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How to Create an Infographic Syllabus With Piktochart (Plus Templates)

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This guide contains infographic syllabus examples, templates, and tips from teachers who have created their own infographic syllabus with Piktochart.

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An example of a resource page created by Heartland Community College's Director of Online Learning & Instructional Technologist

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1. Does this tool address the objectives/outcomes? 2. Is this tool intuitive / easy to use? 3. Would this tool take a lot of 'tech support' to use (cost, technology requirements, ease of use, etc.)?...

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When I worked at Keene State College, one of the student life groups was heavily into environmentalism: many extracurricular and student learning activities were structured around making the local environment better. For example, the group held a clean-up day each year, when the students, faculty, and staff would pick a target - a local river or park - and remove garbage from the area. They would start by picking up small pieces of trash but eventually end up pulling a defunct television set or a grocery cart out of a stream somewhere.

Participating in the event was enjoyable because (a) you could see how much the work was needed, and (b) you could see the impact you had after you were done. Some things feel good; some things do good. This was both. Lately, as I've been looking at our information environment, I've started to wonder if we can utilize student engagement in a similar way.

Let's walk through this step-by-step.

Our information environment is dangerously polluted. What do I mean by this? Consider a simple Google search such as "Do avocados cure cancer?" Figure 1 is a screenshot of the top results.

Figure 1

I love avocados. I do. And they have health benefits. But these top results hype small, inconclusive studies as part of a strategy to sell supplements. In the process, they possibly give patients the false hope that they can treat cancer without medication or fend off dangerous diseases without vaccines. These web pages belong in the search results somewhere. But having them at the top of the search results is like having a broken television set sitting in a public reservoir.

This isn't an isolated case. Until recently, hitting the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button on Google when asking the question "Did the Holocaust happen?" would lead to Stormfront, a white supremacist site highlighting a page explaining why the Holocaust was a myth. Using the "I'm Feeling Lucky" button when searching on "What happened to dinosaurs?" produced a creationist site in Google Snippets (see figure 2).

Figure 2

In response to a search for "presidents in the Ku Klux Klan," the Google Snippet reports (erroneously) that U.S. Presidents William McKinley, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, and Harry S. Truman were all members of the KKK.

These issues are not harmless. People forgo treatments that could save them or make them less sick. People fear threats that are minor (e.g., Islamic terrorism in Topeka, killings by clowns, Ebola in the United States) while not being aware of real threats (e.g., climate change, declining productivity gains, painkiller addiction). Tragedies are the result: the path to radicalization for Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who killed nine people at the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 began with a set of search results for a query on "black on white crime." ¹

Institutions of higher education are partially to blame. It may be tempting to lay all the blame at the feet of Google, herbal remedy sites, or white supremacist newsgroups, but the truth is that higher education is at least partially to blame for this state of affairs. Sites like the ones above produce these pages because there is a public demand for explanations and guidance. Although some of that desire reflects a need to see one's views vindicated, many people who arrive at these pages do so as a result of earnest questions. And both sets of people are affected by what they see on Facebook, Google, or Wikipedia pages.

Meanwhile, those of us in higher education are answering much more important questions than "Do avocados cure cancer?" or "Were any U.S. presidents in the Ku Klux Klan?" We're too busy to improve the Wikipedia page on a subject or to post an informative page on a silly, poorly formed question. But in walking away from this demand, we cede the field to corporations, hacks, and charlatans. How can we complain about our "post-fact moment" if we are unwilling to supply the public with facts in the places where the public is looking, be that Facebook, Wikipedia, or Google?

Now is the time for an info-environmentalism curriculum. It's true that information pollution has been a longstanding problem in mass media. But unlike the nightly news, the web is still a collectively maintained and produced environment. We can clean it up. We can pull those televisions and shopping carts and plastic bags out of our shared information streams and Google results.

I call the pedagogy of teaching students how to improve our online information environments info-environmentalism. Like environmentalism, info-environmentalism requires a curriculum that can approach the challenge from multiple angles, providing students with understandings of various issues:

How the economic incentives of ad-tech and e-commerce contribute to information pollution

What social media companies can do to address these issues

How marginalized groups often endure abuse when trying to contribute to information spaces

How polarization, bots, corporate money, and state-sponsored action are impacting information quality

How individuals can minimize their own "misinformation footprint" by being more careful about what they post and using basic web research techniques²

One of the most powerful ways to teach this is through action. And action in this space is about getting students to improve the information environment by posting better-quality information to the web. This can be achieved in many ways: editing Wikipedia; answering questions on Quora or StackExchange; creating explanatory YouTube videos; or posting pages on blogs or wikis that provide helpful guidance on these issues.

At Washington State University Vancouver, we've begun info-environmentalism projects with classes on climate change, human development, neuroscience, library research, health policy, and anthropology. What we've found so far is that providing decent information on niche subjects is a surprisingly easy way to top the Google search results. Students have been able to reach the top three Google search results on many questions with barely any effort put into increasing rank. The Internet is flooded with people expressing their opinion on this thing or that, but there is still a dearth of objectively written, well-sourced material on the web, even in 2017. By shifting students' focus from arguing points to explaining things to others on the web, we can show our students that they can have an impact they never dreamed was possible.

Empower students to make a difference. This work is not new. I started my first info-environmentalism experiment, the Persona Project, twenty years ago, and I've pursued many others in the years since. Dozens of other projects, such as Jon Beasley-Murray's Murder, Madness and Mayhem and Jeff McClurken's digital history efforts, have inspired me since. The Wiki Education organization continues to do excellent work. Thousands of people are engaged in this field.

But I think the work of info-environmentalism is newly important and newly relevant. As the information environment has degraded over the past few years, many professors have become deeply alarmed. They, and their students, want to make things better. Those of us who are administrators, technologists, and instructional designers need to reorient our work and show them how to do so. Because if we don't yank that metaphorical broken television set out of the local stream, who will?

Notes

1. Rebecca Hersher, "What Happened When Dylann Roof Asked Google For Information About Race?" The Two-Way, January 10, 2017.

2. Michael Arthur Caulfield, Web Literacy for Student Fact-Checkers (2017).

Michael Caulfield is Director of Blended and Networked Learning at Washington State University Vancouver. He is the 2017 editor of the New Horizons column for EDUCAUSE Review.

© 2017 Michael Caulfield. The text of this article is licensed under Creative Commons BY 4.0.

EDUCAUSE Review 52, no. 6 (November/December 2017)

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When I worked at Keene State College, one of the student life groups was heavily into environmentalism: many extracurricular and student learning activities were structured around making the local environment better. For example, the group held a clean-up day each year, when the students, faculty, and staff would pick a target - a local river or park - and remove garbage from the area.

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Instructional Design & Technology (Education, Ph.D.)

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On one of the most diverse campuses in Virginia, there is no end to the fascinating mix of stories you'll hear, people you'll meet, and the interests you'll share. Those interests are reflected in the more than 200 clubs and organizations on campus open for discovery.

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HERS Leadership Training Institute for Women in Higher Ed

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HERS Leadership Training Institute for Women in Higher Ed

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HERS - Higher Education Resource Services

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Overview

...HERS has lived up to its promise; it has provided a toolkit that any woman aspiring to a leadership position would give anything to have.

Since 1976, over 5,000 women in faculty, staff, and administrative roles in higher education have further developed their leadership ability by attending the HERS Institute.

The deeply thoughtful online application process prepares every participant for the work she will embark on to strengthen and expand her leadership skills. Her viewpoint, enriched by working closely with HERS faculty, staff and alumnae, can immediately impact her campus and higher education at the Institutes conclusion. While critically assessing intersectionality and reflecting on her experiences in higher education, she will also chronicle which transferable skills she has and which skills will require additional development.

Participants find the Institute to be a safe environment to share confidential matters. The active learning style utilized by HERS faculty also leads to meaningful collaboration. The end of the HERS Institute is the beginning of something new-new methods for transforming higher education and a new professional network which possesses a deep understanding of all facets of higher education.

The Institute is offered at three locations and in two residential formats.

Wellesley: Core curriculum delivered in cumulative, multi-weekend sessions held throughout the academic year; traditionally in October, November, and March

Bryn Mawr: Core curriculum delivered in a concentrated, 12-day campus residency format; traditionally held in June or July

Denver: Core curriculum delivered in a concentrated, 12-day campus residency format; traditionally held in June or July

2018/2019 HERS Leadership Institute

Curriculum

The HERS Institute is one of the most compelling leadership development opportunities in higher education. All participants, whether selecting the Bryn Mawr College, University of Denver, or Wellesley College location, experience the same transformational curriculum and have a chance to shape the Institute to meet their unique professional needs. Prior to the Institute, participants start exploring the 3-pronged leadership development model by completing assigned reading materials and other assignments to help determine what matters most to them and their institutions. Additionally, the readings and assignments help participants start considering how they may positively lead and influence higher education.

