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Retiring the old Big History??

Geoffrey Robinson

Hello,

I'm just checking in to continue a conversation we were having last summer when the new Big History was posted. I thought we had reached a place where OER admin was going to consider keeping both classes up and running. I just saw in a thread that the old version will be done away with in a few weeks.

Now, I did see the Google Drive that was shared with all of the materials. But my concern with not making the old version publicly available seems valid, as it's going to make it harder for those pitching it to high school administrators to get it accepted in the curriculum. In my case, I have many people in my district that would like Big History done away with. Deleting the curriculum from it's online space will give them ammo to possibly argue that even OER didn't have faith in the course. This could be devastating! If you want to promote the new version, go for it! But please please please don't do away with something so many people have spent years building.

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  • 0

    To add some context, Big History is used as a substitute for World History credit in my district. The new Big History does not address World History, thus my concern I could lose this class if it no longer becomes available publicly.

  • 0 in reply to Geoffrey Robinson

    I'm not sure what you are looking at, but the current Big History includes World History. Units 4-6 are all part of what would traditionally be the "World History" curriculum. Note that Big History is interdisciplinary by design, with a great deal of overlap with different sciences, not just history; the way we tend to segregate different disciplines in our schools has long been the biggest problem with BHP in practical terms. If you want a more on-the-nose history course then perhaps one of the various World History Projects would fit your needs better.

  • 0 in reply to Christopher Barber

    Fit me better? That's a bit of an unnecessary comment.. I've built Big History from the ground up at my school. It is my passion. If you were to look at the old structure of it, it included a lot more about Revolutions, the World Wars, Cold War, among other topics. The class was billed as "zooming in," so the closer we got to modernity, the more specific the content became. My district requires me to hit these things during the second semester. I do, in fact, pull a lot from the World History Project courses.

    My point last summer was that it was a bit disheartening that they seemed to get rid of some the rigor of the class by doing away with things like Investigations, the Little Big History Project, and other thought-provoking assignments. What they made is nice, and I like it. But it's billed as a middle school course now. I just don't want to see the class aiming lower than what it started as. I suggested, since they have four World History courses, what was wrong with having a middle school and high school version of Big History? Admin seemed to take my concern seriously. But now they're getting rid of it. When it's a class I have to fight for year in, year out, I worry about the optics from outsiders when they look up Big History curriculum. They will only be able to find the middle school version.  

  • 0 in reply to Geoffrey Robinson

    You made it very clear that the new BHP doesn't fit your needs, and then you got offended when I pointed out the other (currently updated) resources that are actually intended for high school world history. You already still have access to the other materials. The old website is still the first thing that comes up when you Google "Big History Project". All of the curricular materials are still there.

  • 0 in reply to Christopher Barber

    They are deleting that website on July 28th. That's what I don't want to happen. I didn't get offended. You just aren't understanding the point I am trying to make. I have all the materials. I'm good with that. I was talking about the future public perception of the course, and the way admin is changing course in how it is being marketed. 

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  • 0 in reply to Christopher Barber

    They are deleting that website on July 28th. That's what I don't want to happen. I didn't get offended. You just aren't understanding the point I am trying to make. I have all the materials. I'm good with that. I was talking about the future public perception of the course, and the way admin is changing course in how it is being marketed. 

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