by Rachael Hanel '97, MA '04
For Susan Freeman, an assistant professor of Women's Studies at Minnesota State University, Mankato, it's not enough to have students read history books and write reports. It's not enough to have them conduct online research ther papers. It's not enough to stand in front of her class and lecture for an hour straight.
Instead, in her "Coming of Age: Gender & Culture" class, Freeman oversees immense, time-consuming and technically challenging oral history group projects that ensure her students will come away with firsthand knowledge of women's history.
"One of the pleasures that comes from learning is that it's not always about poking your nose in a book or holing up in a library or your office or at the computer," Freeman says.
In the class, students form groups of five or six and pick a woman to interview for the "Coming of Age in the Twentieth Century" project. Students videotape and edit the interviews, and place excerpts on bject is contagious, students say.
"She really values oral history," says Brad Freihoefer, who took the class in the fall of 2005. "I think she conveyed the importance of what this really means."
Freihoefer says the project helped him get and what was important? That story may be vastly different than what society says or even what some popular theories say," he says.
Freihoefer's eyes light up when he talks about Phyllis, the woman his group interviewed. Phyllis, who's in her late 60s and lives by herself near Windom, invited the students to her farm. She showed them how old farm machinery worked, pointed out the traps used to snare animals and engaged them with a story of how she once beat a fox to death. Freihoefer says Phyllis instantly showed them a different version of a woman than what society or media often portray.
"She broke all those boundaries," he says.
Ashley Hopp's group interviewed her sister, who attends law school in Des Moines, Iowa. "Laura was a lot different than the women on the Web site," Hopp says. "I thought it would be nice to have a younger woman on there so people can see that some girls still do have morals and standards and values."
More recently, Hopp let herself be interviewed for another group's project. "For the younger girls, I think it's important to see there are still women out there who respect themselves, respect their bodies," she says.
The interviews also challenge students to become technically adept. Freeman secured a Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning grant to procure video cameras and audio recorders for the project. In the end, students not only experience living history, but they also learn the technical skills that are becoming more common in today's competitive job market. That was part of Freeman's rationale for the project. She says that too often, students, especially women, may not have experience with technology or the confidence to play around with it.
Julie Mortensen entered college at age 45. "I didn't even know how to turn on a computer," she admits. During her group project—in which the group interviewed sociology professor Leah Rogne—Mortensen reports that although she didn't do a lot of the hands–on technical work, she was able to get some experience. She says the class gave her confidence to use technology, and since then, she's put together PowerPoint presentations for other classes.
One of Freeman's goals with this project is to make sure students get out of the classroom and experience human interaction. Often, she says, human contact is lost in the way students do research today, especially when they primarily use online resources.
Another benefit is that students get practice working and thinking like historians. And they become curious about the women around them every day. Their projects usually spark conversations with relatives or friends.
"They realize they've taken for granted or been unaware of the lives of people really close to them," Freeman says.
Freihoefer says the project inspired more conversations with his mother. "I've asked my mother questions I don't think I would have asked her before. It's important. I want to know now. I don't know if I would have done that or known how to do that before this course," he says.
Freeman says the Web site is one tool for people to learn about how girls grow up and the realities they face. But, she says, there's still a dearth of information on the topic.
"I still find myself astonished at how little feminist information these students have encountered," Freeman says. "[The Web site] is a chance for people in the class or people beyond the class to try to think about some of these feminist perspectives and locate information…that gets lost in the mainstream of education and mainstream media."
Mortensen says she hopes young women view the site and realize what women have done to give them the rights they have today. "A lot take it for granted and they need to understand we've come so far, but there's still a ways to go," she says.
Freeman says the significance of the project is that these stories are permanently recorded.
"The bigger picture is that these are connections people are making and documentation that people are doing that otherwise might not get done."
Rachael Hanel is a Madison Lake-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to both TOMORROW and TODAY, the magazine for alumni and friends of Minnesota State Mankato.
