LTC Receives NEH Grant to Conduct History Teaching Workshops- June 29th, 2008

The Learning Technology Center (LTC) is pleased to announce an award of $30,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) to host a four-day workshop for history teachers to learn about the Presidential Timeline and the use of primary sources in their teaching. “Using Primary Artifacts to Understand Presidential Decision-Making” is a collaborative effort of the LTC and the LBJ Library.

The Presidential Timeline, which debuted last year and was funded by the NEH, the UT General Libraries, and the Lyndon Baines Johnson Foundation, is a Web site based on the 20th century presidents. It contains digitized resources from the National Archive’s twelve presidential libraries, such as audio and video clips, photos, and documents. These primary sources, largely unavailable before to the general public, provide unique insight into important events in history and how the presidents reacted to and handled these events. The LTC and the presidential libraries developed the Presidential Timeline and they will continue to add more materials to the site as they are digitized.

The workshop, tentatively set for June 2009, will allow 25 teachers to examine an historic presidential decision through primary artifacts. In turn, they will learn how to teach their students with these resources. Students can step into the role of the president, assessing what was said in a phone conversation or directed in a memo. This is quite different from memorizing a summary in a history book, and encourages students to develop analytical, critical thinking skills.

For more information about the planned workshops or the Presidential Timeline, contact Ken Tothero.

—Laurie Caldwell, LTC Communications Coordinator