ThatCamp Philadelphia 2014: Social Media In The Classroom

  • Lists of accounts to follow for each classmate
  • Many of my students seem to be locking their accounts after events of this summer like #yesallwomen, #gamergate, Gaza, Ferguson, etc

  • Adeline Koh does a Twitter role play assignment

  • How to set limits on contact

  • I think giving students options for how to contact you where they are comfortable is important

ThatCamp Philadelphia 2014: How Can The Digital Humanities Inform The Work Of Scholarly Communication?

Janine Utell had proposed this session, but she was unable to attend so I served as moderator in her place.

  • DHNow http://digitalhumanitiesnow.org/

  • Faculty need to publish in peer reviewed journals for tenure

    • This is weird to say because it implies that open access journals are not peer reviewed. This is propaganda coming from somewhere and I am troubled every time I hear it.

  • Copyright hurdles on campus
  • Do you have a data management plan?

  • Differences between teaching schools and research schools

  • Haystack is helpful source for DH stuff

  • Funding opportunities can be opened up via the digital humanities and open access

  • The R1/University experience generally feels like a different universe from the one I live in that I want nothing to do with.

    • The idea of paying $1,000 to make an article open access is one of the most offensive ideas I have ever encountered.

    • What about class issues and working with various populations if there is a need for cash to access information?

    • That is elitist universities and publishers declaring war on the lower classes access to information.

ThatCamp Philadelphia 2014: Turning Analog Class Assignments Into Digital

This session was proposed and moderated by Michelle Moravec. Some of these notes were taken from the shared Google Doc for the session

  • Curricular transformation question as opposed to a pedagogical question

  • How are you differentiating between a project and an assignment?

  • How do you align course outcomes with digital assignments?

  • Misconceptions: DH projects are “fun” as opposed to work

  • Class assignment ideas:

    • Lauren Fonseca's students use Wikispaces to create end of term work

    • Group work rubrics are established and they are graded based on their goals.

    • Wikipedia: What would you add to this page to make it more credible?

      • Immediate rebuttal if you post something inappropriate

      • Wikipedia is very useful for background information and the genesis of secondary research

      • Student familiarity is also important

    • If you are going to try to have your students use a program, make sure you as the instructor know how to use it or support it.

  • Faculty should always begin small. Big myth that digital is easy.

  • Some potential platforms...

  • Scaffolding projects

  • Create accessible moments within each project.

ThatCamp Philadelphia 2014: Working With Students Who Have Low Technology Skills In Distance Education

This was the session I proposed and moderated at ThatCamp Philadelphia 2014.

  • So much automation today...students do not learn to code, html, like a lot of us did back in the day.

  • What is the library's role?

  • Who is responsible for technology skills, students, or colleges?

  • Students are often scared to break something, so do not try to fix things because K-12 is so punishing of mistakes.

  • How can we make basic digital skills something worth learning?

  • Tell students to look for answers on Youtube.

  • What about a forum on Blackboard for students to help each other with technical problems?

  • What about a distance education scavenger hunt?

  • Is this an institutional issue or a student issue?

  • Many of these issues could be resolved at orientation, but it is not mandatory at many schools.

  • Make a list of resources for help on Blackboard for technology problems.

  • How do we support students after disasters?

  • Why aren't there tests to see if students are ready for technology requirements?

ThatCamp Philly 2014: An Overview

I had a great time, as always, at ThatCamp Philadelphia this year. Expect some posts coming in future weeks with my notes from the day. I attended four sessions and proposed, and then moderated, two sessions. Those sessions were on working with students in distance education who have low technology skills and a session on how the digital humanities inform scholarly communication.

What I Am Up To This Semester

As I demanded at the beginning of the summer, I did have a pretty quiet summer besides a few student issues. Not a lot going on and that was fine by me.

This fall I am teaching my normal assortment of composition courses plus a new course on graphic narratives. This course will involve graphic novels, electronic literature, and other interesting works of literature.

In a few weeks, I will be attending ThatCamp Philly as always.

My office hours for the fall are:

Laurel Hall Faculty Work Rooms M/W 830am-930am F 1130am-1230pm

Parker 413B T/THTH 830am-930am

ThatCamp Philadelphia: Digital Humanities In The Classroom

The first session I attended at ThatCamp Philadelphia was on the digital humanities in the classroom. This was a great session that gave me a few ideas for my own classes.

  • Is WordPress good for archival or manuscript work? Maybe Omeka is better for that? There seem to be pretty significant differences between the hosted and non-hosted versions.
  • Someone mentioned making three minute “Ken Burns-y” videos with students.
  • Student created digital editions are a good thing to have on a CV. Could help with getting teaching or alt-ac job.
  • Loved the idea about students making timelines. We are trying that in my Shakespeare course with Dipity.
  • What do students need to learn besides WordPress to be effective and/or employable?
  • Suggestion to learn HTML and CSS.
  • Students should have project to create a website for future web presence.
  • I want to have students create websites to put online portfolios up, which could kickstart them to consider their web presence.
  • Putting work online forces students to consider audience.
  • Discussion of rewards during project as it goes instead of at end. I love this idea.
  • Student Writing Assessment: Did this project achieve what you set out to do?
  • Some discussion of Wikipedia projects, which I have done with mixed results in the past.
  • I brought up the shared Google Docs I use with my Literature classes.
  • How to deal with student concerns about online privacy.
  • Deal with privacy issues at beginning of project...make sure it is clear project will be public...should put this in syllabus
  • Students should consider general online presence and that future jobs will have some sort of online component.
  • Students should, with that said, be permitted to post anonymously. However, should also consider anonymous posting in regards to future CV/job stuff.
  • Good idea to have students search themselves online to see what their web presence is currently.