Leadership Development Model

Self-Knowledge

Networking

Institutional Awareness

HERS has a legacy of inspiring women to change higher education by creating a community where sharing and reflecting is core. Are you ready to change higher education?

Readings and Assignments

The reading materials include pieces discussing current trends as well as some to address the evolution of higher education.

To give you a glimpse of the work participants do before starting, we highlight three of the key assignments that, according to alumnae feedback, have produced great benefits for all participants.

Interviewing senior officers on your campus

Academic (e.g. dean or vice president of academic affairs)

Financial (treasurer, comptroller, vice president of finances and administration)

Information

Student Affairs (dean or vice president)

Diversity

Development or Advancement

Executive (e.g. president, chancellor or system head)

Creating a project to change something within your unit, on your campus, or within higher education

Sharing impact, scope, potential barriers and path

Summarize your project in 75 words or less

Taking center stage on your leadership development

Revisit self-descriptive letter submitted during HERS Institute application process

Consider your personal financial plan for current goals and retirement

Noting current or prior leadership on resume or curriculum vitae

Uncover facets of your personality type

Self-assessment to better understand how you direct your energy between work and family

Who Should Attend?

HERS attracts hundreds of diverse and dynamic women leaders each year seeking to attend the Institute to share and learn from multiple institutional perspectives with guidance from women faculty with experience in higher education, national academic organizations, government and foundations.

Institute participants generally hold mid to senior-level positions and bring expertise from all parts of a college or university. They also represent a range of ethnic and national groups, ages and years of experience in higher education and other fields.

Applying to the Institute

A complete online application includes:

CV/Resume

Letters from two recommenders; one from your institution's president/CEO or senior officer AND one from your direct supervisor (e.g. president/CEO, chief officer in your area, and/or direct supervisor)

Information for Leadership Development Essay

Short and long term career goals

Expectations for your HERS Institute experience

Information for Leadership Project Initiative
Project you've been assigned or you'd like to initiate on your campus

Inclusive Excellence Tuition Rate

In keeping with the HERS mission of "equality and excellence in higher education" and acknowledging campus missions which support and educate diverse communities, we proudly offer traditionally under-resourced institutions designated as a tribal college or university, historically Black college or university, or community college an inclusive excellence tuition rate.

Applicants representing these institutions, who are considered full-time faculty and/or staff, and who cannot secure funding from other sources, can request to be considered for this rate while completing their Institute application.

If awarded, the inclusive excellence tuition rate will be equivalent to half of the regular HERS Institute tuition, not including early application discounts or accommodation packages specified at each location.

Because the goal of offering this special tuition rate is to build the strength and diversity of the HERS Institute classes, priority in awarding will reflect different institutional types, regions of the country and other factors relevant to the learning and growth of the class.

HERS Institute Core Faculty

Estela López

Senior Associate, Excelencia in Education

Estela López brings significant campus and organizational experience to her position of Senior Program Associate at Excelencia in Education. Senior administrative roles at the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Northeastern Illinois State University and the Connecticut State University System and positions with leading national higher educational associations have shaped her leadership skills and made her an effective change agent for student success.

Biography

Nancy Martin

Principal, Archer~Martin Associates

Nancy Martin is an executive search consultant, an innovative career counselor, and a best-selling author. A co-founder of Archer~Martin Associates, Ms. Martin has exceeded clients' expectations in finding top talent for colleges and universities. According to one, "For a recent search I chaired, we did not simply hope for the best-we went to the best and signed them up. As in every previous A~MA search, the university found just the right person to fill the position."

Biography

Testimonials

"The leadership training I received at HERS, as well as the sense of community and camaraderie established with my HERS sisters, was instrumental in giving me the skills and confidence I needed to 'lean in' to this opportunity."

"An experience of a lifetime and I feel very privileged to be a participant. My HERS experience has made me more confident about being able lead effectively and make a difference in higher education. It has helped me to better understand my strengths and areas where I have challenges to work on to be a more effective leader."

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HERS - Leadership Training Institutes for Women in Higher Ed

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HERS has lived up to its promise; it has provided a toolkit that any woman aspiring to a leadership position would give anything to have. Since 1976, over 5,000 women in faculty, staff, and administrative roles in higher education have further developed their leadership ability by attending the HERS Institute.

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ISLS International Society of the Learning Sciences - Conferences

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The room rate includes complimentary high-speed Wi-Fi throughout the property, one parking pass per room, per night (allowing in and out privileges), and access to complimentary shuttle van service available to transport hotel guests locally, based on availability.

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#HCCENG102
#AdjunctLife
#HigherEd

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Key Takeaways

A survey of literature regarding Twitter use in the higher education classroom finds substantial support and good advice regarding its usefulness in pedagogy.

Research found that Twitter aids students in building relationships, fosters students' connections with each other, and allows them to create meaning through sustained communication.

More research is needed to determine if Twitter can affect active learning, class participation, and learning outcomes.

When attending my teacher education program, I was repeatedly told to acquire as many tools as possible for my teacher's toolbox of plans, skills, and ideas to engage and educate. That advice proved invaluable to me as a high school teacher. Ten years later, as I begin teaching in higher education, that advice still holds, especially with the adoption of emergent technologies. However, questions persist regarding the appropriation of these new technologies into the field of education.

Among the new technologies included in higher education classrooms is Web 2.0, which over the past few years has produced inconsistent results. The preferred social media method for connecting within the learning environment, Twitter, is considered more appropriate for ongoing and public conversation. ¹ The amount of information and the manner in which Twitter puts out that information might have particular usefulness for higher education; research indicates, however, that some faculty have wearied of including social media in their classes. ² This article aims to calm the fears of faculty and instructors interested in expanding their repertoires of classroom techniques by including Web 2.0 strategies, particularly through the use of the microblogging site Twitter, as reported by various researchers and practitioners.

What Twitter Can Do in Classrooms

Of its several benefits, one significant finding of recent research was that Twitter use by students better connected those students to the content of their courses. ³ This connection includes sharing, analyzing, and applying the content to students' own ways of understanding and to their own life experiences. ⁴ Further research by Eva Kassens-Noor showed that students who used Twitter for their classes reported spending a higher amount of time on their coursework and evidenced greater engagement with the material. ⁵ In particular, the use of Twitter facilitated students' meaningful discussions about course content. ⁶

A second significant benefit of the use of Twitter is that it promotes student engagement in courses. Reynol Junco, Michael Elavsky, and Greg Heiberger found that students who were required to use Twitter for a course in which the instructor regularly participated with them on the platform showed an uptick in student engagement and grades. ⁷ Another study by Junco and his colleagues found that, in using Twitter in a course, both faculty and students became highly engaged in ways that went beyond traditional classroom activities. ⁸ Beyond this direct research on student engagement, Meng-Fen Lin, Ellen Hoffman, and Claire Borengasser found that students enjoy using Twitter in their courses. ⁹ Additionally, in the study by Kassens-Noor, each instructor who used Twitter in their classes reported that it had a positive impact on student engagement, and Christine Greenhow and Beth Robelia found that students become actively involved in their education through the use of Twitter. ¹⁰

An additional benefit of Twitter use in higher education classrooms is the ability to respond to student issues in a timely manner. ¹¹ This finding has been reinforced by incorporating Twitter into a course to provide a rapid method for disseminating current topical information. Kassens-Noor wrote about Twitter as an instant feedback tool during class and as a learning tool, noting that it aided instantaneous peer interactions. ¹²

Yet another benefit of Twitter use has been the promotion of a community of learners and the ability to connect with a professional community of practice; this happens both within and outside of the classroom. ¹³ Specifically, students who used Twitter were able to connect with each other in various nontraditional ways. ¹⁴ Noeline Wright also found that the use of Twitter developed a sense of community within classes. ¹⁵ The study by Lara Lomicka and Gillian Lord concluded that the sense of community was created and sustained through Twitter interactions. ¹⁶ Finally, Reynol Junco, Greg Heiberger, and Eric Loken found that the use of Twitter aids students in building relationships. ¹⁷ A study by Joanna Dunlap and Patrick Lowenthal concluded that it fostered students' connections with each other and allowed them to create meaning through sustained communication. ¹⁸

Similarly, Twitter has been found to increase connections in the form of interactions, connections, and on-going relationships between students and their instructors. ¹⁹ Going further, Lorena R. Munoz, Cynthia Pellegrini-Lafont, and Elizabeth Cramer found considerable communication from students with the instructors who used Twitter. In their research, they found that pre-service teachers requested help, sought clarifications on course assignments, and used the platform to express their opinions and thoughts on their futures as teachers. ²⁰

Best Practices for Using Twitter

Recommendations for Twitter's implementation and use promote the benefits described. These recommendations - based on current research and best practices - support successful implementation of Twitter in higher education classrooms. In considering the following list, note the importance of integrating the platform in educationally relevant ways: It would be counterproductive to use Twitter simply as a novelty or as a natural or emergent mode of engagement with students. ²¹

