Our World Gets Smaller

Online course opens UW's doors to the public.

WAA's lifelong learning program is making history. In spring 2007, alumni around the country learned about Russian civilization at their desktops, from a UW professor who taught decades before.

Fifty-four participants, a record number for our online learning program, signed up for WAA's six-week course, featuring lectures by famed Russian historian Michael Petrovich. A trove of archival material, including previously unheard tapes and video recordings from the 1950s, was rescued from the archives and digitized to create the online offering.

A former student of Petrovich, Mark Shumow '74, JD'77 of Geneva, Illinois, appreciated taking the course at his own pace and around his work schedule. He was impressed both by the professor's ability to offer "original, and in some cases, courageous perspectives, especially in light of the fears rampant at that time," as well as by the multimedia skill Petrovich displayed, using tools that would be considered very basic by today's standards.

UW faculty members David McDonald, Francine Hirsch, and Jennifer Tishler introduced the Petrovich lectures, sharing their modern take on Russia's complex history. Class members could also post comments and questions on a message board. "A participant remembered Petrovich mentioning in the early 1960s that he had never visited Russia. She wanted to know if he ever did," says McDonald. "Another participant was able to answer that indeed he had — he made several trips there when travel became less restricted."

The course was offered in partnership with the Department of History and the Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia (CREECA), which was responsible for the groundbreaking work with the archival material. With enough content for several more online courses, WAA hopes to reach a bigger community of alumni learners around the globe.

Outreach Extraordinaire

"The ability to webcast the lectures of a truly legendary professor helps revive connections between the university and our alumni, who form such an important, vibrant and supportive part of the larger UW community," says history professor David McDonald. "By virtue of such courses as this one, faculty can now ‘visit' students and alumni in their homes, wherever they might be."