History 303: The Roman Empire

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

CSU Instructor Open Textbook Adoption Portrait

Abstract: This open textbook is being utilized in a history course for undergraduate students by Miriam Raub Vivian, Ph.D., at CSU Bakersfield. The open textbook provides an overview of most of Rome's imperial history. The main motivation to adopt an open textbook was to make it available to students at no cost. Most students accessed the open textbook online.

About the Textbook

History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, vol. 1

Description: This book is among the most magnificent and ambitious narratives in European literature. Its subject is the fate of one of the world's greatest civilizations over thirteen centuries - its rulers, wars and society, and the events that led to its disastrous collapse. Here, in book one and two, Gibbon charts the vast extent and constitution of the Empire from the reign of Augustus to 395 AD. And in a controversial critique, he examines the early Church, with fascinating accounts of the first Christian and last pagan emperors, Constantine and Julian.

Author:

Edward Gibbon

Formats:

The book is available:

Cost savings:

Vol. 1 of Gibbon's work retails for $26, but is also available for less on some sites. With 50 students taking this course each year, the total annual savings to students is $1,300.

Accessibility and diversity statement:

The book does not provide either accessibility nor diversity information.

License:

There is not a Creative Commons license on this book. However, the Gutenberg site says that the "eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook."

About the Course

History 303: The Roman Empire

Description: From the last days of Rome's Republic and the establishment of the Empire under Augustus to the "Fall" of Rome in the West in the 5th cent. C.E. The nature of Augustus' settlement, problems of political stability, the crisis of the 3rd cent., recovery and collapse are explored, along with such topics as art, literature, and religion, where special attention is given to the role of Christianity in the empire. Readings by contemporary writers, documents illustrating social history, and images enhance the course. GE T2

Prerequisites: This course satisfies an upper-division "Theme" in CSUB's current General Education program, and it may also be used to satisfy a requirement in the major or for the minor in history. As this is an upper-division course, students are expected to have completed Area A GE skills courses, as well as lower-division requirements in the Arts and Humanities. Majors will likely have completed their lower-division requirements, including those in western/world history.

GE credit: 5 units, counts for GE Theme 2, and for the major

Learning outcomes:

After this course, students should be able to

demonstrate an understanding of ancient Roman history from the late Republic up through the Empire's collapse in the West in the 5th century CE
have a command of the geography of ancient Rome and the extent of its empire
effectively analyze both literary and material evidence from Rome's past to demonstrate an understanding of major developments in ancient Roman history
articulate an appreciation of Roman perspectives (e.g., on government, empire, women and the family, war, art, politics, building, non-Romans, etc.)
explain the complexity of forces (e.g., class, politics, ideas, economics, technology) at work in the major developments in ancient Roman history
be familiar with the physical and artistic remains of ancient Rome's empire
effectively communicate–in well-organized and grammatically correct essays–an understanding of the major developments, characteristics, and contributions of the ancient Romans.

The majority of students taking HIST 303 are doing so for GE credit; therefore, most students are not history majors, although there is a solid core of these who do take the course. Most are prepared enough to satisfy course expectations, although there is usually a small number who underachieve.

Curricular changes: Because Edward Gibbon's famous work is not a standard textbook and, therefore, does not provide a textbook treatment of the Roman Empire, I was conscious of tailoring my lectures around his work, both to supplement topics he did not cover (e.g., social and cultural topics mainly) and to underscore and help illuminate the analysis he did provide.

By using Gibbon's vol. 1, I was able to design the second paper assignment to have students analyze Gibbon's thesis/approach to Rome's decline and "fall" as compared to more modern historians. This enabled them to gain a better understanding of how historians are influenced by their society and culture and the era in which they write.

In addition, because there was already a nice selection of Pliny's voluminous letters available online (10 chapters worth in the Penguin edition), I was able to simply use most of those, making it nicely focused for students who did not have to wade through a long print edition to locate a select few.

Teaching and learning impacts:

Collaborate more with other faculty: No, although I am sharing with my colleagues the possibilities for their adoption of open-source texts
Use wider range of teaching materials: Yes, and it was helpful to gain a better knowledge of what is available as free, open-source materials
Student learning improved : Unsure
Student retention improved : Unsure
Any unexpected results: No

Sample assignment and syllabus:

Assignment This is a writing assignment I used in the course.

Syllabus This is the syllabus used for this class in Summer 2015

Textbook Adoption

OER Adoption Process

My main motivation was to save students money. Not only is the cost of books continually rising, but CSUB has many students who are barely able to make it financially. Any way that faculty can help reduce the cost of course materials is desirable. In addition, there is no delay in students having access to these materials, whereas there are often students at the beginning of a term who have not yet received their books. When these are available only in standard print form, it can mean that students start the course behind in the reading.

In addition to excerpts of primary source material that I made available through our library's e-reserves, I also required the following OER books:

I also provided students information on print editions of these, should they prefer to read them as printed books (and pay the cost).

Student access:

ALL required course reading material was available to students in either print or digital format, and I provided them complete information on locating both. According to a survey taken at the end of the class, most students accessed the textbook with either a laptop or tablet, although 50% said they also used their smart phones to access the book. (Multiple answers were allowed.)

Student feedback or participation:

Because I organize group discussions, as well as a high level of class participation, I believe that using digital works made in-class participation easier. Increasingly, it seems that many students do not bring printed copies of reading material to class. This makes it difficult to elicit responses from many of them. Since many students now have smart-phones, e-notebooks (ipads), or bring their laptops to class, they are more likely to have the readings at hand during discussions. I found this very helpful.

Comments from students about whether they would use an online textbook again include the following:

Free and easy to access
honestly because it is free I would use it again since it was free Renting, or buying text books is too expensive Yes because it is easy and saves a lot of money
I would use it again since it was free
Renting, or buying text books is too expensive
Yes because it is easy and saves a lot of money

Complete survey is available at link below.

Survey
This survey was given to student at the conclusion of the class.

Miriam Raub Vivian, Ph.D.

I am a Professor of History at CSU Bakersfield. I currently teach Western Civilization I, World History I, Historical Writing, Senior Seminar, Greek History, The Hellenistic Age and the Roman Republic, and The Roman Empire.

I focus my teaching energies on exciting students about learning about the past, in particular how to more fully understand it through examining the extant primary source evidence. Whereas information/content is these days readily available to anyone interested, what students sorely need is help in strengthening their critical thinking and writing skills, both of which I emphasize by way of document analyses and analytical essays.

My research interests are mainly in the transformation of the Roman world in Late Antiquity, primarily the role and influence of Christianity, especially monasticism. My interest in Roman building intersects as well with the changing physical landscape of Rome's empire that resulted from the spread of Christianity.