The East Asian Studies Center (EASC) at The Ohio State University and the Columbus State Community College (CSCC) Humanities Department completed a two-year curriculum development project this summer which resulted in the creation of 12 new learning modules on East Asian history, currently being incorporated into the CSCC curriculum. The six Chinese, four Japanese, and two Korean history modules are in the form of short videos on topics ranging from “The History and Present of the Japanese Language” to “The Silk Road and Buddhism,” from “Empress Wu Zetian and the Tang Dynasty” to “Geo-Strategy in the Three Kingdoms Period in Korea.”

The collaboration began when the CSCC Humanities Department was tasked with creating a two-semester World History course to be taught both on the CSCC campus and through their College Credit Plus program which makes college-level classes available in regional high schools. Because the CSCC Humanities Department does not have East Asian specialists, a partnership with EASC to create East Asian modules developed, with support from EASC’s Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) grant.  

Prof. Etsuyo Yuasa, EASC director, and Amy Carey, EASC senior assistant director, coordinated the project with Profs. Jennifer Nardone and Dona Reaser of CSCC, while EASC-affiliated graduate students from OSU’s Department of History wrote, created and edited the video modules.  “Austin Dean, Daniel Curzon and Ryan Schultz did a wonderful job working with us on writing and revising the scripts and recording the videos with limited time,” said Nardone. “As a result of their hard work, we have 12 learning modules for our College Credit Plus teachers in the high schools.”

The Chinese history modules were implemented into the course in Autumn 2015 and received positive feedback from teachers and students alike. “This fall, the Korean and Japanese history modules will be added and I am certain they will be equally successful,” reported Nardone.  

While the program continues to grow, in Fall 2016, there will be five sections offered on the CSCC campus and nine in area high schools through the College Credit Plus program.

Support from a U.S. Department of Education Title VI NRC grant to EASC made the entire project possible. “While College Credit Plus increases community accessibility to CSCC classes, maintaining the high standards expected of a college-level class can prove challenging,” said Nardone. “Columbus State does not have a lot of funding to address this issue, so the partnership between the CSCC Humanities Department and the OSU East Asian Studies Center has been an incredible—and vital—opportunity for us.”

Yuasa shared enthusiasm about EASC’s involvement in the project as well. “Knowledge should not have borders, but we are often confined inside our own unit,” she said. “Because of Title VI, we actively reached out, found wonderful partners at CSCC, and worked on a project together. Throughout the process, we learned about each other and formed a strong relationship that will last for years to come.” Yuasa also cited the excellent experience the project provided for the OSU graduate students involved, giving them an opportunity to utilize their knowledge, develop content in a new format and work with CSCC faculty.

Beyond the learning module project, EASC and CSCC continue to partner on a Collaborative Speaker Series through which EASC and its constituent units, the Institutes for Chinese, Japanese and Korean Studies, share recent scholarship on East Asian history and culture with the CSCC community. In addition, this fall, EASC and CSCC will jointly sponsor an “East Meets West” symposium at Columbus State. The Educational Services Center of Central Ohio will offer continuing education credits for high school teachers who attend, offering a professional development opportunity for teachers and providing another opportunity to share the academic work of OSU and CSCC with the larger community.

“Our collaborations with East Asian Studies at OSU have allowed Columbus State to offer opportunities regarding East Asian history and culture that we simply do not have the resources to do on our own,” Nardone concluded.

The 12 East Asian history modules are available for classroom use worldwide on EASC’s YouTube channel.