Guest Editor's Introduction

In the thirteen years since The Oral History Review dedicated an entire issue to pedagogy, there has been an explosion in the number of projects and resources available to grade-to-graduate school educators and program leaders. This explosion was possible only because of three groups. First, courageous and innovative teachers who recognized the transformative potential of oral history as an educational methodology. Second, students who wanted authentic opportunities to be historians. Third, interviewees, who recognized that by sharing their stories they were not only providing a living perspective on history but also serving as teachers for each of our classes. In short, this special issue is about possibilities, those that arise when educators, their students, and interviewees collaborate to collect, preserve, and publish the memories of the celebrated and uncelebrated voices and experiences of the past.

The twenty-first century classroom generates even more possibilities by providing a different learning landscape well-suited for the increased integration of oral history sources and methods. Technology and the ease in which today's digital natives work with digital recording, transcription, and publication software now make it easier for classroom projects to be accessed and used by a global audience. However, with the expanded number of projects comes an increased responsibility to meet the professional guidelines established by the Oral History Association, as well as to archive and make interviews accessible using twenty-first century technologies.

In the new millennium, a great deal has been written about the skills students will need for the world they will inherit. Three books in particular, Daniel Pink's A Whole New Mind, Tony Wagner's The Global Achievement Gap, and Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future each identifies those "Senses" (Pink), "Survival Skills" (Wagner), and "Minds" (Gardner) that are critical for an individual's future success. Moreover, other educational research and the work of these authors continually validate the notion that project-based learning produces deepened understanding and develops real-world skills. I have come to believe strongly that an oral history project is unique in its ability to develop many of the skills identified as vital for the twenty-first century. Thus, the oldest form of recording history can prepare students for a vastly different future in which listening, meaning, empathy, teaming, and diversity will be vital for tomorrow's work place.

In calling for papers for this issue, I sought articles that answered the question, "In what ways is oral history shaping pedagogical practices in the 21st century classroom?" The response was incredible and truly reflects the diverse and innovative ways educators integrate oral history into their teaching. In an effort to take full advantage of this space, you will find articles of varied length and varied perspective. Collaboration, the core of any successful oral history project, is certainly a theme in many of these articles, of which four were co-authored (adding credence to the idea that it takes a village to do oral history as well as to produce an issue of this journal). I am deeply indebted to all those educators who submitted articles for this journal; more than this one issue could handle. I am also grateful for the time and expertise of each reviewer who assisted in the selection process and, perhaps more importantly, offered helpful revision suggestions to each of the authors.

In the collection of articles, there emerges another more significant theme: the idea that when empowered with opportunities to be and think like oral historians, grade to graduate school students can make important contributions to preserving the past. Thus, the last article in this issue might be the most important. It reminds us of who benefits most from the use of oral history as an educational methodology in the twenty-first century classroom: the students and the lives their work as oral historians uncover.

It is my hope that this issue is a launching point for an increased presence and sharing of oral history articles related to pedagogy in The Oral History Review. Educators should recognize this journal as an important outlet for the authentic work they are doing with their students, and, to...