Recommendations

1. Provide a short Twitter briefing to introduce what might otherwise be a new learning tool to students in the course(s).²²

2. If using Twitter in class is new, clearly communicate the pedagogical rationale - regardless of the objective benefits of using Twitter.²³

3. Instructors interested in using Twitter in their courses should require use of the platform. A number of the students in the study by Lin, Hoffman, and Borengasser advised integrating their Twitter activity into the class requirements.²⁴ Prestridge's study found that her participants did not share or collaborate; she proposed that this occurred because she did not require the use of Twitter and hypothesized that if she had, students would engage differently with the platform.²⁵ Finally, Junco, Heiberger, and Loken found it necessary to require students to use Twitter in a course in order to reap the benefits of it; in other words, students in the study who were not required to use Twitter did not see the benefits in engagement and GPA.²⁶

4. Instructors must participate on Twitter regularly along with the students. Studies by both Junco, Elavsky, and Heiberger and Prestridge concluded that instructor engagement with Twitter when the platform is used during a course is essential to have an effect on student outcomes.²⁷

5. Define a hashtag for the course and use this hashtag in every tweet. That way followers can see the tweets, but the instructor can also search for the hashtag on Twitter to see what is being tweeted.²⁸

6. Continue to reinforce some of the tweets during lectures. For example, questions can be tweeted to the class and then discussed during class time to encourage class involvement.²⁹

What the Future Might Hold

While the field of educational technology has contributed greatly to the best practices for using Twitter in higher education classrooms, some of the research is inconsistent with these recommendations. However, as Munoz, Pellegrini-Lafont, and Cramer pointed out, Twitter use has not been studied extensively among culturally and linguistically diverse populations. ³⁰ Future research should address these deficiencies in the literature to discover whether Twitter is a useful tool across all populations in higher education.

Another avenue that the next wave of research into the use of Twitter should include is whether Twitter and other social media can affect active learning and class participation. Research indicating increased engagement by students with the course and its content, other students, and instructors did not also look for an impact on class participation. Further, while Twitter use clearly has some benefits to the overall learning experience of some students, is it possible that it actually affects learning outcomes? These topics and questions need attention in the next wave of research on Twitter in higher education classrooms.

Conclusion

Twitter remains a relatively new method of engaging and educating students in higher education, and a gap exists between the use of social media (including Twitter) and the incorporation of that social media into higher education classrooms. ³¹ This article is meant to fill in pieces of that gap with benefits and recommendations elicited from current research findings. While the incorporation of Twitter into higher education is new and research is still being conducted to identity all of its potential uses and benefits, it clearly can have positive implications when implemented in ways consistent with research. Great possibilities await with the advent, not only of this new tool, but with the research indicating how best to use it.

Notes

1. Reynol C. Junco, Greg Heiberger, and Eric Loken, "The Effect of Twitter on College Student Engagement and Grades," Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Vol. 27, No. 2 (April 2011): 119-132.

2. Stephen J. Jacquemin, Lisa K. Smelser, and Melody J. Bernot, "Twitter in the Higher Education Classroom: A Student and Faculty Assessment of Use and Perception," Journal of College Science Teaching, Vol. 43, No. 6 (July/August 2014): 22-27.

3. Denise P. Domizi, "Microblogging to Foster Connections and Community in a Weekly Graduate Seminar Course," TechTrends, Vol. 57, No. 1 (January 2013): 43-51; and Noeline Wright, "Twittering in Teacher Education: Reflecting on Practicum Experiences," Open Learning, Vol. 25, No. 3 (October 11, 2010): 259-265.

4. Meng-Fen Grace Lin, Ellen S. Hoffman, and Claire Borengasser, "Is Social Media Too Social for Class? A Case Study of Twitter Use," TechTrends, Vol. 57, No. 2(March 2013): 39-45; Sarah Prestridge,"A Focus on Students' Use of Twitter-Their Interactions with Each Other, Content, and Interface," Active Learning in Higher Education (July 2014): 101-115; and Junco, Heiberger, and Loken, "The Effect of Twitter."

5. Eva Kassens-Noor, "Twitter as a Teaching Practice to Enhance Active and Informal Learning in Higher Education: The Case of Sustainable Tweets," Active Learning in Higher Education, Vol. 13, No. 1 (March 2012): 9-21.

6. Junco, Heiberger, and Loken, "The Effect of Twitter."

7. Reynol C. Junco, C. Michael Elavsky, and Greg Heiberger, "Putting Twitter to the Test: Assessing Outcomes for Student Collaboration, Engagement, and Success," British Journal of Educational Technology, Vol. 44, No. 2 (March 2013): 273-287.

8. Junco, Heiberger, and Loken, "The Effect of Twitter."

9. Lin, Hoffman, and Borengasser, "Is Social Media Too Social for Class?"

10. Kassens-Noor, "Twitter as a Teaching Practice"; and Christine Greenhow and Beth Robelia, "Old Communication, New Literacies: Social Network Sites as Social Learning Resources," Journal of Computer‐Mediated Communication, Vol. 14, No. 4 (2009).

11. Lin, Hoffman, and Borengasser, "Is Social Media Too Social for Class?"

12. Kassens-Noor, "Twitter as a Teaching Practice."

13. Domizi, "Microblogging to Foster Connections and Community"; Lin, Hoffman, and Borengasser, "Is Social Media Too Social for Class?"; Junco, Heiberger, and Loken, "The Effect of Twitter"; Lara Lomicka and Gillian Lord. "A Tale of Tweets: Analyzing Microblogging Among Language Learners," System, Vol. 40 (2012); and Wright, "Twittering in Teacher Education."

14. Domizi, "Microblogging to Foster Connections and Community"; and Lin, Hoffman, and Borengasser, "Is Social Media Too Social for Class?"

15. Wright, "Twittering in Teacher Education."

16. Lomicka and Lord, "A Tale of Tweets."

17. Junco, Heiberger, and Loken, "The Effect of Twitter."

18. Joanna C. Dunlap and Patrick R. Lowenthal, "Tweeting the Night Away: Using Twitter to Enhance Social Presence," Journal of Information Systems Education, Vol.20, No. 2 (2009).

19. Prestridge, "A Focus on Students' Use of Twitter."

20. Lorena R. Munoz, Cynthia Pellegrini-Lafont, and Elizabeth Cramer, "Using Social Media in Teacher Preparation Programs: Twitter as a Means to Create Social Presence," Perspectives on Urban Education, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Summer 2014): 57-69.

21. Junco, Heiberger, and Loken, "The Effect of Twitter."

22. Ben Lowe and Des Laffey, "Is Twitter for the Birds? Using Twitter to Enhance Student Learning in a Marketing Course," Journal of Marketing Education, Vol. 33, No. 2 (August 2011): 183-192.

23. Ibid.

24. Lin, Hoffman, and Borengasser, "Is Social Media Too Social for Class?"

25. Prestridge, "A Focus on Students' Use of Twitter."

26. Junco, Heiberger, and Loken, "The Effect of Twitter."

27. Junco, Elavsky, and Heiberger, "Putting Twitter to the Test"; and Prestridge, "A Focus on Students' Use of Twitter."

28. Lowe and Laffey, "Is Twitter for the Birds?"

29. Ibid.

30. Munoz, Pellegrini-Lafont, and Cramer, "Using Social Media in Teacher Preparation Programs."

31. George Veletsianos, "Higher Education Scholars' Participation and Practices on Twitter," Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, Vol. 28, No. 4 (August 2012): 336-349.

Amy L. Chapman is a doctoral student in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology at Michigan State University. Her research focuses on the uses of social media, particularly in higher education populations; she is also interested in how new technologies affect identity development. Chapman holds three degrees, in psychology, history, and religious education, from Boston College.

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tweeting in higher education: best practices

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Tweeting in Higher Education: Best Practices

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A survey of literature regarding Twitter use in the higher education classroom finds substantial support and good advice regarding its usefulness in pedagogy. Research found that Twitter aids students in building relationships, fosters students' connections with each other, and allows them to create meaning through sustained communication.

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Gamification has become an increasingly pervasive part of education over the last decade. Educators in K-12 schools have found creative ways to engage students by gamifying coursework. But why are these teaching strategies not more common in higher education?

Gamification, the process of introducing elements and mechanics from games into the classroom, can often be dismissed as just a buzzword in HigherEd. HigherEd educators and students have become apprehensive of the concept of mixing work with games. The aim of gamifying the curriculum is to improve student motivation and engagement-and when applied correctly, there is evidence that games can improve student performance.

However, gamification has had both positive and negative effects in education. Here are examples of both sides.

Promising Uses of Gamification

For educators, mastering gamification requires restructuring current teaching methods. It is only successful if it is holistically integrated into the curriculum. Affixing game mechanics to pre-existing lesson plans in a slapdash manner can confuse and frustrate students; it can unnecessarily complicate simple processes. Here are some examples of well-implemented gamification:

Modeling your classroom as a role-playing game.

