Teaching and the Oral History of Artists
Jacob McMurray
Jacob McMurray is the senior curator for EMP|SFM. As part of the oral history team, in the last decade he has interviewed such varied popular culture icons as Dick Dale, Les Paul, Sleater-Kinney, Douglas Trumbull, and Ray Harryhausen, among dozens of others.
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Jacob McMurray is the senior curator for EMP|SFM. As part of the oral history team, in the last decade he has interviewed such varied popular culture icons as Dick Dale, Les Paul, Sleater-Kinney, Douglas Trumbull, and Ray Harryhausen, among dozens of others.
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Dr. Lorraine McConaghy
Lorraine McConaghy is the historian at the Museum of History and Industry, in Seattle. Her primary responsibilities involve research and writing, but she continues to teach the skills of oral history interviewing, manage the museum's oral history program, Speaking of Seattle, and use oral history interviews in a range of programs, including readers' theater scripts.
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Lorraine McConaghy is the historian at the Museum of History and Industry, in Seattle. Her primary responsibilities involve research and writing, but she continues to teach the skills of oral history interviewing, manage the museum's oral history program, Speaking of Seattle, and use oral history interviews in a range of programs, including readers' theater scripts.
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Nancy Kiefer
Nancy Kiefer is a storyteller and librarian in Seattle. She began work collecting oral history in the Yakima area and also helped students collect information as a faculty member at Washington State University. A visual artist, she incorporates oral history into some of her paintings.
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Nancy Kiefer is a storyteller and librarian in Seattle. She began work collecting oral history in the Yakima area and also helped students collect information as a faculty member at Washington State University. A visual artist, she incorporates oral history into some of her paintings.
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Presented by Experience Music Project|Science Fiction Museum (EMP|SFM)
Seattle, Washington
This FREE online course is designed to assist educators in developing an oral history project for their students. The course consists of five modules that will lead you through the process of learning about oral history and the importance of interviewing artists. The course will help you develop an oral history project as well as think of ways to be inspired by this project to create lesson plans connecting to other areas of the curriculum, whether it is in history/social studies, reading, communications, or the arts.
How the Online Course Works
This is a self-paced online course, meaning you can proceed through the modules as best fits your schedule. Although there are no designated online “meeting” times with opportunities for real-time conversations with other course participants or the course developers, your feedback is very important to us. If you do have any questions or concerns you can always go to the Contact Us page to let us know your thoughts.
General Course Goals
The goals of this course are:
- To use oral history as a means to understand history and the arts, both through analyzing existing oral histories and by creating classroom projects for students to conduct their own oral histories.
- To demonstrate how the skills used in conducting oral history reinforce critical and creative thinking skills across the curriculum and as outlined in Washington State’s EALRS in history, communication, writing, and the arts.
- To aid teachers in making history and the arts relevant and meaningful to students’ lives.
By participating in this online course, educators will:
- Understand the role of the oral historian and, in light of this, consider the relationship of oral history to teaching.
- Become familiar with EMP/SFM’s oral history resources and other educational oral history resources.
- Analyze EMP/SFM’s oral history interviews and their themes. Reflect on how the analytic process and how the knowledge gained through this analysis can apply to your teaching.
- Develop a plan and list of necessary equipment and resources for conducting an oral history project in the classroom.
- Generate ideas for more classroom projects inspired by the oral histories. Develop a plan for the oral history projects to have an impact beyond conducting and archiving the interviews.
This course will not provide a cookbook approach to doing an oral history project. There are several good resources available online that can guide you step-by-step through the preparation, interviewing, and transcription process. These resources are pointed out within the course. This online course has been developed to help you plan out an oral history project interviewing artists while reflecting on your particular classroom needs, as opposed to a “one size fits all” approach.
The specific content of each module is outlined below:
- Module One: Introduction to Teaching and Oral History of Artists
- Module Two: Oral History of Artists and EMP/SFM Oral Histories
- Module Three: How to Conduct an Oral History Project in Your Classroom
- Module Four: Research and Questions for Oral History Interviews
- Module Five: Inspired by Oral Histories and Completing your Oral History Teaching Plan
“From the Expert” videos of experienced oral historians and educators discussing their work.
Jacob McMurray | Dr. Lorraine McConaghy, Ph.D. | Nancy Kiefer
Jacob McMurray | Dr. Lorraine McConaghy, Ph.D. | Nancy Kiefer
Please note: In order to view “From the Expert” videos, you must have Windows Media Player installed on your system.
Activities to help you plan for an oral history project
Reflection points for you to consider the particular needs of your teaching situation
More information includes web links to additional resources if you want to delve further into a topic (not required as part of this course)
Course Completion and Clock Hours
The modules must be completed in sequential order in order to have successfully completed the course. In other words, to proceed to Module Two, you must complete all the activities in Module One. Upon completion of the entire online course you will be able to download a “Certificate of Completion” (suitable for framing.)
Educators in Washington State can received ten (10) clock hours sponsored by Seattle University. There is a fee of $2 per clock hour or $20 total. At the end of the course you will be able to download the clock hour forms. You will then need to complete the forms and send a $20 check made payable to Seattle University to:
Education Coordinator: Oral History Course
Experience Music Project
Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame
330 Sixth Avenue North, Suite 200
Seattle WA 98109
Then EMP/SFM will verify your course completion and forward the clock hour forms onto Seattle University, who will send you the clock hours in about a week. If you need more information about Professional Development and Continuing Education at Seattle University, please go to www.seattleu.edu/coe/ce/takingcourse.asp.
For educators in other states, you can download the “Letter to Administrator” upon completion of the course. This provides information about the course, including the course goals and objectives, description of the work you have completed and how the course content will support your teaching.
Your Input
Teaching and the Oral History of Artists is the first self-paced online educator course developed by EMP/SFM. At the end of the course there is an evaluation form to use to give us your feedback. If you have any additional thoughts you would like to share or you would like to be on a mailing list for any possible future online course, please feel free to go to the Contact Us page.
Registering for the Course
If after reading this introduction, you are interested in registering for the course, please proceed to the Registration page. Again, this course is FREE. The only cost to you is if you elect to gain the ten clock hours available through Seattle University.
Help/Contact
If you have any problems registering, please contact us and we will be happy to assist you.