First Game (Viking Funeral) in Public History Class

Yesterday public history students warmed up for designing their first game by playing Viking Funeral, a card game by designer Rob Daviau.  We've been using Daviau's interview on Edx and Game Designer Round Table in class.

This gave us a nice way to discuss game mechanics and, perhaps more importantly, to begin thinking and talking about how we can use them in an educational context and apply them to our work with the Civil War.  Plus, we had fun (or at least as much fun as we can have in a class).  Thursday the students pitch their ideas for a card game.

Plassmann Writing Center

Making Better Writers!

Plassmann Hall, Room 6A

Monday 5:00pm-8:00pm

Wednesday 3:00pm-4:00pm

and 8:00pm-10:00pm

Thursday 2:00pm-4:00pm

PWC @ Friedsam Memorial Library

 Wednesday 8:00pm-10:00pm

Thursday 8:00pm-10:00pm

Staffed by friendly graduate students in English, the Writing Center aims to help you develop skills and strategies for every stage of

the writing process that will enable you to write effectively

in a variety of situations and courses.

To make an appointment for a thirty-minute face-to-face session with one of our tutors, sign up on the bulletin board next to

our door in the basement of Plassmann Hall. For appointments at Friedsam Memorial Library, sign up at the reference desk!

Anticipating Tuesday Game Jam

So.... materials have begun to arrive for the first Game Jam in History 206.  We spent last week talking about museum planning.  We've had some preliminary review of game mechanics.   We've bought some assorted widgets to make games with.  Tuesday, we start building.  Active learning, here we come.

The benefits of a liberal education

John Kay has a nice article on the benefits of a broad, liberal, education in the Financial Times.  In "The Benefits of a Liberal Education do not Go Out of Date," he writes that "The objective (of education) should be to equip students to enjoy rewarding employment and fulfilling lives in a future environment whose demands we can neither anticipate nor predict."

History Club at Organization Fair

(Mike Specht at the Fair)

The annual St. Bonaventure University Club and Organization Fair was held this past Wednesday, September 9, in the Richter Center. Members of the History Club were present in order to attract new members and inform new students about the different activities the History Club does throughout the year, such as going away on trips, hosting history related events on campus, and service opportunities. This event is targeted for the freshman class to see the many clubs and organizations that are present on campus, but is also open to upperclassmen looking to get more involved. In recent years the various events that the History Club has partaken in both on and off campus have been big hits and it has proven to be a place were history lovers can share in their common interests.

History Alum to Speak during Francis Week

Dr. Matthew Cressler is a 2006 Bona grad.  He graduated with a degree in History and Theology. He completed a year as a visiting assistant professor of Religion and African American Studies at Earlham College.  He is currently an assistant professor at The College of Charleston (South Carolina) who focuses on African American Religions, Society, and Black Nationalism.  He’s also working on his first book From Conversion to Revolution: The Rise of Black Catholic Chicago.  He’ll be on campus Wednesday September 28th to Friday October 2nd.   His formal lecture will take place on October 1st at 4pm in the University Chapel. 

Public History Week One

Students in History 206:  Introduction to Public History started the semester reading about Information Architecture and listened to a Game Design Round Table podcast on collaboration.  Now it was time to put theory into practice by doing a card sorting exercise.

We gave them note cards that I had labeled and shuffled.  The two teams then had to organize the mess. One of the challenges was reading my hand writing.

One group decided that they needed more space.  Next week we start looking at how these concepts apply to museum planning.