A well-known example of successful gamification in education is that of the work of Dr. Lee Sheldon. In 2009, this professor began modeling his classroom on a massively multiplayer online game. Students created avatars, formed guilds with classmates and completed queststo gain experience points.

Furthermore, Sheldon made structural changes to the class to offer choices to his students. Students could tackle assignments in the order of their own choice. As long as they reached level twelve by the end of the semester, they would receive an A.

According to Sheldon's book, The Multiplayer Classroom: Designing Coursework as a Game, the average grade of students rose from a C to a B under this new system. Attendance records also improved drastically. Other educators have taken notice, and many of the strategies described in Sheldon's work pervade pedagogy today.

Gamification to motivate students during lectures.

Engaging over two hundred students at a college lecture might seem like a daunting task, but Professor Cliff Lampe has found that the solution is to gamify his lectures. At the University of Michigan, Lampe has been using elements of gamification such as offering students the freedom of choice, providing rapid feedback via a monitoring system, offering chances for students to work as a team, and using "game labels" (such as those used by Dr. Sheldon).

Despite scrutiny from his peers, Lampe's strategies proved successful. The lecturer has reported that students have given extremely positive feedback to his approach. Students praise the professor's focus on collaboration and choice. Furthermore, they claim to have a greater retention of class material.

Examples of Ineffective Gamification

There are also several examples of ineffective uses of games in HigherEd. While usually well-intentioned, these attempts do not contribute to better learning. These attempts to gamify either fail to engage students, misunderstand the purpose of gamification, or merely distract students with extrinsic motivators:

Games do not always motivate students.

Virtual badges and other rewards will help to motivate some students. However, a number of students will inevitably be turned off by gamification. Due to preconceptions they may carry, they will not respond favorably to such strategies. Other students may be turned off by the competitive nature of some aspects of gamification. Some elements, like leaderboards, should be optional for students to participate in.

Simply using extrinsic motivators, such as virtual trophies or achievement points, does not always guarantee students will actually care or be more engaged. Educators must be mindful of which gaming elements they want to try to implement into the college classroom. Most gamers will agree that achievement points and virtual trophies do not make a game good. On the other hand, choice, rapid feedback, and creative design do contribute to an engaging experience. These are the elements that professors should seek to incorporate into their teaching.

Trivializing important issues.

Introducing games into the classroom can be an effective strategy. However, using games that are based on sensitive issues can be a misstep. Author and technology advocate Refranz Davis brought up an excellent example of this mistake in an article about the game Mission US: Flight to Freedom -a game intended to give an intimate look at the history of slavery in the United States. Perhaps not surprisingly, there are some troubling implications in the game. The fate of the player is dependent on what choices he or she makes; when the player ends the game as a slave, it is due to the decisions they made. The implication that slavery was a choice is absurd, and likely offensive to many students.

Successful gamification involves introducing elements of games into lesson planning, and it can guide the structure of the classroom, but merely introducing games into the classroom is not necessarily an effective approach to gamification.

However, there are clear incentives for educators to adopt high-quality gamification. The impact it has had on HigherEd has been substantial. Promising results continue to pour in from universities across the nation. Even counselors are finding novel methods of using technology to engage students. While more data will be needed, gamification will continue to find a place in classrooms at universities.

In the future, new strategies will be available in higher education. Universities are adopting BYOD policies, which will provide easier technology implementation for students. Pioneers in edtech are even finding ways to use virtual reality in the classroom. This shift will give students the chance to explore subjects in exciting ways.

Adaptability is key to successful teaching, and prudent educators should be careful to only implement proven strategies. Furthermore, routines can grow ineffectual over time-if a pedagogical approach is identical in every lesson, students will cease to be motivated by that approach. There are hundreds of platforms for introducing game mechanics into the classroom. Educators should continue to explore these options, and pioneer new ways to motivate and engage students.

For more, see:

Bob Hand is a blogger and education enthusiast. You can follow him on Twitter: @bob_hand567.
Stay in-the-know with all things EdTech and innovations in learning by signing up to receive the weekly Smart Update

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Gamification Successes and Failures in Higher Education

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Gamification has become an increasingly pervasive part of education over the last decade. Educators in K-12 schools have found creative ways to engage students by gamifying coursework. But why are these teaching strategies not more common in higher education?

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POD Network: Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education

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Join Our Conference Buddy Program

Sign up deadline is October 21

Are you new to the POD Network and would like some help navigating the conference? Are you an experienced POD Network hand and willing to share tips on how to make the most out of your experiences? Participate in our new Conference Buddy Program!

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Home - POD Network: Professional and Organizational Development Network in Higher Education

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Sign up deadline is October 21 Are you new to the POD Network and would like some help navigating the conference? Are you an experienced POD Network hand and willing to share tips on how to make the most out of your experiences? Participate in our new Conference Buddy Program!

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"Three Reasons to Ditch Tech in Your Flipped Classroom"

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"Three Reasons to Ditch Tech in Your Flipped Classroom"

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Faculty Focus | Higher Ed Teaching & Learning

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What would happen if you were to arrive to your classroom, unplug the devices, turn off the projector, and step away from the PowerPoint slides ... just for the day?

What would you and your students do in class?

This was the challenge I presented to 100 faculty members who attended my session at the Teaching Professor Conference in St. Louis this past June. The title of the session was, "Using 'Unplugged' Flipped Learning Activities to Engage Students." Our mission was to get "back to the basics" and share strategies to engage students without using technology.
Why Use "Unplugged" Strategies the Flipped Classroom?
Most of the conversations about the flipped classroom include discussions about technological tools. What video recording tool should I use? What tools are best for producing a podcast? What quizzing tool should I use to assess the pre-class work? What types of clickers should I use in class to assess learning? With all of this focus on technology, why would we want to consider flipping a class without it? Here are three reasons:

1. To focus on the process. For many faculty, the "flip" means something more than how technology is used in and out of the classroom. In my work, for example, the FLIP is when you "Focus on your Learners by Involving them in the Process." When you FLIP, you intentionally invert the design a learning environment so students engage in activities, apply concepts, and focus on higher level learning outcomes during class time.

This definition encourages us to think strategically about the learning experiences we are designing with our students so they can achieve the learning outcomes. The focus is not the technology. It's the process. It's the process of involving our students in applying and analyzing course content, making decisions, critiquing a topic, or evaluating a data set. It's the process of creating something together to demonstrate understanding or to express ideas. Sometimes technology can help with this process, but sometimes it can become a distraction which could hinder the process.

2. To improve learning and retention. Scholars continue to analyze the pros and cons of technology in the classroom and its impact on student learning, retention, and engagement. For almost every study published on the advantages of technology, you can find another study on the disadvantages. Ultimately, the learning outcomes should inform how (or if) technology is used in the classroom.

It is interesting to consider how the findings of this recent study on taking notes by hand versus on a laptop has been shown to increase conceptual thinking (Mueller & Oppenheimer,2014). And, for those of us who use slides and videos in our flipped classrooms, it's important to note the combination of images, text, videos, and our voice can be too overwhelming for some students, especially when they are introduced to new information. Using "unplugged" strategies in some of your lessons can reduce the cognitive load and help students remember what they've learned (Madda, 2015).

3. To enhance creativity and encourage real connections.
When I use unplugged strategies in my teaching, my students often say it's "refreshing" to do something different. They often comment on how "tired" they are of slides and online discussion forums. When they disconnect from the devices, they tell me it helps them think of new ideas, and they appreciate the opportunity to connect with other students who are not distracted by a screen.

Likewise, when I use unplugged strategies in faculty development workshops, faculty often say that they appreciate the opportunity to put away their phones and laptops so they can make real connections with their colleagues (and get away from feeling obligated to answer emails!).

Download the free report "Blended and Flipped: Exploring New Models for Effective Teaching & Learning." Get your copy now "
Flipping Faculty Development: Unplugged!
Speaking of faculty development, in my conference session, I wanted to engage faculty in the process of using "unplugged" tools in class to engage and involve students. To demonstrate how it can be done, and with the goal of "practicing what we preach" when it comes to faculty development, I flipped the session and placed faculty in the center of the learning experience.

The faculty participated in activities using five different "unplugged" tools: sticky notes, index cards, dice, a deck of cards, and poster paper. Each group was asked to analyze a case study using each of the tools and then brainstorm different ways these tech-free tools can be used in the classroom to increase student engagement and improve learning. I told workshop participants I would share their work in a Faculty Focus article and on my blog. As promised, here are some of their ideas:

Goal: To encourage students to ask more questions during class time.
Unplugged Tool: Dice
Strategy: Faculty member rolls the dice and the number rolled is the number of questions the students in the class must ask before class is dismissed.

Goal: To encourage students to analyze and prioritize information.
Unplugged Tool: Index cards
Strategy: Give students a case study. Ask them to individually decide which piece of information in the case is most important and write that information on an index card. Put students in groups and ask them to discuss and prioritize the cards from most to least important. Integrate their ideas into a class discussion.

