Were there any notes from the Digital Archives session?

THATCamp – ontological crisis

Example:

Music software – music educators not always clear on some issues – although composers have been digital for decades – notation accompanied by playback to hear what you’re writing, but product is a score –

Digital music software organized according to what you’re trying to do: programs are complicated and very expensive (up to $1K)

Students come into college having composed since 2^nd or 3^rd grade – have started with pen and paper, then get a simple composition tool – now, students have been using iLife with Garage Band for back score (a la nine inch nails) – Garage Band built for copy/paste loops, not single notes into sound file, not score

SO – pedagogically, have students who want to “major” in Garage Band (ie electronic music, broadly) rather than learning process and product for single note composition culminating in a score

Similarly – students using “cite this” feature without understanding variations in citation styles – don’t understand components of a citation, for example, so can’t modify or (when necessary) generate manually

Worry re how pushing students toward more sophisticated, specialized understanding (“pushing against student misconception”) affects student evaluations – note a general societal trend toward minimizing credence of “expert” in field (eg PhD), especially in academia

TIP: extra credit for going into Wikipedia and adding citations to the entry for their topic

Need to help students see why we’re asking them to do certain assignments, learn certain skills – another role for transparency  – look at the purpose or meaning for certain requirements

Helping students see the benefit of knowing why/what’s going on with a process – the advantages when the technology progresses, for example, and you’re able to see what’s going on

It used to be we had to find the material (shlepping to library and using card catalog!) rather than expecting that the material will find us – a consumer mentality?

Market-driven curriculum and orientation to product lead to some students’ prioritizing the end result (product) over the process we want them to complete that is reflected in the product

Need to broaden discussions with students about why something matters, is important, has practical significance – looking at whole curriculum, not just our class –

Useful to bring other faculty into class to model discussion, disagreement

J Z Smith on using syllabus on first day to demo/discuss choices that have been made, the differences those choices make – including in evals follow-up questions on how those choices panned out!

Could a department have their students participate in a curriculum design exercise? HWS had graduating womens studies majors come to lovely lunch and talk about the curriculum, including responses to curricula from other programs – resources from other programs came from student project (funded) during semester to review other programs and gather info

Need to start out with (1) assessing where students are/what they’re thinking and (2) lay out the big picture for them from the beginning

A “main responsibility” is making clear – not just in abstract platitudes – the value and stakes of a liberal arts education

**notes taken by Sally Stamper

**music composed during session available at:

t.co/1dWYkeH

t.co/1awKyc3

Gamification: taking principles of game design and applying it to other activities and professions to make them more engaging/bearable/fun.

There is controversy and conflict about the topic and how it relates to students.  The Escapist’s “Extra Credits” video on the topic was used as an introduction (link for Video Essay )

Software for Digital Humanities using game design principle.  Game created by Michelle created level badges that equated to badge to grade.  Her game requires players/students to interact with each other via social media where they play roles of prominent characters and interact in character.  Scored based on liked and disliked posts.

This sounds like an actual game, rather than a limited use of “gamified” techniques

Might introducing game principles take focus away from other pedagogical objectives? Shawn Doyle raised concerns about the time needed to test and create games, rather than using their principles and ideas.

• • It is important that gamification doesn’t just provide a way to “game the system” (in which the game structure does not sync/fit with existing course goals
• What happens when our students start hacking the game?
  • When there are no additional incentives, then the game is the only thing
  • Cheating is always a problem when students don’t see the value of the course content itself
• What about examples of gamification in the humanities?
  • Working with gifted high school students, one approach is to give them “missions” that are focused on principles of positive psychology, as opposed to providing ways to “game the system.”  Also, this is not the core mechanic of the course; it is one element among several.
  • A Media Studies/Theatre team-taught course used several of these kinds of principles (drawing on Lee Sheldon’s course designs), and while some elements seemed to work well and engage some students well, others were either actively detrimental to learning or inconclusive.  More trials need to be conducted and reviewed.
  • Jane McGonigal has some examples in her book, Reality is Broken.
  • Katie Salen’s Quest to Learn pilot school in NYC
• Thinking about student motivation, wanting to know “what my grade is” at any given moment is a powerful motivator. The “Bartel Test” is discussed; breaks MMORPG players into  social, achiever, explorer, and killer.  The test is used to explain why people play.  Could it help explain why students try or do not?
• Gifted students often are hesitant to take on challenges where they might loose/fail.  Created missions to reinforce positives to provide motivation.

