Online Programs

What we'll do

We’ll explore U.S. history through textbook readings, projects, directed online activities, and live sessions with an experienced instructor that emphasizes critical thinking and applications. We’ll learn to interpret historical documents, master a significant body of facts, and write critical essays and short-answer responses. Students will analyze historical facts material, synthesize their own ideas, and develop the skills to make conclusions based on a knowledgeable judgment. They will also learn how to present their reasoning and clear evidence persuasively in essay format.

What we’ll learn

• How to construct a response to a prompt concerning the rise and fall of the Equal Rights Amendment within the context of a forum, a three-part response to a short answer question set concerning British and Spanish slave systems within the context of a forum
• How to construct a three-part response to a short answer question set involving primary sources on pre-Revolution British/Colonial relations in North America, the Louisiana Purchase, the impeachment of Andrew Johnson, post-Civil War American industrialists, and the political alignment of FDR’s New Deal, within the context of a forum
• How to construct an essay using a secondary source concerning Henry Kissinger’s early appraisal of American involvement in Vietnam
• How to construct an essay in response to a document-based question prompt on American views of imperialism from 1898 to 1908; and post-World War II social movements through describing historical context, analyzing a set of primary documents and synthesizing the information into a thesis, analyzing multiple sources of evidence, both given and memorized, to support a thesis statement, and identifying and explaining at least three sources’ point of view, purpose, historical situation, and/or audience
• How to construct an essay in response to a long essay question prompt about the American government's transition from the Articles of Confederation to the Constitution; and the Jacksonian Democracy by describing historical context, synthesizing relevant historical evidence into a thesis, and analyzing memorized, multiple sources of evidence to support a thesis statement
• How to plan a written practice response to a document-based question prompt on British North American and Native American relations via an informational organizer
• How to plan a written practice response to a long essay question prompt on the social impact of Europeans and the social structures of Western Hemispheric peoples via an informational organizer

By the end of the course, you will be able to:

• Identify and explain historical developments and processes
• Analyze sourcing and context of primary and secondary sources
• Analyze arguments in primary and secondary sources
• Analyze the context of historical events, developments, or processes
• Use historical reasoning processes (comparison, causation, continuity and change) to analyze patterns and connections between and among historical developments and processes
• Develop an argument

How we'll measure learning

Instructors evaluate student work using rubrics and provide detailed constructive feedback on each assignment. This course is aligned to the College Board AP U.S. History course skills and contents.