Onward to Normalcy Week 4 Covid 19 Update

Much of this week saw no distinct news about COVID from me. So I'll keep this blog post short since there is not much to say. I did notice that there was some information regarding the COVID vaccine in processing and the CDC offering to orchestrate plans to distribute the vaccine. 

In UCF's case, I've seen a small increase in population during the afternoon parts of the time. I've taken a few times to eat in the cafeteria of the Student Union, noticing that there are a great number of students that wish to use the facility to eat. 

The Union will always blare this announcement reminding of social distancing every five to ten minutes. This week did not see much change in the pandemic. 

Perhaps this is a sign that the pandemic will fade and we could return to normalcy in the upcoming months. 

HIS 6942 Week 4 (September 12 - September 18)

 

This week was a rollercoaster of emotions for me as I experienced some difficulties that could have set me back. Tuesday saw my computer crash and jeopardize my documents and attendance in classes. Thankfully, this issue was rectified when I both recovered my computer and saved the documents. The whole process instilled how vital a computer is and showed how to recover documents saved on a drive that was dying. My computer is fully operational as it was reset to factory settings. For the internship, the computer fiasco only affected my emails which I may have lost some students emailing me on Tuesday.

The students seem to be growing out of their shell this week in classes as they discussed several historical debates that historians continue to grapple with. Dr. Murphree and I facilitated a discussion regarding apologies for historical events which propelled students to communicate more on their opinions on the matter. Some students believed that apologies did not matter as they were ineffective in addressing current day issues and only distracting from solving injustices. Others insisted that apologies may be useful in returning lost property or money. A common example was reparations for the effects of slavery and Jim Crow/segregation on African Americans. In addition, other debates such as history’s link to religion and how we approach history was prevalent in Tuesday’s class.

I am glad to see students beginning to discuss more of these historical debates as other history classes refrain from addressing them. History courses at the University of Central Florida stick to the content of the class’s topic except for History and Historians. These discussions are vital in how we conduct research and present historical knowledge. The internship reminds me of these important questions concerning our field and it will help me develop my thesis further.

Office hours have been effective in reaching out to students. Some students have come in to ask me about certain discussions in class and checking on what they are supposed to be doing. One question was directed towards the interview process for the COVID collection. Regarding the COVID collection, students seem to be procrastinating the interviews. I believe that this is due to how fast these interviews can be. My interview experience seemed to spend a great deal on the transcription process versus the real interviews. Practice makes perfect which I try and encourage students to interview more than just one even if it is not a requirement.

The class debates really affected how I look at the graduate discussions we have which are similar in nature. The internship encourages me to bring my own perspective on topics such as the ones we discuss in class through the graduate eye. I believe in the upcoming weeks; more student activity will foster due to them breaking the ice with these debates. Some students seem to have insightful commentary that mirrors my graduate classmates. Next week, students will be discussing Public History and its importance in the field. I will be adding my own perspective as someone interested in the track of Public History.

Continuing through COVID-19 (September 5-September 11, 2020)

 My experience with COVID-19 in class seemed to be rather slow which warranted skipping the second week of classes. 

Parking continues to be very open during the morning, though I have noticed an increasing amount as we continue into the semester. The Student Union's cafeteria seems to be growing in participants as it was difficult to grab a seat to talk to a graduate classmate about readings. 

Dr. Murphree informed me that there was an incident with faculty having conducted class without facial masks and even ate lunch with the students of their class. This was rather alarming as this could spread the infection of COVID within the University of Central Florida. It was surprising that the faculty were the source of the problem. I initially assumed that students would have an issue with the masks, yet I was proven wrong this week. There was some discussions on the UCF reddit that speculated on who. I remember reading that it could be from the Education Department which I was skeptical. It is important to continue adhering to the university's response to COVID-19. 

Another instance this week saw UCF students protesting over a political speaker coming to campus. The speaker was a Kent State graduate, Kaitlin Bennett attending campus to "ask students who would be a better president for black Americans, Trump or Biden?"(1) Students were quick to protest her attendance due to her lack of a mask. Much like the faculty not following regulations, UCF students are very adamant, rightfully so, to protect their community from the virus being spread. I do believe that her attendance was going to be negatively received as she has multiple different controversial ideologies. My worry with the protests against Bennett is the high amount of people within a section of campus. Videos from Twitter show groups of people not social distancing and being next to one another. UCF police were quick to try and calm the situation, yet it seemed that Ms. Bennett was more concerned about her rights than the potential spread of COVID-19. It is important that the University's statement identified her as not adhering to the policies for COVID-19, not her right to speak. 

This week's theme seems to be optimism for students to be very strict on following proper procedures. The faculty and outsiders are not limited in students advocating for wearing masks and following the rules set by the university.

