digital humanities at work: a collaborative model for creating student-scholars (261526452)

8/9/2019 Digital Humanities at Work: A Collaborative Model for Creating Student-Scholars (261526452)

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/digital-humanities-at-work-a-collaborative-model-for-creating-student-scholars 1/23

DIGITAL HUMANITIES AT WORK: A COLLABORATIVEMODEL FOR CREATING STUDENT-SCHOLARSAMY BARLOW Humanities Liaison, Wheaton CollegeLEAH NIEDERSTADTAssistant Professor of Museum Studies/Art History & Curator of the Permanent Collection, Wheaton College

NERCOMPAnnual Conference

April 1, 2015



Developing a DH WorkflowDeveloping a DH Workflow



PlanningPlanning



The IdeaThe Idea José Antonio Bowen on "Teaching Naked"

An inquiry from the Frick

A call for Course Transformation Grants at Wheaton

Focus on object-based learning and blended learning

Audrey, the Shepard Lass



Planning ActivitiesPlanning Activities

Decisions about appropriate educational technologies

Consulting with members of Library and Information Services

Raw materials and data sources

Costs

Funding



Course + Assignment DevelopmetCourse + Assignment DevelopmetFirst Year Seminar--Gift or Loot: Who Controls Cultural Property? (Fall 2013)

Digital Project 1: Using Google Earth to create provenance maps (teams)



Course + Assignment DevelopmetCourse + Assignment DevelopmetFirst Year Seminar--Gift or Loot: Who Controls Cultural Property? (Fall 2013)

Digital Project 2: Using TimelineJS to create repatriation timelines (independent)



DoingDoing



Workshops for StudentsWorkshops for Students

10/10/2013: Public Speaking workshop with Prof. Jennifer Madden

9/10/2013: Collaborative writing workshop with Prof. Ruth Foley

9/12/2013: Google Earth workshop with Jenni Lund

9/19/2013: Library research workshop with Amy Barlow

9/24/2013: Technology & Image workshop with Amy Barlow & Pete Coco



Research and ProductionResearch and ProductionStudents have training documents

Ongoing LIS research consultation with students

Ongoing student-faculty-LIS sta ! communication

Students install Google Earth on their laptops

Students populate an LIS-sta ! hosted spreadsheet in

Google Drive to create their timelines

Content management: An eye on text, image, copyright,

bibliographic citation. Requires the oversight of faculty

and sta ! .



More Research, More ProductionMore Research, More Production



EvaluatingEvaluating



Presentation of ResearchPresentation of Research



Assessment and SurveysAssessment and Surveys

Wheaton standardized course assessment: Likert scale;free text; required for every course

Evaluation of student performance (grading)

Student satisfaction survey (Google forms)



42% of students singled out digital projects as one of the strongest

and/or most valuable aspects of the course



Student SatisfactionStudent Satisfaction

"I talk about the projects a lot.

(The FYS) was tough but it was

great to take a problem, break

it apart, and solve it. We

actually accomplished

something real. ...It was great

to know the work you put in

counts in the real world and

was not just for a grade; it’s

something you can put your

name on publicly.”

“We got to do original research

in a " eld that's very relevant to

current events. We had a nice

mix of team and solo work,

and a good balance of written

work, oral presentation, and

computer [work].”

I learned how to chase down a

paper trail, and what it meant

to do cold hard research about

facts...Up until then all my

research had been on theories,

not anything really solid. I

learned about working with

other people and making sure

that our researched matched

up...I de " nitely enjoyed the use

of the map and the timeline.



Tweak & RepeatTweak & Repeat

http://wheatoncollectionclassuse.omeka.net/exhibits/show/arth230provresearchsp2014/mrs-philip-hale



Planning for OmekaPlanning for OmekaARTH 230: Introduction to Museum Studies (Spring 2014 )

Rationale

1st use on campus so opportunity to trial was

appealing to faculty, sta ! , and students

Omeka platform--More # exible for provision of

text/image content

Easier to make publicly accessible

Could be used for

other Permanent Collection related projects all of

which hosted at same URL, unlike Google Earth

Cost

If host, free download but requires (ideally) dedicated

server and related sta ! .

Cost of campus hosting is limited to server, personnel,

and some add-ons

If cloud-based, staggered (varied levels) pricing.

Requires annual renewed; all content removed from

public access if not renewed; less modi " able then hosting

Omeka on campus server



Training, Research & ProductionTraining, Research & Production

Assignment: kept multiple components due over period of

time and workshop format for providing training.

Sta ! /faculty/student time investment was higher with

Omeka than with Google Earth

Object Options: larger class required more objects as

options. Consulted with retired/former collections

colleagues

Sta ! Support: Barlow, Bocko, Coco; Wheaton-

Book

Eliminated workshops that students indicated were unnecessary.

Changed timing and number of research workshops.



EvaluatingEvaluatingConducted assessment at start and conclusion of ARTH 230

Wheaton standard course evaluation, which uses Likert scale and open text " eld

“ I loved working on original research. It was much moreexciting knowing that this was my own research and my object. Rather than just compiling others thoughts on a

subject, I was hunting for clues that no one else had found yet. The profound sense of ownership made the researchaddicting.

History major (Class of 2016)



EvaluatingEvaluating

“ I think it should not be repeated because the parameters of the assignment cannot be

controlled. Since the professor was not aware of the provenance of the object, she could not know how much, or how little, work she was assigning to her students. Further, since

each project was di ! erent, di ! erent students had di ! ering levels of di " culty in regards to

their research. In addition, their is no fair criteria for grading these projects. Someone may

have worked incredibly hard but hit a dead end, or they might have just been lazy. There is

no way to know. It is fundamentally unfair to grade di ! erent students di ! erently. There

should be an objective criterion, and that criterion was impossible for this assignment.

Art History/Philosophy (Class of 2015)



Learning To Be Comfortable with FailureLearning To Be Comfortable with Failure



Benefits of Collaborative Digital ProjectsBenefits of Collaborative Digital Projects

Pedagogical1. Modeled and taught collaboration, emphasized its

importance in learning.

2. Taught/strengthened all of the skills that are focus of

FYS and, more broadly, of college education.

3. Students introduced to range of sta ! and resources

available at Wheaton

4. Reinforced idea that research is rarely linear; get

comfortable with failure

5. Student engagement/excitement

Other1. Improved documentation on PC objects (33 so

far).

2. Created digital tools that have already been used

in other courses.

3. Omeka eventually means of making student

research on PC objects publicly accessible.

4. Inspire other faculty projects, such as mini-

documentaries created by " lmmaking students.

5. Serve as example of student abilities/skills (e-

portfolio).

digital humanities at work: a collaborative model for creating student-scholars (261526452)

Documents