• With teacher education, the feedback can be competency based, with the motivator pushing being that they know they’re preparing for a professional position after graduation.  Concerned, though, that if we make all the achievement focused on small gains, we might lose students’ attention and focus on the larger picture.  How do we balance those elements?
  • Making education a game changes what education is; removing the intrinsic value of why you’re participating in education removes something very important
  • Possible to create “levels” within content where passing/achieving a certain level or skill it opens up new levels, challenges, and skills.  They included a revision structure so students could revise and retry.
  • Concerns were expressed about grading and achievement solely based on XP points, game skills, and levels missing loses the personality and individuality.

  Gamification requires a carrot, lots of them for extrinsic motivation.  If this is used then there is never any intrinsic motivation.  We can miss the “why”  “why am I doing this?”

  • What about just doing work because it needs to be done?  Learning to work hard when you don’t want to?
    • A lot of games try to find ways to make meaning for drudgery.
      • Seinfeld’s calendar for work
      • 10,000 hours theory and The Dan Plan
    • McGonigal wants to imagine a world in which there is less drudgery
• Games in education is not making education a game.  Where does the line between gameplay and work get drawn? Work ethic and stress do not need to go hand in hand.  Changing the meaning of work, changing goals is where games can help.
• Instead of thinking about faculty making games, what about asking students to design their own games?
  • Global Kids
  • Geocaching: for many, it’s about the journey; for others, the outcome (racking up numbers)
  • Younger students (primary and secondary) are more likely to engage well with simple and/or black and white objectives in games than students in higher education
• Have game design principles and game structures always been a part of education and learning?
• It should be more about “what did I learn today?” than “what will get me the A?”
• James Paul Gee’s 32 Principles
• Game strategies are more than simple rewards and levels; practice, challenge, motivation, personalization all contribute to what make games engaging

• Concluding texts
  • Gee’s interview for the New Learning Institute
  • Prof.hacker post on gamifying your course website
  • Ian Bogost’s critique of gamification

What is the definition of social reading?:

Reading and analyzing texts collaboratively

• possible tools: good reads, social tagging (i.e. flickr)
• Ancient jewish concept of Midrash of collaboratively commenting on holy texts by scholars
• Comment Press–WordPress plugin for collaboration, annotation, alternative to Google Docs, must be run on your own server, comment on specific blocks of text.
• Why use Comment Press or like technologies? Connecting students to scholarship of analyzing particular portions of text, close reading, giving students ownership.
• Assessing students’ reading ability. Requiring students to write in books, text, direct interaction with text. Example, students that aren’t allowed to write in text, never given opportunity to have meaningful interaction with text, on deeper level than surface story. Deeper level, at zone of proximal development. Important as instructor to start at students’ knowledge base.
• Using social tools with students, do instructors lose control of class? In good or bad ways?
• What would an assignment look like that involved collaborating on a single piece of text?
• Example of collaboration via twitter: The Atlantic Book Club using #1book140
• Tool: Diigo for collaborating, marking up digital artifacts.

Social Media in the Classroom

• Facebook groups-interacting with Students, discussion board
• Facebook pages connected with Twitter to display on WordPress
• Historical Role playing using Facebook accounts, ex-students playing the roles of slaves, Nat Turner, evangelical preacher.
• What makes a classroom social?
• Technology as a second avenue for participation. Students have different preferred modalities. Some students uncomfortable with public speaking but more comfortable with writing.
• Activity example, taking poems by Robert Burns and rephrase into tweets. How does that change the text? And force students to reflect…socially?
  
• What does technology do to allow students to understand/reflect about the medium? How should students reflect on their social interactions in these kind of learning spaces?
• Early adoption stage, how do we get early adopters to say this has value, there’s an obstacle, but once you get past this obstacle, you can assimilate it into your learning.Tech is spread by word of mouth, by faculty members adoption rather than workshops. Better to invite faculty, rather than push out onto faculty. Seeding technology.
  
• Gathering questions via web form before class. Asking students: What is your top question?
• “Just in time teaching” related to using Google Docs or Google forms.
• Using Google Docs to teach summarizing articles, vetting writing, what counts as a good summary? Opening up the classroom to students.
• Letting go of control to students with social media, at what point do you need to turn it into a lesson of what are valid sources of knowledge? Value of stepping in when you need to. Teaching students how knowledge is constructed. How then are misconceptions constructed? Must be careful about teaching students public dialog.
• Gerald Graft–Teaching the Conflict. Allowing students to have a voice.
• Exercise experiment via Dave Carroll (@davidcaroll): backtoschoolforgood.daveandteena.com/2011/06/04/prof-hacker-blog-post-how-sociable-are-you/
• Digress.it: digress.it/
• FB for faculty, friending students? wait until you don’t have a class or until grades are turned in. Check privacy settings. What does friend mean on FB? It’s a verb now.
• Some schools have specific policies for social media, FB friending.
• Openbook.org: search engine for public updates on FB.