Goal: To help students put information in an order.
Unplugged Tool: Sticky notes
Strategy: Give students a stack of index cards. Ask them to write each step of a procedure or process on the card and place the cards in the correct order from first step to last. Other groups can critique and change the order if needed. Use for class discussion.

For more unplugged teaching strategies created by the participants and to see the case studies, view my post on 25 Unplugged Strategies.

An important part of faculty development is to share ideas so we can all learn from each other. So, let's keep the conversation going! What "unplugged" tools or strategies have you used in class to engage students and improve learning?
Resources & Additional Reading:
Honeycutt, B. (2016). 101 Unplugged Flipped Strategies to Engage Students. FLIP It Consulting. Raleigh, NC.

Honeycutt, B. (February 13, 2017). Let's practice what we teach: Flipping faculty development. Faculty Focus. Available online: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/blended-flipped-learning/lets-practice-teach-flipping-faculty-development/

Honeycutt, B. (September 26, 2016). The flipped classroom unplugged: Three tech-free strategies for engaging students. Faculty Focus. Available online: https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/blended-flipped-learning/flipped-classroom-unplugged-three-tech-free-strategies-engaging-students/

Madda, M. J. (January 19, 2015). Why your students forgot everything on your PowerPoint slides. EdSurge. Available online: https://www.edsurge.com/news/2015-01-19-why-your-students-forgot-everything-on-your-powerpoint-slides

Mueller, P. & Oppenheimer, D. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard. Psychological Science. 25 (6), Pages 1159-1168. Sage. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797614524581
Barbi Honeycutt is a speaker, scholar, and author. She is the founder of FLIP It Consulting in Raleigh, N.C. She has published several books and developed an online course for faculty who want to learn more about the FLIP model. Connect on Twitter @BarbiHoneycutt and on her .

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Three Reasons to Ditch Technology in Your Flipped Classroom

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What would happen if you were to arrive to your classroom, unplug the devices, turn off the projector, and step away from the PowerPoint slides ... just for the day? What would you and your students do in class? This was the challenge I presented to 100 faculty members who attended my session at the Teaching Professor Conference in St.

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REPORT: Instructional Design in Higher Education

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REPORT: Instructional Design in Higher Education

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An overview of the job & field as of 2016

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Develop an Initiative to  Expand our own branch/version of @ONE in our Learning Community not just for online educators but for higher ed tech, tools, training, & collaboration!

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Develop an Initiative to  Expand our own branch/version of @ONE in our Learning Community not just for online educators but for higher ed tech, tools, training, & collaboration!

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Example
@ONEforTraining: Online Network of Educators, California Community College system. #CCCLearn @CCCOEI@CalCommColleges
http://onefortraining.org/about

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@One Network (Online Network of Educators)

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@One Network (Online Network of Educators)

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#CCCLearn

More for Professional Development

"Designed to Share: Is it the Ticket to Innovation in Higher Ed?" by

MICHELLE PACANSKY-BROCK

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When I started teaching full-time, a colleague said to me, "Teaching is one of the loneliest jobs there is." I shook my head, thinking he was nuts. Then, over time, I began to understand. As I began to grow and develop as a teacher, I realized that I was very much on my own to figure out my path. Time after time, I would prep for class, close the door, teach, and do it over again with the occasional conference or workshop interspersed along the way.

In 2007, about five years into my full-time teaching experience, I attended a conference workshop led by two K12 teachers. It was a hands-on workshop in which I was shown how to set up my own blog (which was an emerging concept at the time). I started my blog not knowing what I'd do with it, but I was too intrigued about the idea of self-publishing to ignore the opportunity. Initially, I thought a blog would be a neat way to increase communications with my students beyond the boring text announcements Blackboard provided. But after a very short period of time, I found myself writing posts comprised of reflections on my teaching and my students' learning. I did not think anyone (or many people) were reading and I'm quite sure that was the case. I think that actually made me keep doing it. I felt safe, as if I was hiding in my own little corner. But, over time, I began to receive emails and comments from strangers at conferences who acknowledged they had learned something from my blog. I thought that was a pretty cool feeling. Then, in 2009, I joined Twitter, which further fueled my ability to connect and interact with educators.

A decade later, I am on a new career path with the California Community College system as the Faculty Mentor, Digital Innovation for @ONE (Online Network of Educators) and the Online Education Initiative (OEI). My team's focus is providing professional development for CCC faculty, staff, and administrators on the effective use of technology in support of student success. That's no small feat. There are roughly 60,000 faculty in the CCC system (70% of whom are part-time), in addition to another approximately 27,000 staff and more than 2,000 admin. @ONE has done an excellent job of offering high quality online courses and webinars, in addition to an online teaching certification program, which I had a small hand in many years ago. And we are infusing some new and exciting innovations into PD that we can't wait to share.

This week, the 2017 Inside Higher Ed Faculty Perceptions of Technology Survey was released. One finding showed that 55% of faculty "typically [adopt] new technologies after seeing peers use them effectively." Luke Dowden eloquently framed this comment by saying, "Change really takes off when faculty talk to each other." I completely agree. And that is exactly why so many faculty developers regularly hold workshops and why so much money is spent on traveling to conferences. But we need to remember that digital tools enable faculty to spread their ideas to a much wider audience - beyond the edge of their campus, across the state, the nation, and beyond. These are ideas that I began to explore in my role with Teaching & Learning Innovations at CSU Channel Islands and I look forward to developing them further in the future. Campus-based faculty conversations are vital and we need to encourage more of them, but what really interests me is how digital water-cooler moments affect change.

Yesterday, I invited a group of connected educators from the CCC system to join my team and I for a brief presentation about the new @ONE Community endeavors, which will augment the online courses, webinars, and certifications that @ONE has and will continue to offer. I shared a vision for "digital water cooler moments" and then showcased some of the cool ways we are planning to support CCC faculty, staff, and administrators to share their work, their innovations, their problems, and their questions about teaching with technology.

In December, after we launch our new website, I will write in detail about these efforts. For now, if you'd like a preview, feel free to watch the 30-minute recording of my presentation below. Comments are encouraged, especially in the form of Tweets with the hashtag #CCCLearn.

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Designed to Share: Is it the Ticket to Innovation in Higher Ed? - MICHELLE PACANSKY-BROCK

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When I started teaching full-time, a colleague said to me, "Teaching is one of the loneliest jobs there is." I shook my head, thinking he was nuts. Then, over time, I began to understand. As I began to grow and develop as a teacher, I realized that I was very much on my own to...

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Web Based "Choose Your Own Adventure" text written by student

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Web Based "Choose Your Own Adventure" text written by student

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Student written Text Based Adventure "Modnar"

http://twinery.org/
@twinethreads

Twine is an open-source tool for telling interactive, nonlinear stories.

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After packing the essentials, you take your last steps outside the door. One long glance at your childhood home suffices. Having no idea where to start, a seizure of panic attacks you. Suddenly, you realize you are being watched. As you gaze about you, a hooded figure catches your eye.

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Connected learning combines personal interests, supportive relationships, and opportunities. It is learning in an age of abundant access to information and social connection that embraces the diverse backgrounds and interests of all young people.

Meet Abigail: A Connected Learner

Read more about positive peer relationships on Wattpad here, in a report.

Elements of Connected Learning

The research is clear: Learning is irresistible and life-changing when it connects personal interests to meaningful relationships and real-world opportunity.

Spotlight: YOUmedia Chicago

YOUmedia, a youth digital makerspace in Chicago's main downtown public library, embodies the values and elements of connected learning.

YOUmedia centers on digital media production such as music, art, poetry and journalism. Young people can "hang out socially, mess around with new projects and geek out" in areas of specialization when they want to take the leap. Librarians and mentors organize showcases, support the production of various projects and broker connections to other opportunities in their interest area.

Youth who participated at YOUmedia saw clear results.

Feeling emotionally and physically safe and a sense of belonging

Becoming more involved in the chosen interests they brought to YOUmedia

Improving in at least one digital media skill

Improving academic skills: better communication with adults and improved writing ability

Understanding more about opportunities available to them after high school

Elements of Connected Learning Environments

Connected learning does not rely on a single technology or technique. Rather, it is fostered over time through a combination of supports for developing interests, relationships, skills, and a sense of purpose.

Educators have been putting connected learning into practice through a wide range of networks and organizations, in both formal and informal environments.

Educator Networks

The National Writing Project, Young Adult Library Services Association and the Consortium for School Networking have embraced the connected learning framework. Click [here] to learn more about connected learning in teaching practice.

Connected Learning In Action

Programs and organizations designed around connected learning are serving young people around the country and world.

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About Connected Learning - Connected Learning Alliance

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You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience. Connected learning combines personal interests, supportive relationships, and opportunities. It is learning in an age of abundant access to information and social connection that embraces the diverse backgrounds and interests of all young people.

