The Global History Textbook? We're Writing It

FORTY STUDENTS IN ANDREA COLLI'S COURSE ARE THE AUTHORS OF THE TEXTBOOK THAT WILL BE USED IN CLASS. IT TOOK ALMOST A FULL YEAR AND MADE THEM UNIVERSITY DONORS

Students using a textbook during history class? It wouldn’t be a news story, except that, in the case of the Global History course taught by Andrea Colli in the Bachelor of Science in International Politics and Government and the World Bachelor in Business at Bocconi, the book was written by the students themselves. This is how A Global History of Globalization was created. The 380 pages were written in less than a year by forty students divided into groups, one group for each chapter. Then it was edited and standardized by the professor, who is the book’s curator and the author of the introduction and the final chapter.

“Last year, when I started this course on world history from the perspective of global phenomena and not simply economic history, the students pointed out that there was no textbook. Therefore, the whole course was based on my notes,” says Andrea Colli, who is not only teaches Global History, but also the Head of the Department of Policy Analysis and Public Management. This is how he got the idea to put together and rework those notes, transforming them into a manual that was literally created by the students. “I gave the students slides and notes to get started. They were divided into groups, each responsible for one chapter, organizing and reworking the material. Lots of the focus sections, for example, are the result of the students’ group works.” And a job that seemed like it should include just a few students ended up involving 40 people: “When I saw how interested they were in participating,” says Colli, “I realized that something big from a learning point of view could result from this.”

Their notes in hand, the students worked over the summer and fall months and in February the book was edited by the Hyperbooks imprint at Egea. “When the professor suggested doing this, we saw it as a great opportunity,” says Giuseppe Concetti, attending the Bachelor of Science in International Politics and Government. “It’s an opportunity because being able to do real historical research as a first-year and participate in a resume-building experience doesn’t happen every day.” Of course, the students were a bit apprehensive and nervous at first, “but with Professor Colli’s support, we wrote a 384-page book. It was a challenge, but we did it.”

Published as an e-book full of multimedia content, many members of the Bocconi community were involved in its creation. The book is also unique for two other reasons. The first is that it will always be free for future students of the course. The second is that the Quarantaquattro Gatti (Forty-four Cats), as the student authors call themselves, have decided to not collect on the book’s copyright proceeds. Thus making them in effect donors to Bocconi University.
 

by Andrea Celauro
Translated by Jenna Walker