• Using digital portfolios in a department whose chair is highly tech-phobic (refuses to use email, etc.).  How do you deal with a situation like that?
  • (Faculty engaging student with digital tools are primarily lecturers in the dept.)
  • Perhaps the tenured faculty could hold a meeting in which they openly identify the advantages/disadvantages of print and digital media
  • Her behavior is not rational, so trying to persuade her otherwise is unlikely
  • If your Dean is supportive, then he/she can put pressure on the dept. chair to make incremental changes
  • Bringing in recent grads who are working using digital tools to show the benefits of these tools
• How do you encourage faculty who seem to be interested/intrigued by new digital tools, but also seem to be reticent to take the time to learn and then integrate them into their pedagogy?
  • (And some people think they know more than they do)
  • Is having someone on staff with broad familiarity of applicability of tools to higher ed pedagogy crucial/central to disseminating these tools and practices?
    • Jay ___: I am that here at St. Norbert’s.  Staff are much more likely to attend workshops than faculty.  How do I get them to come in?
      • Blake: took long time to feel like they were worth attending.
    • Mentoring new faculty could be a way to encourage attendance
      • There needs to be incentives on both sides for it to work, though
      • Cross-departmental mentoring helps new faculty see connections between disciplines
  • Why isn’t there a “help desk” for integration of digital tools into pedagogy?
• In building inter-disciplinary minors organized around digital networked media, there is a huge coordination problem.  How do you balance resources, including hardware, software, and participants time?
  • Finding the right collaboration tool is probably important: meetings may not necessarily be the best way to get something like that going.
    • Email is also not the best; it must have a group collaboration component.
  • Does anyone use collaborative software within their department, perahps even in lieu of dept. meetings?
    • Sharepoint, though it’s a pain (and Microsoft empire).
    • Google Docs…
      • Working on such projects with colleagues crosses into territorial issues about authorship
      • There needs to be some kind of understanding about the appropriateness of such changes
      • It can be wonderful, in that your colleagues(s) are like little elves who come in to help you further your work, just when your energy is flagging
    • Facebook Groups’ new mechanic allows for friendships to develop more casually (can be closed, notifies you when new posts arrive)
  • What about a retreat during the summer to work out the logistics?
    • You might even be able to get day-rate funding from your institution as an incentive
    • Or perhaps a grant
    • (It seems like support community-building
• How is hardware shared on different campuses?
  • Shared pool: priority-based; some campus groups have higher priority
    • better equipment, but sometimes less access
  • Library controlled: reservations are first-come, first served
    • limited number of devices (laptop, ipad)
  • Media Studies dept. controlled: single faculty member, loans made on casual basis
    • Easy to get access because single faculty member is open to it, but can be a drain on his time
• Availability of IT resources can be very limited on some campuses.  Is anyone familiar with the WW3 network?
  • It’s an attempt to build a Web around scholarly tools only
• One prominent issue often raised when institutions consider making significant changes is focusing on changing/updating the Humanities (as opposed to Sciences and Social Sciences).  How do we keep Humanities faculty from hearing that focus articulated as “in the future, you will all become Media Studies faculty”?
  • Strength in Numbers: early adopters participate in pilot testing, and then they become advocates of ways to use those tools and practices in pedagogy.
  • If you say, “everyone will need to know this,” it’s less effective than if you provide colleagues with assistance with ways to introduce change
  • Again, face to face gatherings help to build community
    • (like Final Cut Pro User Groups)
    • Allowing people to give a “like” or thumbs up by regularly posting about such gatherings to a blog or listserve seems to really help approval rates

Here is the handout I will be using for this bootcamp.  If you’re not attending this bootcamp but would like to participate and contribute here are some ways to get involved:

One of the things we will be doing at this boot camp is “Asking” geographic questions as they relate to digital humanities. Take a look at the questions people come up with and feel free to post your own.

We will also be adding to a google spreadsheet any datasets that people have come across that have been particularly useful to them.  If you have a great resource to share, PLEASE add to the list!

I have already learned a lot from several people. I think this will be a great conference.

