How to Prepare for an Oral History Interview

A Preliminary Design Document

Adrienne Phelps-Coco

Overview
This e-learning lesson will provide students in a 200-level American history course with techniques they can use to prepare for an oral history interview, which they will then conduct independently and use as the basis for their end-of-semester paper.

Needs Analysis
The professor has been teaching an oral history project in on-the-ground courses for quite some time, however, this is the rst time she has taught it in an e-learning context. While the nal paper assignment is written down and clearly articulated, she has been teaching methods for conducting oral histories in an informal manner in her classroom, offering students advice she has gained through personal experience and giving them a few minutes to practice interviewing a partner in class. The assignment now needs to be formalized and adapted to an e-learning environment. The following questions would be answered in concert with the professor in order to ensure that the lesson best supports the needs of students and course learning objectives.

Key Questions
Why is this assignment necessary? interviews?

Probe Questions
What information do students need to know conduct successful oral history

What tangible skills would you like students to demonstrate? How does this assignment t in with the larger curriculum of the course? How does this lesson t in with the larger paper assignment they will be completing? How will they demonstrate to you that they have met learning objectives? What is the difference between this lesson and previous lessons on this subject? How has this assignment been taught in the past? What techniques were used to prepare students before their interviews? Are there parts of the lesson you wish had been different? Were there parts that were particularly successful?

Design Document: How to Prepare for an Oral History Interview

Key Questions
Is there an information deciency that needs correcting? interviews?

Probe Questions
How successful have previous classes of students been at conducting their

Do you think students have a vision for a successful oral history interview? Are students meeting your intended learning objectives? What are the overall goals of the lesson? How would you dene the success of the lesson? What would a successful oral history conducted by a student at this level look like? Do you have examples that would demonstrate success?

Target Population Analysis

This assignment is geared toward students in a 200-level college course taught in an e-learning context. As students have been functioning in a virtual classroom all semester, they have at least a base-line level of technical competency. They are all procient English speakers, even if it is not their native language. 200-level history courses are not required by the college, so students have chosen to take the course, meaning that most of them have a least some interest in the subject matter. They are also likely motivated by the prospect of getting good grades. These questions would help determine the best pedagogical approach and most appropriate level of content to meet the needs of students in the course.

Key Questions
What methods do you use to motivate your students?

Probe Questions
What types of lessons do they nd most engaging? Do they learn well through collaboration? interactive assignments? Does this lesson clearly tie with other course assignments and learning objectives? Do they tend to be self-motivated or do they need more guidance? What feedback will they get on their learning?

Design Document: How to Prepare for an Oral History Interview

Key Questions
What background knowledge do your students have?

Probe Questions
Do they have experience conducting oral history interviews? What training might they have gotten in other courses? Do they have prior experience conducting interviews of any type? Do they have prior experience conducting historical research of any type? Do they have the skills to chose a topic for a historical research project? Do they have the skills to conduct background history research for this project? Are many of them history majors?

Task Analysis
This analysis outlays a step-by-step guide for the tasks students are expected to perform to prepare for a successful oral history interviews.

Students should ...

I. Dene your objective for conducting the interview. A. Identify what you want to know from this person. B. Summarize your research goals in 1-2 sentences. II. Identify an appropriate interview subject and arrange an interview A. Use your networks to locate someone with personal experience on your topic. 1. Ask friends or family members or your social networks to identify potential interview subjects (family members and family friends make great choices of people to interview for this project). B. Contact your subject and arrange an interview 1. Obtain contact info for your interviewee and get in touch with them 2. Tell your interviewee you are a student and let them know why you are conducting the interview. 3. Ask permission to use recording devices 4. Arrange a date and time for the interview

Design Document: How to Prepare for an Oral History Interview

Students should ...

III. Prepare for your interview A. Learn as much as possible about your subject as you can before the interview begins. B. Prepare a list of possible questions. 1. Make use of the background research you did and craft questions about the historical time, place, or events you are researching. 2. Draft questions that t with the guidelines for successful interview techniques. Questions should be: a. Simply phrased, single-topic questions b. Open questions that allow your interviewee to elaborate c. Neutral questions that will not lead your interviewee to a specic answer C. Gather recording equipment (such as a tape recorder) and make sure you know how to use it. 1. Record yourself to make sure the equipment works.

Learning Objectives
Given background readings and an example of an effective oral history interview, students will: 1. Dene the necessary components of preparing for and conducting a successful oral history interview. 2. Apply this knowledge by preparing for an interview that provides them with enough historical evidence to form the basis for a paper about a topic of the students choice.

Assessment Techniques
Discussion Forum: Students will watch a video example of an effective oral history interview and, using the knowledge they have gained from the lesson, dene four components that make the interview a success. Preparation Assignment: Students will write an interview preparation document that includes: 1) Their research objective, 2) The date and time of their proposed interview, 3) A short background on their interviewee and why they chose this person, 4) A list of potential questions that apply the guidelines for successful oral history techniques they have learned. Oral History Paper: Students will write a 35 page paper that makes a historical argument about a topic of their choice using evidence they have gained from the oral history interview they conducted. (Techniques for creating a historical argument and writing a successful paper will be discussed in another lesson. This lesson is one component in a series of lessons that prepares students to write this paper.)

Design Document: How to Prepare for an Oral History Interview

Content
The content of the lesson is divided into two parts: a presentation of key concepts and a series of links to external sources that provide students with additional information.

A slideshow, aided by additional commentary from the professor, will provide students with an overview of the necessary components they need to prepare for their oral history interviews. By the end of the lesson, students will be able to dene the steps they need to take to prepare for their interview and have enough background knowledge to write questions likely to generate conversation. Their preparation assignment (detailed above under Assessment Techniques) will give them a chance to practice these skills and demonstrate their learning.

Design Document: How to Prepare for an Oral History Interview

Concept buttons, like the one above, appear throughout the lesson to provide guidance to students who are looking for additional resources. These help wanted signs allow students to structure the lesson to their own learning needs, giving those with more background knowledge a quick review of the material while providing those who are new to the topic with more support. All of these materials are vetted by the subject matter expert and take advantage of the wealth of high-quality materials available online. This assignment links to the following documents: Step-by-Step Guide to Oral History, by Judith Moyers The Smithsonian Folklife and Oral History Interviewing Guide, from the Smithsonian Museum Oral History Guidelines, from The History Channel Sample Oral History Questions, from the Grosse Point Historical Society

Inspiration buttons link to exemplary oral history projects that students might use as a model for their own work. This assignment links to the following projects. Born in Slavery, from the Library of Congress The May 4th Collection, from Kent State Voices of Feminism Oral History Project, from Smith College

Design Document: How to Prepare for an Oral History Interview

Collaborative Techniques

An asynchronous discussion board will provide students a collaborative forum for identifying the components of a successful interview. Students will watch a sample interview conducted by Studs Terkl with James Baldwin (and available on YouTube), so that they will have a shared reference point for analysis. They will then answer discussion questions that prompt them to identify the elements that make the interview a success and envision how they could apply this knowledge to their own research project. By reading and commenting on their classmates posts, they will have further opportunity for reection and a chance to hone their ideas.

Design Document: How to Prepare for an Oral History Interview