students, people’s behavior in distant history “can seem irrational or ridiculous, which makes it easy to dehumanize them. What Erica taught me about mindset has affected me throughout my college career.”
“PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOR IN HISTORY CAN SEEM IRRATIONAL, WHICH MAKES IT EASY TO DEHUMANIZE THEM. WHAT ERICA TAUGHT ME ABOUT MINDSETS HAS HELPED ME THROUGHOUT COLLEGE.”
That prompted a heated, hour-long dis- cussion about codes of chivalrous behav- ior. She also appointed three students as secret spies who could buy or steal infor- mation and share it with others. An end- of-term barbecue at her home even fea- tured a scale-model trebuchet (which catapulted water balloons quite nicely). Student Zoe Bent ’13 says, “We learned to empathize with historical fig- ures, realizing that history is simply the
6 SCOPE FALL 2013
In fact, Bastress-Dukehart wants to help open and sharpen minds all across campus. As Skidmore’s director of facul- ty development, she says, “my goal is to build our learn ing commu- nity.” Under the aegis of the dean of the faculty and
working with department chairs, she co- ordinates a two-day orientation for new faculty members, covering topics from syllabus writing and classroom inclusive- ness to basic campus logistics. The new- comers are then urged to keep meeting monthly with senior faculty mentors for the rest of their first year. “We’ve seen ter- rific turnout,” Bastress-Dukehart reports, and now she’s arranged a second- and third-year system, pairing new tenure-
track faculty with a mentor to prepare for their three-year review. She says, “When we hire new people, we want them to succeed. And they appreciate that the in- stitution is investing in them.” Also popular are the writing groups she organizes each semester and sum- mer. All faculty are welcome; the admis- sion price is simply a commitment to work on their scholarship for a three- hour period a few mornings each week. Some gather in Scribner Library’s Weller Room, a new space for faculty, and some work in their offices or studios; some write grant proposals or book chapters or journal articles, and some create art or music; but all convene afterward for lunch. “We hold each other account- able, so it helps us make the time for our scholarship,” Bastress-Dukehart ex- plains. She adds, “People enjoy the cama - raderie across disciplines and length of tenure.” She also uses the Weller Room to host faculty discussions on research or pedagogy.
Whether including her students in course design or forming her colleagues into a mutual aid society, “for me,” she says, “it’s all about that community of learning.” —DF, SR
PHIL SCALIA
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