Using MOOCs as a Resource for Teaching and Learning

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Maureen Ebben

THAT Conference New England, May 2014

Maureen Ebben, Communication and Media Studies and Julien Murphy, Philosophy

University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine

TITLE:  Using MOOCs as a Resource for Teaching and Learning

This “Talk” session will explore the ways in which MOOCs may be used as a resource for teaching and learning.  Given the proliferation of MOOCs, it would seem that MOOC content might be usefully repurposed to a variety of other contexts.  For example, the elements that make up MOOCs such as videos, exercises, readings, potentially even the discussion boards, etc., might enrich a more traditional class, a project, or a community effort.

Some questions to explore in this session include:  What are the best ways to use MOOC resources?  Has anyone done this?  What are the pros and cons?  Is it possible to use just a piece of a MOOC, or do they not allow themselves to be carved up like this?  We’ve heard of professors signing up for a MOOC, along with their students, so that the whole class was enrolled in the MOOC for the duration of the regular class.  That is quite a commitment.  Are there other more nuanced ways to utilize MOOCs?  How open are MOOC resources to this type of a la carte approach?  Do MOOC copyright restrictions and packaging preclude this?  Are there aspects of the timing of MOOCs, such as the start and end dates, that would need to be considered?  These, as well as other questions, will be discussed.

Categories: MOOCs, Session: Talk, Teaching | Comments Off on Using MOOCs as a Resource for Teaching and Learning

What’s the current state of Linked Open Data?

Posted on May 28, 2014 by Patrick Murray-John

Any #lodlam (Linked Open Data for Libraries, Archives, and Museums) folks coming? I’d like to talk and/or show-and-tell about projects that use LOD in some way — especially consuming or using, not just publishing. Ideally, I’d like to look at code and or SPARQL queries being used. Doing actual queries on DBpedia if people are interested would be great, too.

It would all depend on who comes, I guess. So I’m not sure what the ratios of Make/Play/Talk would be. But I’m hoping for a little hands-on LOD results. I have one example I could show to get the ball rolling.

Categories: Session: Make, Session: Play, Session: Talk | 4 Comments

All about Archives

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Giordana Mecagni

A talk session, all about archives.

Archives house and carefully curate untold wonders that come along with accurate, reliable metadata ripe for your next DH project.  Let’s have a free-ranging discussion of successes and failures, ongoing projects or opportunities, complaints and praise of scanning projects, web archives, digital preservation, big data, permanent retention, and where to find stuff.  Ideally, this conversation would culminate in a brainstorming session of “I think it would be sooo awesome for my research if we could/had access to/ had a tool for/ etc. ”

About me:  Head of Special Collections and University Archivist at Northeastern, I’ve worked in various libraries and archives since 1997.

Categories: General | Comments Off on All about Archives

Session Proposal: Wikipedia, Pedagogy, and Hacktivism

Posted on May 27, 2014 by Emily Kugler

Apologies for the tardy proposal. This could fall under either category of Talk or Teach.

The main focus of this session would be the use of Wikipedia (and other popular online tools, like Twitter) in the classroom. What has worked for you, what hasn’t, etc.  Part of this comes out of conversations around the Writing for Wadewitz Tribute Edit-A-Thons organized to honor a scholar who helped promote Wikipedia as a pedagogical tool (here’s the brochure she wrote on the topic).Given that there’s been multiple Tribute Edit-A-Thons in New England (plus the upcoming one in June), the session could also cover planning events like Wikipedia Write-Ins and Hack Days in academic settings.

Related to this proposal (but not its main focus): Part of what intrigues me about this subject is that there is a social justice element underneath the Wikipedia assignments and events (whether it is increasing the visibility of underrepresented groups as subjects and editors or more broadly, promoting the spread of basic digital literacy).  I haven’t observed this as much in other assignments using social media (e.g., connecting Twitter assignments to activist hashtags such as the current #YesAllWomen and the earlier #SolidarityIsForWhiteWomen), but perhaps that is because I’m academically located in Early Modern and Eighteenth-Century discussions?

