HIST 390: The Digital Past

HIST 390-001: The Digital Past
(Fall 2026)

09:00 AM to 10:15 AM TR

Krug Hall 242

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Section Information for Fall 2026

This course will introduce students to digital skills, historical methods, and the history of The Cold War in the United States. Using a variety of digital tools and historical documents, student will learn about this crucial time in American history that shaped the world we live in today. We will explore the transformation of American society by looking at military growth and international conflicts, technological innovations, changes in family dynamics and work, and the many civil rights movements, and their counter-movements. Subjects will include fear of communism and nuclear war, military conflicts, McCarthysim, the Space Race, and the many ways Americans advocated for their rights.

This class satisfies the Mason Core IT requirement. We will make digital projects (including timelines, maps, visualizations, text analysis), learn about how the internet works, understand the power of data sets in conducting historical research, and understand the ways AI can help and hurt our academic work. We will also listen to podcasts, learn to read images, learn what makes good and bad research, and watch a couple of movies. This course will increase your digital literacy and digital skill set, and teach you to think critically- all skills that are transferrable to your professional life.

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Course Information from the University Catalog

Credits: 3

Teaches the fundamentals of information technology within the context of a history course. Students learn fundamentals and skills as well as how our society became so enamored of and dependent on these knowledge and information tools. Understanding a new technology requires understanding how new technologies transform the societies that embrace them. Emphasizes the use of free and open-source software whenever possible. Offered by History & Art History. Limited to three attempts.
Mason Core: Mason Core, Info Tech & Computing
Schedule Type: Lecture
Grading:
This course is graded on the Undergraduate Regular scale.

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