Individualized Learning Stories
Teaching One or One Million
Jerry Podair & Caitlin Gallogly '08
Lawrence history professor Jerry Podair made national news in August 2010 when New York Times columnist Bob Herbert quoted Podair, an authority on American Civil Rights history, in a column titled "America Is Better Than This." The column noted Podair's assertion that August 28, 1963, the day of Dr. Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech, is "the most important single day in civil rights history." (The column went on to condemn a rally against President Obama, held on the anniversary of the King speech in the very same location.)
At Lawrence, the professor of history and Robert S. French Professor of American Studies is also the epitome of Lawrence's approach to individualized learning, closely collaborating with students on unique and diverse academic projects. For two years, Caitlin Gallogly '08 worked alongside Podair as he completed the book Bayard Rustin: American Dreamer, published last year. Gallogly gathered research at national libraries, museums, and archives; wrote bibliographic content; secured photo rights; and edited and reviewed hundreds of pages of text for the profile of Rustin, as the book was prepared for publication.
Upon graduation, Gallogly was admitted directly to the University of Minnesota's Ph.D. program, which required her to compete with master's students and transfer Ph.D. students. She believes her experience collaborating with Podair not only helped with her graduate school application but also set her ahead of her peers in the program.
Podair's focus on individualized learning is intensified today, as he participates in a Teagle Foundation-funded study of the effectiveness of tutorial education, on which Lawrence collaborated with Williams College and the College of Wooster. "We all know intuitively that tutorial learning is effective," Podair said. "This study actually proves it under laboratory conditions, and will thus be of importance to all liberal arts colleges."
Watch this space for more on Podair's tutorial education research (and the students that participated) in the coming weeks.
