The Fine Print: Course Requirements and Policies

What each week will be like:

All assignments must be completed in the schedule listed; this includes completing assignments and posting to our discussion board on Slack, your website, or via a course website.

How to do well in this class:

First and foremost, please ask me for help for any reason, whether you are stuck, or whether you want to learn more about what we’re doing in class. Second, be persistent. Be willing to experiment,  and be willing to make mistakes. Some of your best blog posts might be about what you learned by making a mistake. Third, remember that your goal is not to learn tools, but concepts. Look for the skills and ideas underlying the specific technologies we will work with. Fourth, keep up by doing the weekly work – including the reading and any other preliminary assignments. If you miss part of the course work, you’ll have a hard time keeping up.

This course satisfies the University’s IT requirement, which includes:

  1. Students will understand the principles of information storage, exchange, security, and privacy and be aware of related ethical issues.
  2. Students will become critical consumers of digital information; they will be capable of selecting and evaluating appropriate, relevant, and trustworthy sources of information.
  3. Students can use appropriate information and computing technologies to organize and analyze information and use it to guide decision-making.
  4. Students will be able to choose and apply appropriate algorithmic methods to solve a problem.

This course is listed as an Upper Division History Course:

This is not an introductory history course. As an upper division elective, the course requires that you demonstrate some significant analytical skills in the course of doing historical research. Furthermore, the course demands effective use of primary sources, the synthesis of existing historical scholarship, and the crafting of clear and convincing arguments about the past. The pool for our historical work this semester will be your choice, with my approval. You will be free to pursue a well-formed research question that reflects their individual interests during the course of the semester.

Working in an Agile Learning Environment:

This course takes place in an Agile Learning Environment, which mean you MUST participate, and you MUST come prepared to work every class.  Every class period will be used for productive collaboration with your classmates. During our time together, you will gain experience doing history, developing information technology skills, and working with a range of tools that will be useful to you outside the context of this course.

  • Reading and viewing of all materials for the day must be completed prior to the class session/week (except when noted).
  • You must come prepared to work with the materials and tools that we will concentrate on for the week. This means having fully reviewed the tutorials for the week and having done some initial experimentation with the tools.
  • Group work is not optional. It is a central element of doing digital history. It needs to be approached as an integral part of your work for the semester.
  • Work that does not demonstrate engagement with the course materials and a good-faith effort to work with the tools will not be given credit.
  • For full credit, all work must fulfill the minimum requirements for completion by the date it is due. Late work will be graded down 5 points for each day that it is late (unless otherwise noted)

    • In the event of an emergency or unforeseen problems on assignment due dates, please let me know as soon as possible. I will not provide any grade deduction leniency for issues that are only brought to my attention after an assignment has been turned in. Issues brought to my attention before an assignment is turned in will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.

  • Written work must be supported by direct evidence from primary and/or secondary sources. That work also must be fully documented using standard Chicago Manual of Style citations (or MLA if you are not a history major or minor).

Office Hours/Drop-Ins:

All office hours (or drop-ins) this semester will be virtual, though if you want to meet in-person we can make arrangements. Feel free to use this time to talk about coursework, converse with me about history and DH, or simply to get to know one another more than class time allows.

The link on how to set an appointment is listed in the sidebar.

Credit Hours and Expectations:

This is a 3-credit course, which means that in addition to the daily discussions, you are expected to do at least 6-8 hours of course-related work each week during the semester. This coursework includes readings; skill-based assignments and writing assignments; and research and writing for your final project.

Academic Integrity and Course Conduct:

I am committed to a class dynamic that supports diversity in race, ethnicity, national origin, gender identity, sexuality, class, disability, age, and religion. All communication in this course must be done with respect and civility toward others who have different ideas, perspectives, and traditions than your own. This also applies to newer forms of digital disrespect: Zoom bombing, trolling, cyberbullying, or other inappropriate behavior will not be tolerated. If anything is said or done in our virtual classroom spaces that makes you uncomfortable, by me or a fellow student, please schedule a time to talk with me as soon as possible and we will find a solution.

In addition, there are some guidelines that I expect to be applied to our digital spaces at all times.

