My website/blog has been silent over the past ten days, due to the end-of-the-semester crunch and an intensive week-long pedagogical workshop.
Last week, I participated in the Multicultural Curricular Transformation Institute [MCTI] at Northern Illinois University. This week-long pedagogical workshop for NIU faculty provides a forum for presentations and discussions of diversity, race, ethnicity, social justice, gender, sexuality, disability, and other multicultural issues. Various faculty members present on pedagogical techniques for improving diversity and inclusiveness in curriculum and classroom dynamics. During several MCTI sessions, current and former student panelists reflect on their experiences at NIU.
The MCTI sessions ran all day long for five days, so the institute takes on the feel of an academic conference where the participants interact all day long. I worked to revise my course, HIST 458 Mediterranean World, 1450-1750, during the MCTI. I particularly enjoyed exchanging ideas with my colleague Ismael Montana, an Africanist who specializes in the Trans-Saharan slave trade.
Now that the MCTI is over, I will be updating my website/blog more frequently.
Brian Sandberg: Historical Perspectives 