Students Blog

A public blog has been an integral part of how I teach my history of architecture at Lancaster. Rather than submitting material on paper, students post a weekly progress report on their research. I have found this to be successful in two ways. The public nature of the blog means that the local community can take part in the conversation. On numerous occasions, experts from the community have engaged with the students. In one case, we discovered a previously unknown architect and private archival collections. The second reason why a blog works better than a paper is that students are able to share their primary sources and their insights. Knowing that the whole world is watching also raises the bar of accountability.

My seminar this semester is on The Master Builders of Lancaster. All the students have been researching a relatively unknown Lancaster architect C. Emlen Urban. Our class blog is here. For the first time in my teaching career, I have converted a student to blogging. John Hausladen, a senior at F&M, has just begun Artistry and Architecture where he posts his drawings of Victorian houses. I share with you John's drawing of the The Stiegerwalt House (1894-1896) by Urban at the top of this posting