Welcome to online, user-friendly history instruction. Minnesota's Own Civil War: The Dakota Uprising of 1862 surveys the tragic and relatively unknown conflict that changed the course of state history. Minnesota's own civil war matched Dakota soldiers - determined to stop the wave of Euroamerican immigration that threatened to sweep them from their homeland - against a hurriedly assembled army of Minnesota troops detoured from action in America's expanding battle between North and South.

This online course, with an optional field experience, is designed [but not limited to] educators in grades 3-12 who wish to develop instructional materials concerning Minnesota frontier history and the relationship between the Dakota people and Euroamerican settlers at the time of the Indian War of 1862.

The course will be conducted online and contain an optional day-long guided trip to locations significant to the conflict. For those NOT opting for the field experience, an additional assignment tailored to the needs of the student-a teaching unit, research project, etc. will be required.

Our starting point, the homepage, has the following options:

• Syllabus (to acess the syllabus, click here)
• Lessons
• Online Conferencing (to access the conference for this course, click here)
• Online Conference Center Information and Registration Information (to access,click here)
• Course Overview (to access, click here)

Lessons
This is a list of the lessons and topics. From here you can directly go to any active lesson throughout the course as long as they are "active." Active lessons are blue and underlined. Not all lessons will be available from the start of the course. Click on the lesson to which you want to go.

• Lesson 1.0: Introductions, overview of course and its general requirements, a "how to" guide to online course components. (Oct. 7-12)
• Lesson 1.1: Lecture - "Dakota-Euroamerican interactions from first contacts through the territorial period," significance of the land transfers of 1851. (Oct. 13-19)
• Lesson 2.0: Lecture- "The Coming of War" (Oct. 20-26)
• Lesson 3.0: Preparing for the Field Experience-Tour of the Historic sites related to the Dakota conflict of 1862 AND
• Lesson 4.0: Field Experience-Tour of the Historic sites related to the Dakota conflict of 1862 (Oct. 27-Nov. 2))
• Lesson 5.0:Lecture: Fighting Ends in Minnesota (Nov. 3-9)
• Lesson 6.0: Lecture: Punishment of the Dakota (Nov. 10-16)
• Class concludes: Course projects, final paper, discussion contributions (Nov.17-27). All work due by Nov. 30.

Overview of Course:
This course is designed for educators wishing to develop instructional materials concerning Minnesota frontier history - specifically the relationship between the Dakota people and Euroamerican settlers at the time of the Indian War of 1862. That conflict between Indian and white remains controversial to this day. Together we will explore a number of sub-themes related to our central topic, taking care to examine views held by those on both sides of the fighting. I expect that you will come to develop your own ideas on that war and expect that you will share your thoughts with me and your classmates. I also expect that you will keep current with reading assignments that accompany the lessons and hope that you check out some of the other sources I list. Hopefully, you will have time to explore some other sources on your own. I am looking forward to seeing your thoughts on the subjects covered.

Information regarding the format of this course can be found in the syllabus. Please read the syllabus carefully and if you have questions about its contents contact me. Click here to go to the syllabus.

Evaluation:

1. Two written assignments (30% of your grade)
2. Your journal detailing information gathered on the day-long field experience* (20% of your grade)
3. Submission of your proposal (one to two pages) explaining how you expect to use what you've learned in this course with your students.(20% of your grade)
4. Class participation in discussions and group work at the Conference Center; timely submission of assignments (30% of your grade)

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

*NOTE: Those NOT taking part in the day-long field experience will submit to me for approval a project idea, relating to the course of study, that they would useful for instructional purposes. These ideas could include, but are not limited to, teaching units, research projects, community education, etc. This project would make up 40% of your grade. For this term, your class project must be submitted for approval by Nov 2.

Attendance at the online Conference Center:
As noted, we will hold group exercises and discussions which count both as attendance and participation. These will be held online at the Conference Center @ Hamline, (the Center). You must participate in these exercises during the week in which we cover a particular lesson.

Group Exercises at the Center will work as follows:

a) In the conference center for the course, I will set up what is called an item for class members. This item is the "activity space" in which our group will hold discussions.

b) We will start with whole group discussion and later move to smaller groups depending upon the number of students enrolled in the course.

c) Issues for consideration at the Center will be found at the end of various lessons. You will be able to link to the Center directly from the lesson page.

d) Participation in work at the Center is required. In teaching this course in a traditional classroom, I have found that topics covered involve participants and engender most interesting discussions. I expect such conversation will evolve in online discussion at the Center. To be considered a participant in these class discussions you must log on to the Center a minimum of 2-3 times per week. I will check on the discussions and also provide feedback to participants. This will be the major consideration for your grade in class participation.

Updated 10/4/02