Seven years ago we began to work together to revitalize HP231: America at Home. We were both newly hired and came to HP231 America at Home with different skill sets. One of us a successful executive and expert in the home products industry and the other an experienced teacher with a fine arts and library science background.
By Sears Modern Homes (Life time: 1918) -
Original publication: 1918 Immediate source: Original publication, Public Domain, Link
We both became enthralled by the course, “America at Home”. We were fascinated with how culture and the macrotrends of the 20 and 21st century influenced and still influence all parts of American history. The connections between culture, the decorative arts and commerce were evident to us, but how do we get students from varied backgrounds and different aspirations to understand how all this was relevant to them too?.
The first online tool we took advantage of was the America@Home Library Research Guide which we tailored to the course. Broad and complex in its content, it is a conglomerate of resources and materials. Many of the resources are subscription databases and some are available for free such as the Sears Archive and Buster Keaton’s take on mail order house, “One Week.”. An OER seemed like a natural next step to bring the subject matter to a larger audience.
The course has long been a partnership between the Home Products Development program and the Library, and introducing an OER format will provide materials and subject matter that can be incorporated into courses already being taught, refresh assignments through new perspectives of domestic life and everyday objects. A combination of interdisciplinary subject matter; content relates to history, design and study of consumerism (economics, pop-culture, society) and is a SUNY Gen Ed, G6 (Arts) course.
The visuals of the American house, the rooms, the contents of these rooms and the individual home products tell a story of the time period in which these objects lived. Together they create a narrative of different from more traditional OER courses. Working in an online format is both freeing and a bit paralyzing. We have had to simplify our vision and work on streamlining the content to build the foundation of the course.
Our goal is to transform the America at Home OER into something that would ignite interest and awareness in decorative arts and domestic design.
Welcome Home -
Maria Rothenberg and Shannon Maher
Maria Rothenberg is Associate Professor, Instruction and Assessment Librarian at SUNY, FIT.
Shannon Maher is Assistant Professor, Chair of the Home Products Development department at SUNY FIT.
By Russell Lee - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, Public Domain, Link
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