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University of Northern Iowa DH Trend Report

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University of Northern Iowa DH Trend Report

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This question has been debated in numerous books, articles, blog posts, and elsewhere. (Carter, 2013; Gold, 2012; Terras, Nyhan, & Vanhouette, 2013). Various conferences, institutes, and centers discuss digital humanities issues and train new scholars in the field. Every year since 2009, scholars have been invited to answer the question, "Just what do digital humanists really do?" on the Day of DH web site ( http://dayofdh2015.uned.es/). "At its core, Digital Humanities (or DH) is an emerging, interdisciplinary movement which looks to enhance and to redefine traditional humanities scholarship through digital means" (Adams & Gunn, 2013). Donald J. Waters, a scholarly communication program officer at the Mellon Foundation, notes that early digital humanities projects anchor the field and its tools in three broad areas: textual analysis, spatial analysis, and media studies. He further defines the digital humanities as "the application of tools and processes to the "why possible?" questions of humanistic inquiry." (2013, p.8).

Collabora tive Nature of Digital Humanities Projects

Digital humanities research usually involves collaboration of individuals with different types of expertise: subject, analytical, data management, and project management. Some universities have established digital humanities research centers, and some academic libraries are collaborating with such centers. In other cases, collaboration takes place on an ad hoc basis.

Some entries in the Examples From Other Universities section below explain which groups collaborate on particular projects. For example, the University of Alabama Digital Humanities Center web site's Projects section includes a description of "To See Justice Done:" Letters from the Scottsboro Boys Trials. This includes an explanation of the content as well as a list of Project Contributors, which included individuals from academic departments, a university press, a museum, and the Alabama Digital Media Center.

Digital Humanities @ UNI

Several digital humanities projects are under way at UNI. FORTEPAN IOWA, for example, "features curated photos taken by ordinary Iowans across the nineteenth and twentieth centuries." All images are available for free public download and can be browsed by collection, geographic area, or year. It was launched in March 2015 under the direction of UNI professors Bettina Fabos, Leisl Carr-Childers, Sergey Golitsynskiy, and Noah Doely. To mention one more example, The Postville Project "works to collect, preserve, and present the stories of Postville, Iowa before, during, and after the 2008 immigration raid at the Agriprocessors meatpacking plant." This project was launched in 2009 by Luther College and UNI under the direction of Thomas Kessler in collaboration with the Luther College archivist.

Rod Library seeks to collaborate with and to support digital humanities research on the UNI campus. UNI ScholarWorks offers a platform for archiving, storing, and sharing such research.

Examples From Other Universities

These are examples of digital humanities efforts under way at universities around the U.S. They provide information about their services, describe recent projects, and explain the technologies offered to support research.

Digital Humanities Projects Around Campus, University of Illinois
Projects include Women in Print, Maps of Africa to 1900, and Motley Collection of Theatre & Costume Design.

Digital Humanities Center, Columbia University
This center offers various services to Columbia faculty and students to help them incorporate text, bibliographic, image, and video information into their projects.

Alabama Digital Humanities Center Projects, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa
Projects include Shakespeare au/in Quebec, Digitizing Civil Rights, To See Justice Done: Letters from the Scottsboro Boys Trials, and Scenes from the Lincoln Normal School.

Center for Digital Humanities Projects, University of South Carolina
Projects include Romantic-Era Lyrics, Van Gogh: The Life, and Victorian Lives and Letters Consortium.

References

Adams, J.L., & Gunn, K.B. (2013, April). Keeping up with...digital humanities. Retrieved from Association of College & Research Libraries web site: http://www.ala.org/acrl/publications/keeping_up_with

Carter, B. W. (2013). Digital humanities: Current perspective, practices, and research. Bingley, UK: Emerald.

Gold, M.K. (Ed.) (2012). Debates in the digital humanities. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Terras, M., Nyhan, J., & Vanhoutte, E. (Eds.) (2013). Defining digital humanities: A reader. Farnham, Surrey: Ashgate.

Waters, D. J. (2013). An overview of the digital humanities. Research Library Issues, no. 284, 3-11.

Rod Library Scholarly Communication Committee

This trend report was prepared by the Rod Library Scholarly Communication Committee, whose charge is to provide leadership within the Library and University to promote an understanding of scholarly communication issues, identify strategic initiatives, and to develop partnerships. The committee maintains a guide with additional information on scholarly communication topics. Members of the committee are:

Ellen Neuhaus (Chair); Associate Professor of Library Services, Digital Scholarship Librarian

Angela Cox; Assistant Professor of Library Services, Instruction & Liaison Librarian

Thomas Kessler; Associate Professor of Library Services, Collection Strategist Librarian & Acquisitions Coordinator

Stanley Lyle; Professor of Library Services, Instruction & Liaison Librarian

Katherine Martin; Associate Professor of Library Services, Head, Collections and Museums

Jennifer Waldron; Professor, School of Health, Physical Education, and Leisure Services

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This question has been debated in numerous books, articles, blog posts, and elsewhere. (Carter, 2013; Gold, 2012; Terras, Nyhan, & Vanhouette, 2013). Various conferences, institutes, and centers discuss digital humanities issues and train new scholars in the field. Every year since 2009, scholars have been invited to answer the question, "Just what do digital humanists really do?"

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This area reflects the intersection of computing and disciplines that explore human culture. While technology has long been leveraged for teaching and learning in science, engineering, and related disciplines, it also can play an essential role in advancing literature, creative writing, art, and the social sciences. Digital storytelling in the form of video narratives and museum technology ("mustech") such as the use of virtual reality for creating interactive art exhibits are two examples of digital humanities entrance points, but the sky is the limit for this burgeoning field. In this pathway, learn about tools, techniques, and initiatives that are making the humanities more immersive and 21st century.
Learn more about the session tracks.
Register for the 2017 NMC Summer Conference!
Digital Humanities
Pete McCauley (University of Minnesota)
Jeffrey Emanuel (Harvard University)
Jeanne Kerl (Northwestern University)
William Shewbridge (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
Beverly Bickel (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
Lee Boot (University of Maryland, Baltimore County)
Read more... Jillana Enteen (Northwestern University)
Read more... Jeff Steward (Harvard University)
Arthur Barrett (Harvard University)
Read more... Greg Steinke (University of Minnesota)
Read more...

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2017 Summer Conference Digital Humanities

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This area reflects the intersection of computing and disciplines that explore human culture. While technology has long been leveraged for teaching and learning in science, engineering, and related disciplines, it also can play an essential role in advancing literature, creative writing, art, and the social sciences.

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Using Social Media in Educational Environments

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Using Social Media in Educational Environments

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It is argued that social media has the potential to bridge formal and informal learning through participatory digital cultures. Exemplars of sophisticated use by young people support this claim, although the majority of young people adopt the role of consumers rather than full participants. Scholars have suggested the potential of social media for integrating formal and informal learning, yet this work is commonly under-theorized. We propose a model theorizing social media as a space for learning with varying attributes of formality and informality. Through two contrasting case studies, we apply our model together with social constructivism and connectivism as theoretical lenses through which to tease out the complexities of learning in various settings. We conclude that our model could reveal new understandings of social media in education, and outline future research directions.

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Social media and education: reconceptualizing the boundaries of formal and informal learning

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It is argued that social media has the potential to bridge formal and informal learning through participatory digital cultures. Exemplars of sophisticated use by young people support this claim, although the majority of young people adopt the role of consumers rather than full participants.

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Understanding and Using Social Media on College Campuses

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The purpose of this book is to help higher education professionals approach social media initiatives strategically. It presents a framework for systematically thinking about the Internet Technology Environments (ITE) in which faculty, staff, and administrators operate.

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Changing the Culture of Social Media ("Info-Environmentalism")

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Changing the Culture of Social Media ("Info-Environmentalism")

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Creating an Educational Social Media Culture of Discourse.
Example - "Open Science Now!": https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_nielsen_open_science_now#t-248049

Combating the Negative.
Example - "The Price of Shame"
https://www.ted.com/talks/monica_lewinsky_the_price_of_shame

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Wael Ghonim: Let's design social media that drives real change

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Wael Ghonim helped touch off the Arab Spring in his home of Egypt ... by setting up a simple Facebook page. As he reveals, once the revolution spilled onto the streets, it turned from hopeful to messy, then ugly and heartbreaking. And social media followed suit.

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EX: Twitter Fiction
(interesting to consider: uproar about possible 280 character switch on Twitter due to it damaging the genre)

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In the 1930s, broadcast radio introduced an entirely new form of storytelling; today, micro-blogging platforms like Twitter are changing the scene again. Andrew Fitzgerald takes a look at the (aptly) short but fascinating history of new forms of creative experimentation in fiction and storytelling.

