Penn History is delighted to release a pilot version of a web-based app designed to help undergraduates create their own unique path through the department's rich curricular offerings: Penn History Pathways! Simply put, this fun and engaging game-like platform encourages students to ask “how can history help me answer big questions?” instead of “which requirements does this course fulfill?”
Try out the Pathways app by clicking here: https://pathways.history.upenn.edu/
The Pathways app can be used in a couple of ways.
- By selecting one of the “Pathways” listed at the top of the page, students can explore courses with topical and methodological similarities. Pathway options include:
- Gender and Sexuality
- Cities and Environments
- Ideas and Beliefs
- War and Revolution
- Law and Society
- Slavery and Race
- Wealth and Inequality
- Culture and Everyday Life
- Global Connections and Movements
- If a student has already taken a history course, they can select it from the menu and see how it connects – literally, via the network of pathways – to other courses. For example, the image below shows the “Network View” for HIST 314 Victorian Britain. The Pathway “Culture and Everyday Life” links HIST 314 to other courses by a wide red line.
We hope these Pathways will spark new conversations between students and advisors that take them beyond the confines of curricular requirements. Please give it a try and let us know what you think!
Note: only History courses offered in the current and the previous semester are visible in Pathways. For more information about the current semester's courses, visit the History Department website Courses page.