Course Syllabus

Week

Schedule

January 22

Introductions

*Main campus, K-141

-     Introductions to Canvas

-       Introductions to Lynda.com

-       Introductions to Coursera

-       Signing up for HASTAC

-       Creation and joining of HASTAC Group

-       Learning to post on Canvas

-       Reclaim Hosting; sign up and install Wordpress instance

-       How to use Collaborations on Canvas

-       Download text editor

January 29

Taking part in “The History and Future of Higher Education” Week 1.

https://www.coursera.org/course/highered

Watch Coursera Video Week 1: Guiding Principles and Driving Concepts; Let’s Get Started.

Coursera week description:

This week introduces the idea of a purposive, activist history--learning how and why educational institutions were constructed in the past, for specific historical purposes and in specific contexts; and helps us understand the present and gives us some tools for beginning to shape a different future.  We will look at information revolutions from the cuneiform (the beginning of writing in Ancient Mesopotamia) to the World Wide Web.  Almost all of our current educational institutions--the apparatus, forms, and metrics--were created for the last Information Age, for Fordism and Tayloris, for the age of steam-powered presses, machine-made Paper, and machine-made ink. Pundits were alarmed back then, too, about distraction, shallowness, lack of values, attention, or the work ethic in the youth of the era--even about pedophiles preying on young girls giddy and defenseless from too much novel reading.   Looks at the “21st century literacies” we need now in an era where issues of privacy, publicity, security, access, cost, ethics, intellectual property, safety, credibility, collaboration, global consciousness, design, open learning, and ethics all need careful thinking and action.  

We will ask two recurring questions:  who’s behind the camera?  Education Is Social, Technology is Social.  Whose Labor Makes Our Learning Possible?   People, Institutions, Structures (Often Unacknowledged).  Who Are Our (Sometimes Hidden) Teachers?  How Do They Support Us?  How Do We Recognize Who They Are?  Which Are the Lessons That Last a Lifetime?  Why?

Readings:

●      Davidson, Cathy N. “How a Class Becomes a Community: Theory, Method, Examples”. Field Notes to 21st Century Literacies:  A Guide to New Theories, Methods, and Practices for Open Peer Teaching and Learning. 2013. HASTAC, RapGenius.

“Forum: A Bill of Rights and Principles for Learning in a Digital Age”. 2013. Online.

Lynda.com Work:

Wordpress Essential Training: Introduction, Units 1-4 (about 90 mins of video). You have up to February 4, 12pm, to complete the viewing for this video.

Assignments Due:

1. Discussion post on discussion section for Week 1 by Tuesday, 12pm, day before class. Should include:
   1. Reflections on COURSERA Video discussion and notes towards a learning manifesto for this class
   2. Reflections on creating your own Domain.
   3. Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 
   4. Your own domain must be set up on Reclaim Hosting, and Wordpress installed. Submit the web link to get graded by Tuesday, 12pm, day before class.

During Class Meeting Online:

1. We will discuss and brainstorm a manifesto for this class, which will then be posted on HASTAC.

February 5

Taking part in “The History and Future of Higher Education” Week 2.

https://www.coursera.org/course/highered

Watch Coursera Video Week 2: The iPod Experiment as Learning Model, or Learning vs. Education. + Discussion of FemTechNet White Paper.

Coursera week description:

Duke University’s iPod experiment became international news.   Why?  What happens when students are in charge?   What happens when education begins without knowing the answer (whether in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics--or STEM fields--or in the creative or performative arts, or in humanistic historical or critical thinking, curiosity and inductive logic should be inspiring learning).  The modern professional disciplinary form of education emphasizes, by contrast, content acquisition.   Why?  Survey of Western educational ideas from Socrates, to Descarte, Diderot, and Kant.  Looks at the Humboltian University (based on Friedrich Schleiemacher’s liberal ideas of importance: strict control & disciplines, from preservation of accepted knowledge to Advancement of New Knowledge) and French ideas of importance of certification, degrees, conformity of views, reputation, hierarchy of elite education. Looks at history of higher education in North America, from the University of Mexico (1551) to founding of first research university (Johns Hopkins University in 1876) to MOOCs. Keywords for the Industrial Age vs. Connected Age.  