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Mapping. Coding. Connecting. Time/Place/Type/Space/Theme

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The proliferation of digital content has been a disruptive force in the archival profession, in terms of both volume and volatility. The ease with which electronic files can be generated and manipulated and can be found in proprietary formats presents a host of challenges to appraisal and long-term access. Rather than stabilizing a single authentic analog original, digital content must be actively managed, backed up, and preserved, and it must remain human-readable. Benign neglect, though never desirable, is not a viable option. Yet though the paradoxical fragility of electronic records - digitized as well as born-digital - poses a challenge to the many archives already operating with minimal resources, this also presents an opportunity to recast and reimagine the role and relevance of archives, in terms of professional ethics as well as public perception.

When archivists are asked about some of the primary stereotypes they encounter in daily interactions and media coverage, "dusty boxes," materials waiting to be "discovered," and "repositories for the old, the obsolete, and the analog" are often cited. The literature and the discourse of allied professional organizations clearly show that the archival profession - like related fields such as higher education, libraries, and museums - is grappling with ways to diversify the voices represented in its collections and its workforce. From questioning the presumed neutrality of the terms used to describe and categorize archival collections for access, ¹ to calling attention to the conspicuous absence of people of color in both the archival record and the profession, ² and even to pushing back on the reductive notion that archives and archivists are passive, reactive, and static, it is clear that archives are at a crossroads as such arguments increasingly gain traction in the mainstream of the profession.

One recent example is the 2017 annual meeting of the Society of American Archivists (SAA), which featured a day-long forum - "The Liberated Archive" - that sought to go "beyond good intentions to explore how archivists might partner with the public to repurpose the archive as a site of social transformation and radical inclusion." Due to a confluence of factors, including a workforce that is increasingly contingent, socially aware, and eager to interrogate and embrace the ethical responsibilities and ramifications of cultural record-keeping in a tech-savvy and culturally sensitive way, such explorations are becoming commonplace at the grassroots level. Nonetheless, SAA's endorsement of such a progressive program, one that featured community activists as archival equals, feels significant - signaling that perhaps the mainstream profession is turning away from the notion of archives and archivists as unequivocal custodians, authority figures, and de facto gatekeepers of the historical record and moving toward an archival praxis that is collaborative, empathetic, and more fully self-aware of its limitations and strengths.

While technology has certainly been a disruptive force in an archival profession already in flux, it also presents a significant opportunity for participatory and post-custodial approaches that seek to shift curatorial authority and access to the communities represented. In this model, archivists work side-by-side with community members to actively rectify gaps in historical coverage and proactively document the present day. Digital preservation best practices already call for earlier intervention and dialogue with prospective donors or collaborators, both to draw on their subject expertise and to work with them to ensure that archived content is viable in terms of longevity and findability. Digital archives likewise have the potential to reach audiences beyond the physical space of a brick-and-mortar repository.

Digital archiving, moreover, invites archivists to revisit core assumptions about authorship and authority, about context and hierarchy, and about advocacy versus agency. In short, "we occupy a moment in history in which the largest percentage of the world's population ever possesses the power and potential to author and create documentation about their lived experiences." ³ While power and potential do not equate to effortless or automatically all-encompassing archiving, various types of digital archiving initiatives are harnessing the power of technology to expand the reach of participatory archiving, develop increasingly sophisticated and sensitive post-custodial approaches, broaden the cultural record to represent more diverse voices, and respond to current events.

Participatory archives in a digital context can include crowdsourcing description, such as enlisting community members for describing images, transcribing handwritten script, translating from or into other languages, tagging items, or otherwise contributing to making sense of what is preserved. ⁴ Some examples include DIY History from the University of Iowa Libraries, the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration's Citizen Archivist program, and Metadata Games.

Post-custodial archives, as the moniker implies, seek to separate records management from physical custody. In this model, records creators retain custody of their records, and archivists provide some oversight into management of the records. ⁵ A prominent institutional example of this approach is the University of Texas Libraries, which have partnered with organizations in several countries to digitally document human rights struggles, the records of which are often extremely fragile and susceptible to loss. ⁶ This work includes the Human Rights Documentation Initiative, Genocide Archive Rwanda, and the Digital Archive of the Guatemalan National Police Historical Archive.

Increasingly, participatory and post-custodial digital archives initiatives are also visibly and proactively responding to document current events, seeking contributions on an ongoing basis, and documenting events close to home, with an emphasis on a digital presence. Participatory and multifaceted archives initiatives have arisen in response to events such as the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing ( Our Marathon), the nationwide Women's Marches in January 2017 ( Women's March on Washington Archives Project, Art of the March, UW Libraries Special Collections, Women's March on Washington Archives Project), various efforts to document the Black Lives Matter movement (#blacklivesmatter Web Archive) and police violence ( A People's Archive of Police Violence in Cleveland), as well as exclusively digital archives dedicated to documenting underrepresented communities and stories in their own words and on their own terms (the South Asian American Digital Archive, the Transgender Archive).

Social media is another area ripe for collaboration, as evidenced by projects such as Documenting the Now, a partnership between Washington University in St. Louis, the University of California at Riverside, and the Maryland Institute for Technology in the Humanities to develop tools for archiving and analyzing tweets and related links in an ethical and effective way. Archivists are also collaborating with data scientists and many others to archive vulnerable government data related to climate change (the Environmental Data & Governance Initiative Archiving Data) and other areas of current political contention ( Data Rescue Boston).

Technology has greatly democratized the archival process in some ways, introducing a proliferation of open-access tools and nascent participatory initiatives. On the other hand, the digital divide is real. Online access does not necessarily mean improved access for everyone, nor should it be mistaken for digital preservation in and of itself. Moreover, there are significant ethical considerations: What constitutes consent in an online environment, particularly when personal data can be mined by government or private organizations for punitive purposes? ⁷ When we digitize collections, who is doing the labor? ⁸ What about communities that do not want their information made publicly available? ⁹ Careful consideration and engagement of these ethical issues is a crucial component of a truly participatory archival practice.

As demonstrated here with just a few examples, many repositories and individuals are taking increasingly collaborative and interdisciplinary approaches to meet record creators where they are and to think critically about what gets saved, who has access, and who is at the table when these decisions are made. ¹⁰ Ultimately, libraries and archives are not neutral, and technology is not neutral. ¹¹ Naming something, preserving something, valorizing something - all are critical acts that should be undertaken with great intention and recognition of our own biases and limitations. ¹²

Notes

1. Sam Winn, "The Hubris of Neutrality in Archives," Medium, April 24, 2017.

2. Bergis Jules, "Confronting Our Failure of Care Around the Legacies of Marginalized People in the Archives," Medium, November 11, 2016.

3. Jarrett M. Drake, "RadTech Meets RadArch: Towards A New Principle for Archives and Archival Description," Medium, April 6, 2016.

4. Kate Theimer, "The Future of Archives Is Participatory: Archives as Platform; or, A New Mission for Archives," ArchivesNext, April 3, 2014.

5. Society of American Archivists, Glossary, "postcustodial theory of archives," accessed September 12, 2017.

6. Theresa E. Polk, "Archiving Human Rights Documentation: The Promise of the Post-Custodial Approach in Latin America," Portal, August 5, 2016.

7. Bergis Jules, "Surveillance and Social Media Archiving," Documenting DocNow, October 3, 2016; April Hathcock, "Creative Commons Requires Consent," At the Intersection, March 20, 2016.

8. 8.S. Williams, "Implications of Archival Labor," Medium, April 11, 2016.

9. Tara Robertson, "Digitization: Just Because You Can, Doesn't Mean You Should," Tara Robertson (blog), March 20, 2016.

10. Jules, "Confronting Our Failure of Care."

11. Stacie Williams, "Librarians in the 21st century: It Is Becoming Impossible to Remain Neutral," Literary Hub, May 4, 2017; Ellen Ullman, "Gender Binary," Harper's Magazine, July 2017.

12. Winn, "The Hubris of Neutrality in Archives"; Netanel Ganin, "White Privilege Is Not in the Library of Congress Subject Headings," I Never Metadata I Didn't Like, October 10, 2015.

Sofía Becerra-Licha (on LinkedIn) is Associate Director of the Berklee Archives at the Berklee College of Music.

© 2017 Sofía Becerra-Licha. The text of this article is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0.

EDUCAUSE Review 52, no. 6 (November/December 2017)

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participatory and post-custodial archives as community practice

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Participatory and Post-Custodial Archives as Community Practice

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The proliferation of digital content has been a disruptive force in the archival profession, in terms of both volume and volatility. The ease with which electronic files can be generated and manipulated and can be found in proprietary formats presents a host of challenges to appraisal and long-term access.

