Jul 13, 2013 09:38 AM EDT By Staff Reporter, UniversityHerald Reporter

Dickinson College, in collaboration with the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, will start offering an online course on the life, leadership and legacy of Abraham Lincoln to K-12 educators and Civil War enthusiasts. Interested students can enroll in this unique course either for a graduate credit or just for a personal enrichment.

The course 'Understanding Lincoln' begins from July 23 and concludes on Nov. 19, during the 150th anniversary commemoration of the Gettysburg Address.

It will feature a combination of online seminars; discussion sessions led by pedagogy experts from the Institute and will live-stream virtual field trips, which also include in-depth dialogues with a notable Lincoln scholar, author and educator Matthew Pinsker, associate professor of history at Dickinson College.

"We are attempting something new in the world of online education, by making a graduate course in U.S. history not only open and online but also infused with liberal-arts values," said Pinsker. "Our course will promote interaction with participants, not discourage it. Lincoln was perhaps the greatest self-made learner in American history, and we are aspiring to live up to his ideal. This will not be an exercise in merely watching videos and taking quizzes."

Upon completion of the course, the college will provide a certificate of completion for all students who successfully complete a series of assessments.

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