Program Overview

Course Overview

The Workplace Learning course, themed around the Rural Diary Archive, is designated as HIST*3480 and is scheduled for the Fall 2023 term.

Course Details

Course Synopsis

This experiential learning opportunity involves transcribing diaries online from the Rural Diary Archive website, which features over 200 diarists. Students will contribute to making these historical documents more accessible by volunteering to transcribe them. Additionally, they will develop content for the website by selecting tweets for posting and contributing to a glossary of nineteenth-century terms. The course connects this work experience to the academic discipline through a series of short critical reflections and a research paper analyzing the strengths and weaknesses of diaries as primary sources.

Method of Delivery

The course is delivered fully in-class on campus, with students conducting independent work and attending four scheduled class meetings throughout the semester. The in-person classes are not recorded, so attendance at all in-person components is expected.

Learning Outcomes

By the successful completion of this course, students will have learned to:

• Identify and critically assess diary writing and keeping practices
• Read and understand 19th-century handwriting and vocabulary
• Transcribe historical documents
• Conduct research
• Assess the strengths and weaknesses of diaries as sources
• Communicate compelling history for use in a social media platform
• Identify and explain daily life in 19th-century rural Ontario
• Understand the value of public engagement
• Reflect upon their work in a critical manner

Methods of Evaluation and Weights

• Class Participation: 5%
• Transcriptions: 30%
• Weekly Critical Reflections: 15%
• Contributions to the Glossary and Tweets: 20%
• Final Essay/Document Analysis: 30%

Texts and/or Resources Required

There is no required textbook for this course. Transcribing work will take place online, and useful resources will be found there and on the course link.

Project Timeline

• Week 1: Initial group meeting with the professor to view the diaries, establish instructions, and start training.
• Week 3: Meeting to review transcription work.
• Week 7: Meeting; first collection of weekly reflections is due, and transcription skills will be advanced to a more difficult diary.
• Week 10: Meeting to discuss progress on the final essay.
• Week 11: Complete sets of tweets and glossary items are due.
• Week 12: Complete set of transcriptions is due.
• Week 13: Final essay is due, along with the second collection of weekly reflections.

Note

Please note that this is a preliminary course description, and the department reserves the right to change any information without notice. The final, binding course outline will be distributed in the first class of the semester.