History 202 was a totally online survey of U.S. history from the aftermath of the Civil War to the late 20th century. It was the first “virtual” history course offered at Cal Poly Pomona. Both traditional print materials and online web resources were used.

The course emphasized developing the students' ability to interpret some of the most fundamental issues in U.S. history. Students were be encouraged to think critically about American history and to examine and analyze historical sources of information.

This course met the U.S. History part of Cal Poly Pomona's U.S. History and Institutions requirement for graduation. 33 students enrolled in the course long enough to be on the student roster; 29 students finished the course.

It was an experiment in education, mediated through the Internet, email, virtual collaboration, live online interaction and an asynchronous discussion between students, the instructor and James Loewen, a course book author.

Course Website

View the original course website via the Internet Archives Wayback Machine. A later, more complete site is also archived. Many of the links still work - as well as some animated graphics. :/

Course Requirements

• Electronic Discussion List Project
  Students read two assignments each week, detailed in the weekly links with supplemental websites. Questions for each assignment were posted to the class HSTLST email discussion list. They answered the question on one reading and wrote a substantive response to another student's answer to the other reading. Total list email messages: 755. I wrote nearly 200 more email messages.
• Collaborative Term Project (20% + 15%)
  • Guidelines
  • Term Projects (student websites)
• Student Information Form - how the instructor learned about the students at the beginning of the class.
• Concluding Student Reaction Form