Kevin Gannon
Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Professor of History, Grand View University
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I am Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and a Professor of History at Grand View University, a small liberal-arts college in Des Moines, Iowa. I teach courses in U.S. history, Latin American history, contemporary global history, historiography, and the history of Capitalism. My current position at Grand View is half-faculty, half-administrative; I teach two classes a term and also direct the university’s teaching center. As an active faculty developer, I present and facilitate workshops on teaching and learning both out of my own Center and at colleges and universities throughout the country. Recent programs I’ve facilitated have addressed the science of learning, blended/online teaching and learning, and critical and digital pedagogies.

My principal area of teaching and research is the 18th and 19th century U.S. and North America, particularly the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. I’m currently working on two textbook projects: an all-digital primary source archive and learning program called Uncovering American History with Pearson Education; and A Continental History of the American Civil War Era, which is under contract with Routledge. I’m keenly interested in the ways in which digital pedagogies can inform and strengthen our practice as teachers of History, as well as engage our students in powerful, meaningful ways.

My teaching philosophy is simple: I don’t want to teach my students to think outside the box; I want to teach them to light the box on fire and dance on its ashes. My courses involve active learning, collaborative work (much of it digital), and as little lecture as possible. I like to think of my classes as labs, or workshops, where my students and I are collectively engaged in doing history.

I blog at thetattooedprof.com and I’m on Twitter @thetattooedprof. In these spaces and others, I’m an active participant in conversations about teaching and learning, history, and higher education. I’m honored to become a part of the TUSH collective, as this site has long been one of my go-to sources for interesting, thoughtful, and creative material on teaching. I look forward to contributing as a part of this community, and to conversations with all of you about teaching and learning.

C.V.

I am Director of the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and a Professor of History at Grand View University, a small liberal-arts college in Des Moines, Iowa. I teach courses in U.S. history, Latin American history, contemporary global history, historiography, and the history of Capitalism. My current position at Grand View is half-faculty, half-administrative; I teach two classes a term and also direct the university’s teaching center. As an active faculty developer, I present and facilitate workshops on teaching and learning both out of my own Center and at colleges and universities throughout the country. Recent programs I’ve facilitated have addressed the science of learning, blended/online teaching and learning, and critical and digital pedagogies.

My principal area of teaching and research is the 18th and 19th century U.S. and North America, particularly the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. I’m currently working on two textbook projects: an all-digital primary source archive and learning program called Uncovering American History with Pearson Education; and A Continental History of the American Civil War Era, which is under contract with Routledge. I’m keenly interested in the ways in which digital pedagogies can inform and strengthen our practice as teachers of History, as well as engage our students in powerful, meaningful ways.

My teaching philosophy is simple: I don’t want to teach my students to think outside the box; I want to teach them to light the box on fire and dance on its ashes. My courses involve active learning, collaborative work (much of it digital), and as little lecture as possible. I like to think of my classes as labs, or workshops, where my students and I are collectively engaged in doing history.

I blog at thetattooedprof.com and I’m on Twitter @thetattooedprof. In these spaces and others, I’m an active participant in conversations about teaching and learning, history, and higher education. I’m honored to become a part of the TUSH collective, as this site has long been one of my go-to sources for interesting, thoughtful, and creative material on teaching. I look forward to contributing as a part of this community, and to conversations with all of you about teaching and learning.

C.V.