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ITS and the Library recently hosted the first Digital Seminar of the academic year. October's topic was "Research Computing and the Digital Humanities", and the seminar consisted of a panel discussion with George Morris, Director of Research Computing, and members of his team that work most closely with faculty in Arts and Humanities departments. Please join us after the jump for a conversation with George and more information about Research Computing!
Q: What is Research Computing?
Research Computing is an ITS group dedicated to delivering infrastructure, application and consultation services to enable researchers to access, analyze, manage and present data and information related to their research. We support the entire college across all research disciplines.
Q: Who's on your team?
John Wallace (Research Systems Engineer) and Mark Boettcher (Senior Programmer and Analyst) probably work most closely with faculty in the Arts and Humanities. Jianjun Hua (Statistical Consultant) and Steve Gaughn (GIS Specialist) have also been involved in different DH projects. Richard Brittain (Research Systems Engineer), Bill Hamblen (Research Systems Engineer), and Susan Schwarz (Research Software Engineer) work most closely with faculty in the Sciences, and John Hudson (Senior Systems and Network Administrator) manages Dartmouth's high-powered computing cluster.
Q: What sorts of faculty projects does Research Computing support?
There is great diversity in the size and scope of projects we support. From big data genomic analysis to understand the relationships between genes and disease to applying sequence alignment technology for intertexuality studies in classic literature.
Q: Can you give me examples of a few projects?
Certainly! Here are a few Digital Humanities projects my team is currently working on:

Scott Sanders' (French and Italian) Multimedia in the Long Eighteenth Century project (website forthcoming). We are creating a process to perform searches for musical paratext in huge (>100,000) collections of English- and French-language texts published between 1688 and 1815. The project is already on the downhill side and expected to be fully functional later in the year, but one paper has already been published on the project and several more are expected.

My team is also working with Nicola Camerlenghi (Art History) on Mapping Rome to create GIS and visualization tools to perform 3D fly-throughs of Rome at different points in history. Maps, architecture, and artwork will be geographically and chronologically accurate. Mapping Rome currently resides in large ArcGIS database servers at the University of Oregon, and the project will move forward in collaboration with UO and Stanford researchers.

Other projects include Michelle Warren's Remix the Manuscript, Mark Williams' Media Ecology Project, and Pramit Chauduri's Classical Intertextuality and Computation. We've also begun working with Wen Xing and Hua-Yuan Li Mowry on projects involving Chinese character analysis.
Q: What's the best way to contact Research Computing?
The simplest way to contact us to write an email to research.computing@dartmouth.edu. We're always available to consult with faculty on their computational needs, so please send us an email!

The Digital Seminar occurs during the third week of the month in the Arts and Humanities Resource Center (201 Bartlett Hall) and features discussion and presentations from faculty and staff on topics in digital approaches to research and teaching. Past topics have included augmented reality, teaching with social media, and virtual exhibitions.

Please send an email to Scott Millspaugh if you'd like to receive notifications about upcoming Digital Humanities events at Dartmouth!

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Research Computing and the Digital Humanities

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ITS and the Library recently hosted the first Digital Seminar of the academic year. October's topic was "Research Computing and the Digital Humanities", and the seminar consisted of a panel discussion with George Morris, Director of Research Computing, and members of his team that work most closely with faculty in Arts and Humanities departments.

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Journal of Digital Humanities

The Journal of Digital Humanities is currently on hiatus.

An experiment in scholarly communication conducted by RRCHNM's PressForward Project, JDH was born of the desire to publish the most interesting and innovative digital humanities gray literature. Funded by the first PressForward grant (2011-2014) from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, JDH was closely linked to RRCHNM's publication, Digital Humanities Now. Metrics for DHNow's blog posts, conference presentations and white papers were used to identify content for JDH, where it was then revised, expanded upon, and eventually published in quarterly issues.

As an in-house, experimental publication, JDH accomplished its mission to provide essential insight for launching similar publications at a wide range of research organizations, the core focus of PressForward's second (2014-2015) and third (2015-2018) phases. With this role behind it, JDH is taking a break while we at RRCHNM plan a sustainable second act. Our hope is that JDH will re-emerge as a journal that continues to highlight work in digital humanities. Until then, we are at work on an analysis of JDH 's first two years, and will share that publicly on its completion. Previous issues will remain archived and available for download.

Journal of Digital Humanities, Vol. 3, No. 2

Introduction

The Editors

The digital contexts of our scholarly practice impact not only the kind of work that we may do as humanists, but also how we represent changes in theory and methods over time. Whether we are preserving, analyzing, or representing cultural heritage collections, interpreting digital media, or communicating through open repositories or social media, our activities [...]

"...archival theory and practice need to be an integral element of such a critical framework, along with evolving historiographical and professional practices. The digital medium has challenged historians to expand their knowledge about archives, and understand their function in generating scholarship and knowledge."

Joshua Sternfeld, Katharina Hering, Kate Theimer, and Michael Kramer

"In addition to plotting related instances of digital media scholarship and creation, the Guide unpacks digital media, itself as a territory in which coordinates are enmeshed in humanities and social sciences research."

Alex Christie

ISSN 2165-6673

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Journal of Digital Humanities The Journal of Digital Humanities is currently on hiatus. An experiment in scholarly communication conducted by RRCHNM's PressForward Project, JDH was born of the desire to publish the most interesting and innovative digital humanities gray literature. Funded by the first PressForward grant (2011-2014) from the Alfred P.

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Bringing Digital Humanities into the Classroom

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Bringing Digital Humanities into the Classroom

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I recently attended a professional conference where Digital Humanities (DH) was the hot topic. For those of you in other disciplines, DH is a field of scholarship (and pedagogy) that is often described as being at the intersection of humanities and computing. The idea is that humanities scholars who have traditionally worked alone in the ivory tower, or more accurately, in archives, libraries, museums, and in the field, are now engaging in collaborative, cross-disciplinary research endeavors that involve large data sets, computational analysis, and new methods of visualizing information. Publication for DH scholars had moved from the monograph to open access, web-based, collaborative, and social media outlets. Twitter, in particular, is the social medium of choice for the DH field. At the conference I attended, everyone seemed to be tweeting.

If you'd like to learn more about DH, there is concise guide provided by the University of Richmond Boatwright Memorial Library that includes a few seminal texts as well as links to resources, tools, and examples of projects. A comprehensive bibliography, which can be downloaded as a Word document, has been put together by some of my colleagues in the Visual Resources Association. Two DH organizations to look at are the Alliance of Digital Humanities Organizations and HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory). Beyond the research aspect of DH, I am interested in how one might take DH into the classroom.

A Google search on "digital humanities teaching" yields a lot of results. Two guides to check out are the University of Delaware Library's Digital Humanities: Teaching Resources, and University of Kansas Libraries guide to Digital Humanities: TEACHING: digital humanities in the classroom. There is a book that includes some case studies, which range from a course at the doctoral level to a freshman writing course, published as open access- Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices, Principles and Politics (edited by Brett D. Hirsch). You can download it as a PDF. Perhaps most illuminating from my perspective was a blog post by Ryan Cordell, Assistant Professor of English at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts and a Mellon Fellow of Critical Bibliography at the Rare Book School in Charlottesville, Virginia. How Not to Teach Digital Humanities (February 1, 2015) chronicles Cordell's evolution in thinking about and teaching what started out as an introduction to digital humanities course.

My own thinking, which is aligned with Cordell's, is that in teaching undergraduate humanities courses we need to be most concerned with the essential practices and methods of DH work. I agree with Cordell that our students may be called digital natives, but many of them are not digitally (or visually) literate. They may not be fully comfortable with the intricacies of technology in spite of their abilities to text at astonishing speeds. The DH practices that point to skills that would be useful for students to develop have to do with working collaboratively, thinking critically, understanding the importance of narrative and visual communication, and communicating using new media. Arguably, these are abilities that will be useful to students pursuing any 21 st century career path. Many DH practitioners would add coding to the list. I agree that humanities students should be introduced to and encouraged to learn coding of some flavor. Cordell cites TEI (text encoding initiative) as a low-barrier example that allows students to see the power that coding might have in humanities research.

Cordell used non-traditional assignments to introduce students to new media: "Those assignments push them beyond their comfort zone-for English students, their comfort zone is writing a 7 page paper-asking them to consider the medium as well as the message of their own research and arguments." The Center for Educational Resources, where I work, has been encouraging faculty to explore non-traditional assignments with output in video, blogs, wikis, electronic posters, timelines, visualizations, and applications such as Omeka, WordPress, and a mapping tool developed in house.

Whether or not DH is still a hot topic in the future, Cordell imagines a positive outcome if "...DH methodologies have become widely-accepted as possible ways (among many) to study literature, history, and other humanities subjects...." I see that exposing our students to these ways of thinking and communicating will also have a positive outcome.

Macie Hall, Senior Instructional Designer, Center for Educational Resources

Image Source: Digital Humanities Wordle created from T he Digital Humanities and Humanities Computing: An Introduction, Schreibman, S, Siemens, R, and Unsworth, J. [Anonymous] http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/5672950/Digital_Humanities

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I recently attended a professional conference where Digital Humanities (DH) was the hot topic. For those of you in other disciplines, DH is a field of scholarship (and pedagogy) that is often described as being at the intersection of humanities and computing.