Your THATCampLAC organizers spent some time turning all your blog posts into a series of session choices.  Below is the list we’ve come up with.  Tomorrow morning we’ll pick our favorites and add anything’s that missing.  Under each topic, we’ve listed links to the relevant posts.

spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AkMD9d50nbADdEFETjIzaHhJMHBJa3hSZTdqVGp0WGc&hl=en_US&authkey=CJXUh7wM

The Social Classroom

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/thatcamp-session-topic/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/28/session-idea-social-reading/

Ontological Crises

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/thatcamp-session-topic/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/thatcamp-lac-session-deliberation-and-technology/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/17/music-composition-the-dh-edition-what-counts-as-composition-anymore/

Is There a Tech in this Classroom?

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/thatcamp-session-topic/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/27/is-there-a-tech-in-this-class/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/07/session-idea-class-and-professional-websites/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/06/02/session-idea-technology-in-a-writing-center/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/07/managing-multimedia-assignments/

Engaging, Collaborating, and Sharing with Colleagues

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/that-camp-session-topic-ideas-digital-media/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/06/01/interdepartmental-resource-sharingcoordination-interdisciplinary-minors/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/thatcamp-sessiontopic-ideas-librarian-faculty-collaboration/

Digital Storytelling in the Classroom

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/that-camp-session-topic-ideas-digital-media/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/06/01/whats-going-into-your-courses/

Gamification

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/that-camp-session-topic-ideas-digital-media/

Multimedia Projects and Lib Ed competencies

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/05/thatcamp-sessiontopic-ideas-librarian-faculty-collaboration/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/10/multimedia-projects-and-lib-ed-competencies/

Digital Archives

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/09/digital-archives/

Finding One’s Way in DH at Liberal Arts Colleges

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/16/new-dh-faculty-at-lac-sessiondiscussion-idea/
• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/17/session-ideas-finding-ones-way-in-dh/

Collaboration and Connection at LACs with DHCommons

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/23/collaboration-and-connection-at-lacs-with-dhcommons/

“Iron Chef” DH Challenge

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/05/26/iron-chef-dh-challenge/

Ask the Undergrads: DH Edition

• lac2011.thatcamp.org/06/02/ask-the-undergrads-dh-edition/

Once we’ve got the choices set, we’ll all vote on panels:

[iframe spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/embeddedform?formkey=dEFETjIzaHhJMHBJa3hSZTdqVGp0WGc6MQ 600 1097]

One of the issues SNC’s President, Tom Kunkel, has raised is what will happen to current institutions of higher education if we do not embrace the possibilities of new technologies in the way we deliver education?  Tom came from journalism and the news paper business which has been negatively impacted by a lack of foresight in regard to how technology would transform their industry (see November 17, 2009- Too ‘Old School’ for Our Own Good? By Thomas Kunkel chronicle.com/article/Too-Old-School-for-Our-Own/49186/).

I was struck this week by two popular media stories that seem to support Tom’s assertions.  First, a piece in Time (Survey: College Is Unaffordable, and a Poor Value.  But It’s Still a Good Investment? moneyland.time.com/2011/05/17/survey-college-is-unaffordable-and-a-poor-value-but-its-still-a-good-investment/) citing a recent Pew Social and Demographic Trends survey (Is College Worth it? College Presidents, Public Access, Value, Quality, and Mission of Higher Education pewsocialtrends.org/2011/05/15/is-college-worth-it/) that questions the value and role of a traditional college education.

The second was a piece on CNN regarding the Kahn Academy, which Bill Gates has praised and Google has awarded millions of dollars, that delivers some of the same content you would find on college campuses for free via videos on the web.  See www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGxgAHer3Ow and www.khanacademy.org/)

As we navigate the challenges of facilitating change in higher education we should be aware that the perception of the public about college may be shifting and other options may seem more viable.   To reiterate Tom Kunkel’s points:

“We must do a far more imaginative job of integrating the current student generation’s two educational worlds—the digital and the traditional—and utilizing the respective strengths of each….In a world with so many higher-ed options, colleges had better have a persuasive answer when a prospective student asks, “Why come here?””

Just in case you haven’t stayed in a dorm since college, here’s some information for those of us who took the dorm option.  Thanks to Patrick Olejniczak of the Kress Inn & Bemis Conference Center.

• The dorm room is configured with common space for the bathroom and living room for all four occupants.  You can get a private bedroom.  Please see the diagram layout
• The dorm rooms include linens (towels and bedding) and wireless internet access but do not include private bathrooms, toiletries or televisions.
• My advice: Don’t forget to bring all of your own toiletries and a hairdryer if you need one.

