Shasta College Professor Collaborates on World History Project

Shasta College is about to make history. Literally. Professor Jesse Lynch, a history instructor at Shasta College, is collaborating with the Open Educational Resource (OER) Project on their latest effort, the World History Project (https://whp.oerproject.com), to develop, evaluate, and apply a set of curriculum for his World Civilization classes. What makes this collaboration historic is that Professor Lynch’s work will eventually be made available to community colleges across the state and nation for free. 

Professor Lynch plans to apply the material he is developing to his Shasta College World History classes this summer and fall. He will assess the success of the content in his classes and recommend including any articles, activities, lessons, videos, etc. from top historians around the planet. This new curriculum will then be made available for community college instructors across the state. Other community college systems across the nation will then incorporate it into their programs.

The World History project is a multi-million dollar OER. It is currently used in many high schools throughout the nation and is often one of the benchmarks for AP history programs. The OER Project is a coalition of educators and historians solely focused on boosting student engagement and achievement through transformational social studies programs. 

Professor Jesse Lynch is a Redding native, Shasta College alumni, and a graduate from West Valley high school. From Shasta College, Lynch transferred to UCSC, where he did his undergrad work. He then continued his studies at San Francisco State, where he received his masters. Currently, Professor Lynch resides in England and is working on his doctorate in medieval history at the University of Exeter when he’s not teaching at Shasta College. Professor Lynch takes pride in his student’s success, “I remember the many hoops and hardships students face in becoming a student,” he is fond of saying. “I admire all my students and how they balance their lives while taking my intensive history courses and completing their degrees.” 

For more information on the World History Project or any of Professor Lynch’s courses, email him at jlynch@shastacollege.edu.