A New Game for An Old Prof: Forester Lecture Review
A common conversation at HU:
“Who do you have for HS115 (Historical Perspectives on Culture and Civilization)?”
“The guy who does the games.”
This “guy,” Dr. Dwight Brautigam, has been the professor of European history at HU since 1987. He specializes in 17th century English political and religious history and has won the Professor of the Year award at HU five times (most recently in 2024!), which is the most of any professor. More than being a humorous professor and an avid sports fan, Dr. Brautigam is known for his unique teaching style — interactive games.
Reacting To the Past (RTTP) curriculum is designed to let students dig into history and actually live it for themselves, which often causes high student engagement rates and a fuller understanding of the historical time period.
Each game is centered around a specific moment in history, and students are assigned role sheets for who they will portray. As you get into character, students give speeches in favor of their character’s beliefs or the goals their character has. And, as expected, there is always a winner and a loser of the game. Dr. Brautigam serves as the Game Master, and his role is to hand out role sheets, clarify rules, and explain game events.
As a former student of Dr. Brautigam, I learned a lot from acting out history in his class, and that’s why I knew that I had to attend his Forester Lecture Series faculty lecture, “A New Game for An Old Prof: Life in France During World War II.”
Dr. Brautigam presented the process, which is still undergoing, in the creation of his own RTTP game, “Choosing Loyalties: Life in Vichy, France.” This game is centered around modern life in France during World War II. After explaining the historical background of the game, including political divisions, economic issues, and social tensions, Dr. Brautigam spoke about the different parts that are needed for a successful RTTP game, like the number of game sessions, victory objectives, and game mechanics.
Proving why he was voted Professor of the Year five times, Dr. Brautigam shared how various HU students have helped create the game through brainstorming, writing content, creating role sheets, and planning game events. After its initial planning period, the game has shown up in Dr. Brautigam’s HS115 courses, and with each enactment, he goes back to the drawing board with new ideas and suggestions from students, or, as he calls them, his “guinea pigs.”
This year is Dr. Brautigam’s last, as he anticipates retirement and spending more time with his grandchildren. However, this self-described “old prof” is not finished with his academic search; with a long list of scholarly articles about life in France during World War II ready to be read, Dr. Brautigam looks forward to refining his game so that more college students can learn about history for themselves.