I’m most interested in figuring out what it means to work in Digital Humanities–both in terms of honing my own skills as a teacher and scholar and in terms of explaining that work to others. I’ve broken those interests into two sub-questions, either one of which could be a session, I suppose:

(A) The question I wrestle with a lot: “I’m actually in Discipline X (Political Science in my case–specifically, Political Theory/Philosophy–but fill in whatever discipline you like), which isn’t traditionally considered a humanities discipline. But I’ve been interested in digital tools for a long time, and I’ve tried to incorporate the use of some of these tools into my courses (along with trying to teach some basic information literacy). I’m also interested in exploring ways in which it might make sense to make a more conscious use of digital methods in my scholarly work. Where do I fit? And how do I explain the kinds of things I’m interested in doing–and their value–to colleagues who aren’t as interested in the digital?”

(B) In addition to the “Where do I fit?” question, I’m also interested in exploring the more practical side of things: How might I incorporate the digital more effectively into my courses? (This makes the Bootcamp 1 session especially attractive.) What kinds of digital tools are available and useful for the kind of scholarly work I want to do, and where do I begin learning those tools that may be new to me? So I’d definitely be interested in talking with others about research interests, and brainstorming about appropriate tools.

In the spirit of cooperation and collaboration, I have just established a Facebook page for THATCamp LAC.  I thought we might like a place where we could connect casually, get to know one another, post things we come across, and generally interact. If you want to join, I please click on the link below!  After I get your “like,” I will make you and administrator so you can comment freely.

www.facebook.com/pages/ThatCamp-LAC/210037149016658

Thanks to Rudof Ammann at the UCL Centre for Digital Humanities, we have a spiffy new logo.

We think it looks pretty great, and will look even better on our t-shirts and other swag. If you want one of those t-shirts, apply today!

I’m thrilled to announce the first bootcamp for THATCamp LAC:

Bootcamp 1: Integrating Digital Humanities Projects into the Undergraduate Curriculum

Presenters:

• Rebecca Frost Davis, Program Officer for the Humanities, National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE)
• Kathryn Tomasek, Associate Professor of History, Wheaton College, Massachusetts

Digital methods of analysis exert growing influence on the practice of many disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, yet students majoring in non-science disciplines often have little exposure to computational thinking and working with computer code. At the same time, in the curriculum, the Digital Humanities promises significant learning benefits for undergraduates, who need a measure of digital literacy to function well as citizens in the twenty-first century. This bootcamp will present strategies for effectively integrating digital projects into undergraduate courses. By examining effective cases of assignments linked to digital projects, participants will consider how to make room for such assignments in a syllabus, how to tie digital projects to a course’s learning outcomes, and how to scaffold both technological and content learning to allow students to make positive contributions to a project external to the course. Participants will leave with a set of proven examples of effective assignments, preliminary plans for assignments for their own courses, and suggestions for how to find collaborative partners in library and technology services for such projects on their home campuses.

Participants will be able to fly into the Austin Straubel International Airport, which is a few miles from the St. Norbert College campus.

Both hotel and dorm-style lodging will be available. A block of rooms has been reserved at the ‐which is right across the street from campus—at a rate of $84.99 per night. Dorm-room accommodations will be available in the Dale and Ruth Michels Hall. Single occupancy in the dorms will cost $27.00 per night; double occupancy will cost $30.00 per person per night. Details about reserving those rooms will be available shortly.

THATCamp Liberal Arts Colleges will focus on a particular academic setting—the liberal arts college—rather than a particular geographic region. We envision two main tracks in the unconference. One will focus on doing digital humanities work at an LAC, where one is more likely to be the lone DHer on campus and must build stronger off-campus networks. The other track will focus on technology and pedagogy. We also hope to encourage undergraduates to apply for THATCamp LAC. We hope to get undergrads, grad students, professors, librarians, and other academics talking productively about the intersections of digital humanities, technology, and pedagogy at liberal arts colleges.

A few early details:

• Where: St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wisconsin.
• When: June 4-5, 2011
• Who: 75 professors, librarians, technical specialists, and undergraduates interested in the intersection of technology and the liberal arts
• Info: the best source will be our Twitter stream @thatcamplac

More details will be posted here as soon as they’re available. If you’re interested in helping with the planning, contact Ryan Cordell. We’re looking forward to seeing you in Wisconsin this May!