Categories: Session Proposals, Session: Talk, Session: Teach, Social Media, Teaching | Comments Off on Session Proposal: Wikipedia, Pedagogy, and Hacktivism

Session Proposal: Omeka for Teaching and Community Engagement

Posted on May 20, 2014 by ssenier

If anyone wants to learn how to use Omeka in a classroom (and/or talk about the benefits/challenges of doing so), I could lead a session on this.  I have had good luck using Omeka to start “Writing of Indigenous New England,” an archive of literature written by Native American people in this region (indigenousnewengland.com).  My students have partnered with local museums and historical societies, basically helping them to digitize their physical exhibits; they have also worked with contemporary Native authors, giving them personal pages (including Wikipedia pages–another topic I’d be happy to discuss). Using Omeka, humanities majors can learn a great deal about public writing, public history (including literary history), and public engagement. ..and come away with greater confidence about their “marketable” skills, as well.

 

Categories: Collaboration, Digital Literacy, Diversity, General, Museums, Session: Teach, Teaching | Comments Off on Session Proposal: Omeka for Teaching and Community Engagement

Session Proposal: Think Different.

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Emily Esten

I’d like to propose a session that approaches DH on a macro-level. As a changing field where boundaries are being reinvented as we tackle new projects, we already know that DH can’t necessarily be defined. But shouldn’t we try to explain not what DH is, but how we use it? What makes a DH project? What distinguishes DH from other projects? What makes up the ethos of the field?

 

 

 

Categories: Collaboration, Games, Session Proposals, Session: Play, Social Media | Comments Off on Session Proposal: Think Different.

Session Proposal: Teaching and Guiding Students

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Amanda Izenstark

What are you teaching students? What tools? What resources? What products are they producing?

In this session, I’d like to have an open discussion where attendees can share tools and experiences, and learn about new ones.

A side note: I will only be attending on Friday due to an emergency trip. 

Categories: Digital Literacy, Libraries, Session Proposals, Session: Talk, Teaching | Comments Off on Session Proposal: Teaching and Guiding Students

Session Proposal: Digital (and Analog) Tools for Digital (and Analog) Scholars

Posted on May 19, 2014 by Chris Strauber

Come ready to discuss your favorite digital or analog tools to help create, organize, analyze, preserve, present, or [other verb] your research or other work. New and fancy tools not required: facilitator will be taking notes on paper.

Categories: Project Management, Research Methods, Scholarly Editions, Session: Talk, Text Mining, Visualization, Your Categories Are Inadequate | Comments Off on Session Proposal: Digital (and Analog) Tools for Digital (and Analog) Scholars

Post your Session Proposals!

Posted on May 15, 2014 by Joshua Pederson

With THATCamp New England 2014 just days away, it’s time to start floating session proposals.  If you’re a little hazy on how the process unfolds, just click on the “Propose” tab centrally located on the top of this page.  But if you’re ready to go, go!

Last, if you’re casting about for ideas, know that College of General Studies prizes interdisciplinarity and strong pedagogy, so we’d love to see sessions on either of those themes.

Categories: General | 1 Comment

Session Proposal: Digital Annotation & Pedagogy

Posted on May 7, 2014 by Rachel Schnepper

HyperStudio, the DH lab at MIT, would like to propose a session based around digital annotation and pedagogy.  We’ve been developing an online annotation tool, Annotation Studio.  It’s currently in use in writing, literature, history, foreign language, and media studies classes throughout the country.  We’d be happy to spend some time with people who’d like to learn more about Annotation Studio.  We can show you how to get up and running with Annotation Studio in your classes.  We’d also love to hear ideas from people about how they’d like to use it, both for their teaching and research.

Categories: Session Proposals, Session: Play, Session: Teach | 2 Comments