It is my opinion that we can count on students to report instances of people not practicing hygienic practices within the pandemic.

1. https://twitter.com/KaitMarieox/status/1304145390724419591 

HHIS 6942 Week 3 (9/5-9/11/2020)

 Going into the third week, I was ecstatic to see students already beginning to involve themselves with the COVID-19 Collection project in class. I assigned students to select people who they’d like to interview to push them to start thinking on it early. The assignment saw half the student email me with assigned interviewees while the other half did not provide me anything. This was concerning to me with such a small group of students unable to provide me with the email, yet I realized that I was overly ambitious. Dr. Murphree corrected me that students were only required to do one interview for the collection, yet I was under the impression that it would be multiple. This pushed me to conduct above what was expected of students by interviewing more than one student for the collection.

The third week’s classes consisted of discussions regarding historical discourse such as what it means to be a historian and the relationship with the public. Students seem to be breaking the ice with these discussions as some began to speak up. Dr. Murphree conducted this discussion as he tried to provide thoughtful discussion on who is a historian and the classifications in the field. I was able to provide some insight on this from a graduate perspective, discussing the authority of historians and interaction within the public domain. The Thursday class saw a guest speaker from the American Historical Association, Megan Connor, discussing the importance of internships and professionalization. Students seem to be very interested in internships due to both Connor’s talk and my participation in the class. It reminds me how blessed I am to be able to participate in an internship.

The internship with Dr. Murphree has propelled me towards contributing to the Special Collections and University Archives at the University of Central Florida. I worked with Mary Rubin, head archivist, prior with volunteering work at the archives and I felt indebted from the volunteering opportunity. On Thursday, I conducted three interviews with students that had diverse perspectives on the pandemic. These interviews were conducted as oral histories and were recorded over Zoom. Two students were off-campus while another student was out of the country on an oversees internship. The internship helped me conduct these interviews and provided practice with oral history. On Sunday, September 13, I will be conducting two interviews with students that graduated in Spring 2020 as they were denied a physical graduation ceremony.

Mary Rubin discussed some semblance of a paid position as a lead on this collection. She was careful not to say it was confirmed, which is understandable with the budget cuts, yet I still am eager to contribute to this collection. Still, I am focusing on my graduate studies and Dr. Murphree’s class.

I held office hours this week which have been a little slow with student participation. One particular student was very eager to meet me in office hours. However, I must confess that Labor Day forced me to have only one office hour meeting. Though, it is my hope that students will continue to open themselves up and talk to me. Interacting with the students has strengthened my teaching abilities within the internship.

HIS 6942 Week 2 Blog (August 31-September 4)

 Entering the second week, the COVID-19 memory project was the priority as the Special Collections and University Archives introduced it to the students. Mary Rubin provided a presentation for the students to present and I participated in the presentation as a speaker. This participation was due to my experience working in archives at SCUA and I relayed my experience to the students. Most students seemed very eager to participate in the project, especially in the creation of questions such as how COVID-19 has affected students in a wide variety of areas. Students began to ask questions and participate actively as they are responsible for collecting oral history for the project. Dr. Murphree has tasked me to be the project coordinator over the students, managing their contribution to the project and guide them properly. I tried to push students to begin thinking on who they would like to interview by next Tuesday as a means of encouraging them. I am expecting them to email me by Monday to state who they are interviewing and why so that they have a foundation to begin the project. Procrastination was always a characteristic of my undergraduate degree which lead me to this assignment.

Dr. Murphree and I spoke about student interaction in the class as I voiced my concerns about it due to the presentations this week. This class lacked any discussion about historical discourse, yet I concede that the importance of these presentations was significant.  Students seem to be a little nervous or anxious talking as it is the second week. Mary did ask for them to pair up and formulate questions for the project which did get them talking for a brief amount of time. Going into week 3, I would like to see more active participation from the students in the class.

While students have been passive with participation in the physical class, their online participation is very well done. Dr. Murphree assigns weekly discussion posts for students to write on the assigned readings of the class. The students are able to voice their own reflection of the readings which asserts that they have potential of leading and participating in discussions in class. Week 3 will see discussions between students which I will try to observe their discussion and provide my own experiences with the class and in graduate school. Discussing historical discourse is vital to the major and practicing public speaking.

Student interaction with me seems to be improving as students have been emailing me about questions regarding the class. I am honored that the students have, in this aspect, approached me. Most of the emails are mundane questions that can be answered fairly quickly. There is one particular email that has an extensive amount of detail that requires me to carefully guide their career opportunities. It is critical that I provide the best and clear answer for this student’s email as it will impact how they proceed in the history major. While there exists pressure of providing the student with answers, the satisfaction of guiding them has taken priority. This aspect of the internship was my main passion when Dr. Murphree presented this opportunity to me and I am glad to be doing it.

