Brenna Miller
Brenna Miller is the Associate Director of History for the 21st century and a Teaching Assistant Professor in the Roots of Contemporary Issues program at Washington State University. She received her PhD from Ohio State University in 2018 with a focus on Eastern European History, and has taught introductory, upper-division, and honors university courses in Modern European, Eastern European, Middle Eastern, and World Histories. She is particularly interested in history teaching and pedagogy, as well as collaborative ways to support students and instructors alike.
History for the 21st Century
Sessions
The H/21 Project (History for the Twenty-First Century) is a collaborative project of the World History Association, which seeks to rethink world history curricula by designing inquiry-based and student-centered lessons on critical topics in world history. The goal of this project is to support college and university faculty by offering open-access instructional materials, which include curated lessons with primary sources, instructor guides, and classroom activities. On this panel, three H/21 authors will discuss their new modules: Eric Nelson’s presentation explores a “Big History” module that aims to provide students with a mental map of four critical eras in our shared human history, while also strengthening skills in synthesis and historical empathy. Jodie Marshall will present a module in which students explore the early modern Indian Ocean as a space, connected through imperial ambition, trade, and human movement. Brenna Miller’s presentation will address teaching the history of shifting identities in Southeastern Europe, from imperial collapse, the rise of nationalism, war, and the Cold War. All of these papers offer a discussion of interactive, student-centered pedagogical strategies.
This workshop is led by History for the Twenty-First Century (H/21), a collaborative project of the World History Association, which develops teaching modules for introductory-level world history college courses. Following an introduction to the project goals and H/21's open-access resources, the organizers (Brenna Miller and Eric Nelson) will lead an interactive workshop to demonstrate practical examples of active-learning materials, that college and university instructors have successfully implemented in their courses. Attendees will have the opportunity to experience those materials first-hand, and consider ways in which they might implement these lessons in their classes. The workshop will also showcase some of the evidence gathered to date of successful outcomes of module lessons, based on surveys and studies conducted by the H/21 team.