  1. Be empathetic. We’re all adjusting to new situations and workflows, and I want us to stay sensitive to that as we move through the semester. If you need something, please ask for it and I will do my best to help or find someone who can.
  2. Be flexible. A cardinal rule of DH is that the tech rarely works as expected. Please stay flexible as we work through any technical issues and figure out which workflows make sense for our group. Also, as we move through the course, I challenge you to approach the messiness, error messages, and technical failures as moments to reflect on the technology we’re talking about and/or using. These can also be moments to identify the boundaries or limitations of technology and imagine creative solutions.
  3. Practice good data management. This will be key to keeping on track this semester. Establish a calendar early on to keep track of due dates and use a password manager so you can always access our course platforms and keep your information secure.
  4. Communicate! This is crucial. Falling behind or need some extra help? Schedule a meeting with me. Have a tech issue or don’t fully understand a concept? Pose your questions in class or in our discussion spaces. Have ideas for how to improve our workflow? Let me know!

Enrollment Status:

You are responsible for verifying your enrollment status in this (and every) course. Any change in that status is your responsibility and must be made by the dates listed in the Schedule of Classes. After the last day to drop a course, withdrawal from the course must be approved by the Dean and will be approved only for nonacademic reasons. Attempting to add a class after the last day to add is not possible. Undergraduate students wishing to drop a class after the drop date may choose to exercise a selective withdrawal. See the Schedule of Classes for selective withdrawal procedures.
Honor Code and Academic Integrity: Please consult the resources from the Office of Academic Integrity, including the GMU Honor Code, here: https://oai.gmu.edu/

A Word on Plagiarism:

Although digital writing provides new opportunities for remixing and hyperlinking, plagiarism is not acceptable in any form. Any text or idea that is not in your own words needs to be cited without exception (with hyperlinks if applicable). This includes direct quotes or paraphrased text. You are also responsible for assessing the copyright restrictions of any materials you use in your projects. If in doubt about copyright or possible plagiarism, please ask for clarification.

The integrity of the University community is affected by the individual choices made by each of us. As a Mason student, you should follow these fundamental principles at all times, as noted by the Honor Code: (1) All work submitted should be your own, without the use inappropriate assistance or resources, as defined by the assignment or faculty member; (2) When you use the work, the words, the images, or the ideas of others—including fellow students, online sites or tools, or your own prior creations–you must give full credit through accurate citations; (3) In creating your work, you should not take materials you are not authorized to use, or falsely represent ideas or processes regarding your work. If you are uncertain about the ground rules or ethical expectations regarding the integrity of your work on a particular assignment or exam, you should ask your instructor for clarification. Support for you to complete your work is available; no grade is important enough to justify academic misconduct.
If you aren’t familiar with it, please also consult the “Understanding Plagiarism” tutorial created by GMU Libraries: https://library.gmu.edu/tutorials/plagiarism

Statement Regarding Use of Generative AI Tools:

Use of Generative-AI tools should be used following the fundamental principles of the Honor Code. This includes being honest about the use of these tools for submitted work and including citations when using the work of others, whether individual people or Generative-AI tools.

Technical Requirements:

1. Computer and internet access. This is an online technology course, and we will use and reflect about the use of technology. You will need to have regular, reliable access to a computer and a stable broadband Internet connection with a consistent 1.5 Mbps [megabits per second] download speed or higher. You can check your speed settings using the Google (or another) speed test. If you don’t have regular computer access or a stable Internet connection, please let me know so that I can accommodate your needs.

Platforms: We’ll use a variety of platforms: In addition to Blackboard (for grades), we’ll use Zoom, Mural/Neatro for collaboration, and small group meetings/discussion boards in Slack. I will distribute further instructions in class.

While you participate in class, make sure that your use of technology during class is not a distraction to yourself or others. Avoid using technology as a barrier to actively engage during class.

2. As part of our course, you will set up a website. If you don’t already own your own web domain, you will need to create one for our course.

Reclaim Hosting: is a hosting service developed originally at the University of Mary Washington especially for students and faculty: https://reclaimhosting.com/

The total cost for the personal plan is $45. Reclaim Hosting is popular among Mason Hist 390 faculty (and beyond) because of its pricing, services, and customer support. You’ll use Reclaim to install Word Press and will have the option to install a podcasting plug-in if you plan to produce a podcast. If you already have a domain and Word Press website, please talk with me to make sure that it meets the functionality we will need for class. Since you might want to use your domain name down the road, as well, I recommend choosing a timeless name.

I will distribute a step-by-step guide on how to set up your domain and website/blog in class.