Readings:

1. FemTechNet, Transforming Higher Education with Distributed Open Collaborative Courses (DOCCs): Feminist Pedagogies and Networked Learning. 2013. Online.
2.  Davidson, Cathy N. “Introduction” and “Chapter 3. Project Classroom Makeover.” Now You See It:  How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn. New York: Penguin Books. 2011. Print. Free download: click on the blue button saying “Free download” on the left side of this page

Lynda.com Work:

Wordpress Essential Training: Units 5-8 (about 2 hrs of video) You have up to February 4, 12pm, to complete the viewing for this video.

Assignments Due:

• Discussion post on FemTechNet white paper, Davidson’s chapters, the history of educational institutions and learning vs. education due by Tuesday, 12pm, day before class.
• Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 
• Biographical page created on your own Wordpress blog with your own professional photograph uploaded. Submit a link to your biological page to get credit.

During Class Meeting Online:

1. We will discuss the COURSERA Video and troubleshoot any problems you had setting up. Discussion led by student.

EXTRA NOTES

Key Points of FemTechNet White Paper (from blog by Thelma Young, October 9, 2013):  

1. Effective pedagogy reflects feminist principles: "Feminists often describe their classroom as collaborative, engaged, and interdisciplinary." By exploring how to bring these values further into higher education it will value not just feminist courses, but all fields could replicate and explore.
2. Several currently existing reforms efforts do little to change the status quo: "MOOC efforts often represent a step backwards, by promulgating a standardization of format rather than a focus on processes that support global access to learning and the reciprocity of teaching and learning." FemTechNet has thought a lot about various ways to not leave disenfranchised isolated students out of the learning process.
3. Access to technology does not guarantee access to knowledge, and respecting the investment of labor is critical to facilitating real learning: "The celebration of MOOCs discounts the financial and affective costs that they in fact require." There are broad structural implications of relying on technology to create reform. It's important to also think of wider social issues as well as the examine the full costs of MOOCs.
4. Technoscientific choices are not values neutral, and building infrastructure is not simply about choosing components among corporate, consumer products: "Although universities often make large investments in hardware, building the infrastructure that we need in higher education actually involves rethinking traditional notions of ownership of property."
5. The FemTechNet DOCC is an innovative experiment from which many stakeholders will learn: The DOCC 2013 is an experiment created by scholars in a wide number of fields and we hope that through a variety of assessment measures, not just numeric ones, we can learn best practices that could serve many people.

February 12

Taking part in “The History and Future of Higher Education” Week 3.

https://www.coursera.org/course/highered

Watch Coursera Video Week 3: Teaching Like It’s 1992.

Coursera week description:

The world changed on April 22, 1993, when a free World Wide Web browser called Mosaic 1.0, that made the Internet easy to use, was released by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications, while, at the same time, policy changes allowed more school, home, and business connections to the network. The combination gave the general public the ability to publish anything to anyone else online--without the intervention or safety net of an editor or publisher.  That’s a tremendous responsibility and opportunity that ushered in our Information Age.  We should be training students to be productive participants in this era.  We’re not.  We’re still teaching like it’s 1992. “Uneven Development” - Marx’s counter to idea of Linear Progress (“trickle down”).  Since SATs in 1926, high school acts as college prep. Erosion of alternative models (vocations). Filter and funnel - social mobility and education.  Outside of the classroom, we no longer learn the same way we did in 1992, but we’re still teaching like it’s 1992 inside the classroom. Focus on assessment methods, peer-to-peer open learning, new tools for data analysis (and precautions).    We’ll also look at what the thirty-year downward trend in public educational funding has meant in the U.S. and how it is altered the demographics of education for public and private schools and worldwide.   We’ll look at how higher education in the U.S. now accelerates rather than diminishes income inequality.  We’ll also talk about the problems of a profession where over 70% of the faculty are now contingent or adjunct (non-permanent, no benefits, no security, sometimes below livable wage).  How do MOOCs fit into the picture?  Do they help?  Do they hurt?  Why do legislators want to believe MOOCs will solve a problem caused by a thirty-year and escalating defunding of public education?   And what is the difference between peer-to-peer open and participatory learning and MOOCs?

Readings:

1. Duke Surprise Endings. 2012. Dukesurprise.com (student-created online self-paced course)
2. Peddycord III, Barry and Elizabeth A. Pitts. “From Open Programming to Open Learning:  The Cathedral, the Bazaar, and the Open Classroom.” Field Notes to 21st Century Literacies:  A Guide to New Theories, Methods, and Practices for Open Peer Teaching and Learning. HASTAC, RapGenius. 2013.
3. Davidson, Cathy N.  “How We Measure,” Now You See It:  How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn. New York: Penguin Books. 2011. Print.

