Life Stories from the Holocaust: Bringing Oral History into the Digital Classroom

This paper focuses on one of our current upper-division writing courses, Visual Media and Holocaust Narrative, which we have just finished teaching for the second time. We will explain our pedagogy in using oral history testimonies and digital stories to teach students about the Holocaust because we think it is an effective way to bring young students closer to the tragic event that is receding in history - to bring them closer through affective, emotional engagement with the powerful life stories of survivors. We also believe that a high level of learning is taking place and that the students\u27 work reflects a deeper than usual level of understanding and an integration of various kinds of learning

The Challenges of Oral History in the 21st Century: Diversity, Inequality and Identity Construction Using Online Video Oral Histories in University Courses across the Curriculum

Thanks to the internet, educators now have unprecedented access to oral histories. We are examining the way that video oral histories can be used and integrated in various kinds of university courses. Now easily available to educators are a wide range of oral histories, from small collections like Ball State University\u27s video interviews of 40 members of the U.S. Army\u27s First Infantry Division from the Vietnam War to large archives of oral histories such the Densho Digital Archive of over 600 video interviews documenting the Japanese American internment during WWII. The variety is already impressive and it is growing very quickly along with links to educational tools and supporting resources. Sharing our own experiences using a videotape collection of Holocaust testimonies in an advanced writing course at Santa Clara University and surveying a range of other university courses in various disciplines that currently use online interviews and testimonies as part of their curriculum, we argue that creatively designed multimedia projects based on video oral histories are uniquely suited to engage millennial students in authentic research. We will examine assignment design and pedagogy, student engagement, final products, ways that the educational mission of the collections is being realized, and additional benefits of students building the literacies they need for the 21st Century, including information, media, and digital

Holocaust Remembrance: Making Meaning through Oral History across the Generations

Our university writing course, Visual Media and Holocaust Narrative, brings students closer to the Holocaust through affective engagement with the stories of survivors. With its informative and performative properties, video testimony engages the intellect and emotions of the students and reveals the dignity and humanity of the interviewees. The course requires writing a proposal for a film based on the lives of the survivors as well as creating a short promotional trailer made as a digital story. Preparatory assignments include archiving work for the oral history project, reading and discussing theoretical texts, watching and discussing Holocaust films, and writing an analytical essay. After this, students work with a partner to create the film proposal. Before doing research about the historical context of the idea, location and events they choose, we offer library workshops to teach them how to find and evaluate reliable sources. We also require a 2-unit media lab, the first part devoted to learning the technologies to capture web multimedia resources, to create audio and enhanced podcasts, and to write and produce digital stories. The second is devoted to creating their own trailers. We end with a public symposium presenting the student work. It is evident that the students become personally committed to their work, and that the ideas they grapple with at each step enrich their overall learning. They engage in deep learning and develop insights about oral history, Holocaust survivors, the challenges of making accurate Holocaust films, and the Holocaust itself. Using the oral histories as the center of the course grounds the work in a profound way. Our students\u27 work is also significant for the survivors who have given testimony, as many of them find satisfaction in their stories being used to educate and take action to prevent future genocid

Clinical and cost-effectiveness of a personalised health promotion intervention enabling independence in older people with mild frailty (‘HomeHealth’) compared to treatment as usual: study protocol for a randomised controlled trial

Background: Frailty is clinically associated with multiple adverse outcomes, including reduced quality of life and functioning, falls, hospitalisations, moves to long-term care and mortality. Health services commonly focus on the frailest, with highest levels of need. However, evidence suggests that frailty is likely to be more reversible in people who are less frail. Evidence is emerging on what interventions may help prevent or reduce frailty, such as resistance exercises and multi-component interventions, but few interventions are based on behaviour change theory. There is little evidence of cost-effectiveness. Previously, we co-designed a new behaviour change health promotion intervention (“HomeHealth”) to support people with mild frailty. HomeHealth is delivered by trained voluntary sector support workers over six months who support older people to work on self-identified goals to maintain their independence, such as strength and balance exercises, nutrition, mood and enhancing social engagement. The service was well received in our feasibility randomised controlled trial and showed promising effects upon outcomes. Aim: To test the clinical and cost-effectiveness of the HomeHealth intervention on maintaining independence in older people with mild frailty in comparison to treatment as usual (TAU).Methods: Single-blind individually randomised controlled trial comparing the HomeHealth intervention to TAU. We will recruit 386 participants from general practices and the community across three English regions. Participants are included if they are community-dwelling, aged 65+, with mild frailty according to the Clinical Frailty Scale. Participants will be randomised 1:1 to receive HomeHealth or TAU for 6 months. The primary outcome is independence in activities of daily living (modified Barthel Index) at 12 months. Secondary outcomes include instrumental activities of daily living, quality of life, frailty, wellbeing, psychological distress, loneliness, cognition, capability, falls, carer burden, service use, costs and mortality. Outcomes will be analysed using linear mixed models, controlling for baseline Barthel score and site. A health economic analysis and embedded mixed-methods process evaluation will be conducted. Discussion: This trial will provide definitive evidence on the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of a home-based, individualised intervention to maintain independence in older people with mild frailty in comparison to TAU, that could be implemented at scale if effective