Journaling into History
Recording daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic
Recording daily life during the COVID-19 pandemic
When transitioning her course to remote learning, Jordynn Jack, director of the English and comparative literature department’s writing program, found a way for her students to contribute to the historical record just by doing their homework.
In “History of Writing: From Pen to Pixel,” Jack’s students are writing primary-source journals about their lives during the COVID-19 pandemic for future historians.
But, when she and her students no longer had access to physical materials or spaces on campus, she found a new way for her students to engage with the material.
“The class was about to start a unit on digital writing when we began remote learning, so the course was easily adapted to suit our circumstances,” said Jack. “I simply modified the unit to include activities like writing on anonline typewriterOpens in new windowso the students could still experience typing on an antique typewriter.”
