When I’m teaching myself about a new theme, region, or time period, I often start by browsing H-Net, a collaborative online space for academic humanists and social scientists that is organized around subject “networks.” While the site is run for and by academics, most networks have a teaching resource page that may include sample syllabi or links to helpful web sources.

Each network organizes itself a bit differently, so the site can be tricky to navigate. Generally, when I’m looking into a new subject, I’ll start at the all networks page. If I’m interested in learning more about African history, I’ll expand that topic to look over the 12 networks in that category. While I will likely also want to check out the H-AfrArts network for some multi-media teaching resources, I’ll start with the H-Africa network. Within that network, I’ll open the resource tab and usually explore the Teaching Resources page, the Media Archives page, and maybe the Research Resources page.

H-Net can be hit-or-miss depending on how long the network (and the academic subject itself) has been in existence. In H-Africa, for example, the Media Archives and Research Resources pages are empty, but under Teaching Resources, someone has posted an incredibly useful list of websites for teaching pre-colonial African history. In a striking contrast, H-German, for example, has a entire syllabus data base organized by topic.

It takes a little digging, but I have found excellent primary sources through browsing course syllabi, and I can be reasonably sure that the secondary sources listed hold up to scholarly scrutiny. Perusing H-Net can be somewhat of a rabbit hole, but it’s still an excellent resource for the early stages of curriculum development.