"Armor Up, Knights!" Week 1 (8/24-8/28)

 "Armor Up, Knights" 

The COVID-19 pandemic has continued to drastically affect the world and the United States with the fear of catching the virus. It has thrown many students off balance and leaves them with numerous different experiences that hopefully this internship can present to future students and professors. I've noticed a few things upon my return to the University of Central Florida on the first week. 

"Armor Up, Knights" is a phrase that the university uses to remind students to wear masks on campus. Sometimes I forget that I need a mask, but I have always wore it on campus. 

The first thing that one will notice if they are a previous faculty or student is the parking situation. Previously, the university struggled with providing apt parking spots for visitors. For example, Garage B was at full capacity roughly around noon. However, this is not the case in the Fall Semester of 2020. Upon my entry to attend Dr. Murphree's class, I was struck with the lack of cars parked in the garages. 

I parked in Garage D on the second floor which was completely empty that Tuesday morning. For three years as an undergraduate, I had never experienced a stress free parking experience. On Thursday, it was the same situation.

Another experience at the college is the empty space when walking around. Normally, the first week of class would see an abundance of clubs, organizations, and gatherings of students trying to recruit new people into their social circles. When I arrived and walked around on both Tuesday and Thursday, I saw empty spaces and dispersed students attending their classes. The first week, normally a parade on campus, was essentially a ghost town. 

Zoom and digital technology has challenged professors to become more educated in this aspect. Both my undergraduate and graduate experiences this week has shown me that the need to properly utilize these things is critical for a historian in a post-COVID world. How can we properly convey history to students if we cannot organize a Zoom meeting for students?

I have not yet seen any signs of an outbreak of the virus at the University of Central Florida as of writing this on Thursday (8/27/2020). 

The pandemic has drastically affected our first semester at UCF, yet we, as both students and faculty, continue to not let this hurdle trip up our journey.

HIS 6942 Week 1 Blog (8/24-8/28)

Hello to everyone who is viewing this blog.

My name is Scott Galloway and I am a graduate student at the University of Central Florida pursuing my Master’s Degree in Public History. Dr. Daniel Murphree provided me with the opportunity to serve as an intern within his Professionalizing History Majors course in the Fall of 2020. Previously, I had undertaken the course in my last year of undergraduate work. The course was useful in understanding my history degree and providing me with a number of opportunities including graduate studies. This introductory blog post should outline my goals in the class, the assigned project, and serve as a perspective of a graduate engaging with undergraduates.

Within Dr. Murphree’s course as an undergraduate, I lacked understanding on what I would be doing with my bachelor’s degree. My coursework only seemed to point me towards going to graduate school or pursuing a career teaching. The class taught me that the history profession is diverse across the job market. It instilled in me what being a history major entails and how to properly articulate that to employers. I voiced my praise of the course to Dr. Murphree during the few weeks left of the Spring 2019 semester and wanted to be involved in aiding future undergraduates in their endeavors. All history majors, at one point, question their major and express doubts of their choice, but I wanted to assuage their fears.

My goal for taking this course is to properly give a perspective of a previous undergraduate and graduate student to the class. The internship project allows me to further aid students in knowing what a history degree can do for them along with personally providing them opportunities to enhance their education at the University of Central Florida. In addition, I shall be assisting Dr. Murphree in teaching and providing discussion regarding complex historical debates. My identification as a student liaison can be useful from students being more comfortable confiding in me as a former classmate.

 The internship project also involves being a project coordinator working with the Special Collections and University Archives within UCF’s library. Dr. Murphree was aware that I had volunteered at the SCUA with Mary Rubin and I (along with others) attempted to work on a collaboration between his class and SCUA. Dr. Murphree had organized a COVID-19 Memory Project where students would work with the SCUA department to document the perception of UCF students on the COVID-19 pandemic. This week I had already provided an example of an Oral Interview for the class to understand what an oral history is. I will be organizing the students and being a manager in their work towards contributing to the collection to the library for future students that are interested in UCF students’ experiences.

The skills I hope to gain from this interview include advancing my leadership and teaching abilities. My leadership role seems to be relegated to small undergraduate projects instead of leading a classroom discussion. This internship can provide me with familiarizing the role of a teacher by observing Dr. Murphree’s teaching and interacting with students both in and out of class. The COVID-19 project will strengthen my leadership abilities and teach me how to properly give oral interviews. Another skill is teaching in a post-COVID college course as restrictions may provide both hindrances and opportunities that past history courses never experienced. After my initial report, I will provide some insights on the university's response and details regarding the course in a secondary blog post from this one. 

This internship means a great deal to me as a previous student in this course. This course continues to show prowess when providing students the ability to professionalize themselves and orientate themselves towards success post-graduation.

 I look forward to this internship.

Scott Galloway