These small one-thousand-words or less “written” lectures were created for an online World History course. History 5, or Modern World History went online at Butte College in the Spring of 2019. This in and of itself is not news, community colleges throughout the state of California are offering more and more courses online. What made this online course newsworthy (at least to me) was what happened just prior to the Spring 2019 semester. Fire.

On November 8, 2018, fire broke out in Pulga, California. High winds drove flames up and over Feather River Canyon and descended upon the communities of Paradise, Concow, and Butte Creek Canyon. Over 17,000 homes were destroyed, mine included.

The “Camp Fire,” as it became known, also took out my small green screen video-ready studio. Just as I was developing the course, the fire took away the equipment I needed to record video lectures.

The “written” Lecture Series was born.

What makes the lecture series interesting, on a pedagogical note, is their brevity. In 1,000 words or less I created a readable “lecture” based off of the very documents I assigned for the week. The lecture then not only informs but instructs. Students witness how historians read, analyze data, and then synthesize the various sources into one coherent whole: in this case, a short written lecture.

Another added benefit: I can build this into something other. Because the word count is limited, I can then think about delivering this “written” lecture orally in a brick and mortar classroom. Time to read a thousand words? About nine or ten minutes. This leaves more time to focus on skills, especially analytical and rhetorical skills.