Medieval Connections

Active Learning And The Teaching Of The Middle Ages

Abstract

A teacher who can creatively set up a dialectic of learning activities in which students move back and forth between having rich new experiences and engaging in deep, meaningful dialogue, can maximize the likelihood that the learners will experience significant and meaningful learning. -L. Dee Fink¹

The truth of it is that students [in the Middle Ages] were undergoing the same formative issues in life that are confronting me directly in the face now, and I am now feeling like there is much to be gained from the appreciation of their stories. -a student in the Medieval Connections course²

In the spring of 2004 at Augsburg College, several colleagues and I developed and taught a course in medieval studies entitled "Medieval Connections."³ The course was born out of two desires: I) to create an introductory course for a proposed major in medieval studies and 2) to develop an interdisciplinary course for first-year students in keeping with the goals of Augsburg's newly-revised general education curriculum.