Oral history projects that students at Providence Day begin working on in September are now being taught in the community.

Sue McDonald, the administrative director of the Mint Hill Historical Society, took an Oral History workshop over the summer and learned the same techniques students use to record family history stories.

“Those will be gifts to every generation that follows,” Ms. McDonald says of oral family history stories. “As a historical society, we seek to preserve stories and events in our community.”

Dr. Wes Fryer, who teaches oral history projects in his computer applications classes at Providence Day, taught the workshops, which included interview structures. These tips led to probing questions and technology advancements important to history preservation.

“Wes presented options that are improving how this historical society will be preserving the history of our area,” Ms. McDonald says.

Dr. Fryer says oral history assignments are important and valuable. Conducting an oral history interview encourages students to be attentive, active listeners. For adults, it provides opportunities to hear and learn compelling stories from other family members.

“A lot of the skills needed for a successful oral history interview involve listening carefully and asking thoughtful and appropriate follow-up questions,” Dr. Fryer says. “These are valuable and important social skills, and oral history projects provide a very authentic way for students to develop them together.

“Oral history projects are good for adults for many of the same reasons they are good for students.”

Oral history projects also provide an opportunity for students and adults to delve into aspects of family history that they may not have explored previously.

“There is a special ‘texture’ to an audio recording of someone telling about their life, and that recording can have immeasurable value for family members, especially after a loved one has passed away,” Dr. Fryer says. “ Adults are sometimes more aware of the importance and value of these kinds of recordings than young students, so I think this adds to the benefit and value of oral history projects for many older people.”

Dr. Fryer says that every year, he has students and parents who report that they learned things as a result of this project that they had never heard from a family member before.

“Projects like oral history interviews often become more than just assignments,” he says. “they can become opportunities to document and share the lives and the experiences of family members. This is important work, and I love how many of my students and parents get more excited about this oral history project than any of the other projects we do throughout the course of our semester.”

Dr. Fryer says oral history assignments also require students to develop and practice various media literacy skills, including learning to record an audio file on an iPad, save audio files to Google Drive, and use different file formats.

“Students also work with a script they edit in Google documents,” he says. “Students learn to use both their iPad (for recording) and another device (a classroom laptop or desktop computer) for reading their script. It's important for students to learn how to access and share information and create media using multiple devices and platforms since we live in a multi-platform world.”