“Reacting to the Past” Conference at Eastern Michigan University Report

Introduction

The current research includes specific information on the regional conference “Reacting to the Past” (RTTP) which took place October 16-18, 2009 in Eastern Michigan University. The conference represents a great opportunity for the consortium to involve more members in the program and to share the pedagogical experience; for different educational institutions, participation in the regional conferences is a chance to become a member of the RTTP Consortium and become engaged in the new educational program.

The general information about the Consortium

The “Reacting to the Past” Conference hosted by Eastern Michigan University took place October 16-18, 2009. This particular conference was held on the regional level and aimed at receiving more information about “Reacting to the Past”. The program presupposed active participation in two-day workshops on specific featured games. The “Reaction to the Past” (RTTP) consortium is an institution of 40 educational establishments containing colleges and universities. The RTTP pedagogy is a brand-new approach to learning and analyzing information. The members of the consortium are ready to cooperate with other institutions which are likely to join them (Barnard College, About Section).

Thereby, Eastern Michigan University hosted the “Reacting to the Past” Consortium on October 16-18, 2009. The new method of study involves the participants in painstaking games which help to know more about the historical events. Thus the games are set in the past; they involve classic texts in world history including a great number of different events. Each participant is to perform a certain role from the historic event. Only students can participate in the elaborate games, whereas instructors guide them and grade their oral and written activities. The class sessions are aimed at improving academic skills by means of engaging participants in the great ideas developed by great authors of the past; intellectual skills in the course of games are improved as well (Barnard College, About Section).

Moreover, the new educational approach to the study expands the curriculum in order to support faculty workshops and for further collaboration. “In addition to games currently published in the RTTP Series (Longman), the consortium seeks to expand the curriculum by supporting faculty workshops and collaboration” (Barnard College, About Section). Thus, the new games are designed in order to explore a great number of historical events that affected sciences and humanities. Though the games engage the participants in exciting historical moments, they involve additional disciplines which help to develop the intellectual and academic skills of the students. That is why the RTTP is considered a pedagogy guideline and presupposes activities for students, whereas the instructors simply perform the role of a teacher who guides and give grades.

The RTTP Conference at the Eastern Michigan University

The brief history of the foundation of the “Reacting to the Past” (RTTP) Consortium is represented on the website of the organization. According to the website data, the consortium has six major founders; they are educational institutions including Barnard College, which appears to be the author of the website; Pace University, Smith College, Loras College, Trinity College, and Queens College. The consortium was established in 2001-2002. “Initially founded to support the development, implementation, and assessment of the RTTP pedagogy with support of a grant from FIPSE, U.S. Department of Education, the consortium has grown as additional institutions adopted RTTP” (Barnard College, About Section).

The Advisory Board of the consortium consists of ten members representing ten colleges and universities from different states. Administers and senior scholars of the Advisory Board approve the materials for publication and design featured games. The headquarters is situated at Barnard College; the Consortium is responsible for the running of the current website, annual regional conferences held in order to introduce new pedagogy methods and approaches to other faculties and to train teachers-instructors, support of the current workshops.

There are forty current members of the consortium and it continues to expand. Thus, the institution-members of the consortium host the regional conferences, establish the program on their faculties and promote the creation of the new game’s design. Moreover this time the regional conference on “Reacting to the Past” was hosted by Eastern Michigan University which is also one of the forty member institutions of the consortium. The conference took place October 16-18 and included such activities as an introduction to the “Reacting to the Past”, two featured games and the following informal discussion of the events.

Thereby, it is necessary to describe the featured games. The first game that was presented during the “Reacting to the Past” Conference hosted by Eastern Michigan University was Charles Darwin, the Copley Medal, and the Rise of Naturalism, 1862-64. This historic moment was represented from the perspective of the England of the Victorian era just in the period after the publication of The Origin of Species where Charles Darwin represented the evolution theory. In 1859 Darwin received a great number of reviews of different kinds; some were favorable, others were rather negative.

Thus, Thomas Huxley and Samuel Wilberforce were confused about whether to award Charles Darwin the Copley Medal or not. The meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science in Oxford took place in 1860 was aimed at approving or criticizing the evolution theory represented by Darwin. Huxley and Wilberforce introduced a debate in order to examine the theory properly. The featured game is interesting because of the tension existing in the discussion; Darwin’s theory was considered from the point of view of theology in modern society and life within industrial progress.

The second featured game Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of Independence, 1945 is the discussion of the situation in India where the future of the largest British colony is discussed at the meeting of the leaders of a number of religious and political spheres of influence. The major task of the meeting is to decide the future of India, whether it should be independent and governed by the Indian National Congress or Pakistan should be a separate state governed by Muslims. The game is a tense discussion, whereas tension expands because of the diversity of religious beliefs and political powers involved in it.

Conclusion

Thus the conference on “Reacting to the Past” was held on October 16-18 in Eastern Michigan University which is one of the forty member institutions of the RTTP Consortium. The RTTP Conference took place at Eastern Michigan University according to the statute of the RTTP Consortium which presupposes that the regional conferences are to be hosted by the member institutions. Consequently, the host institution develops the new design of the featured games, promotes the pedagogy program and supports the workshops. The current conference introduced two featured games which discussed Darwin’s evolution theory towards the national minorities and the question of the independence of India. The games appeared to be extremely interesting because of the Socratic approach where the instructor guides the participants by asking them specific questions on the current issue.

Works Cited

Barnard College. 2009. Reacting to the Past. Web.