Assignments Due:

1. Construct a GoAnimate video on the history of higher education, measuring and defunding state education, and your point of view about this video (you will need a personal subscription, it will cost $18 for 3 months, the duration of the semester) https://goanimate.com/plussignup/?hook=plus_feature.site&gpperiod=year
   1. Free alternative: use Bitstrips to create your own comic for these assignments. Site: http://bitstrips.com/pageone  
2. Upload your GoAnimate video on Youtube/ Publish your bitstrip and embed it in your discussion post
3. Discussion post explaining your GoAnimate video/bitstrip and your reaction to the readings. The post should contain your embedded video/discussion post. Discussion post on discussion section and video due by Tuesday, 12pm, day before class.
4. Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 
5. Revise your discussion post and submit on your OWN WORDPRESS blog with embedded video by Friday, 12pm.

During Class Meeting Online

There will be NO class meeting online today.

February 19

Taking part in “The History and Future of Higher Education” Week 4.

https://www.coursera.org/course/highered

Watch Coursera Video Week 4: 10 Ways to Change the Paradigm of Higher Education (and Unlearning)

Readings for Coursera:

1. Adrianne Wadewitz, “What I Learned as the Worst Student in the Class” http://www.hastac.org/blogs/wadewitz/2013/08/12/what-i-learned-worst-student-class
2. Davidson, Cathy N.  “The Epic Win.” Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn. New York: Penguin Books. 2011. Print.
   1. Stratton, Jennifer. “Everyday by Design:  What do 21st Century Digital Literacies Look Like?” Field Notes for 21st Century Literacies: A Guide to New Theories, Methods, and Practices for Open Peer Teaching and Learning. HASTAC, RapGenius. 2013.   

Lynda.Com Work:

1. Wordpress Essential Training, Units 9-13. (About 2 hrs of video)

Assignments Due:

1. Upload and tweak a new theme on your blog using what you have learned on Lynda.com. Submit a link to your blog and write 200 words on what you have tweaked about the theme, and your evaluation of your efforts.
2. Discussion post (due Tuesday 12pm)
   1. Explaining to the concept of “unlearning” and your response to it
   2. Explaining your change of theme, choices for this change, and how you have tweaked the appearance of the theme and what you hope to have achieved with it.
   3. Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 

During Class Meeting Online

Discussion of “Unlearning” and Wordpress led by student.

Feb 26

Taking part in “The History and Future of Higher Education” Week 5.

https://www.coursera.org/course/highered

Watch Coursera Video Week 5: Innovations in Pedagogy (Methods) and Assessment

Coursera week description:

This focus is on pedagogy and assessment - because how you teach is what you teach, and what you count is what you value.  

Reading:

1. Davidson, Christina C. “Open for Whom?: Designing for Inclusion, Navigating the Digital Divide.”Field Notes for 21st Century Literacies: A Guide to New Theories, Methods, and Practices for Open Peer Teaching and Learning. Print, HASTAC, RapGenius. 2013.  
2. Davidson, Cathy N. “How We Measure.” Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work, and Learn. New York: Penguin Books. 2011. Print.
3. Grant, Sheryl.  Measuring What Matters:  Designing a New Credential and Assessment System from Scratch. Online.

Lynda.Com work:

1. Wordpress Essential Training, Units 14-17. (About 1 hr of video)

Assignments Due:

1. Discussion post on:
   1. Reaction to concepts: student leading, assessment, how to demonstrate mastery of content
   2. How would you redesign assessment in a classroom for 21^st century literacies?
   3. How you have secured your Wordpress site.
2. Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 

During Class Meeting Online

Discussion of assessment, student leading and Wordpress led by student.

March 5

Taking part in “The History and Future of Higher Education” Week 6.

https://www.coursera.org/course/highered

Watch Coursera Video Week 6. How to Make Institutional Change.

Reading:

1. Morgan, Patrick Thomas. “Practicing Web Wisdom: Mindfully Incorporating Digital Literacies into the Classroom.” Field Notes to 21st Century Literacies:  A Guide to New Theories, Methods, and Practices for Open Peer Teaching and Learning. Print, HASTAC, RapGenius. 2013.
2. Davidson, Cathy N. and David Theo Goldberg. “Chapter 5. Institutions as Mobilizing Networks: (Or, ‘I Hate the Institution--But I Love What It Did for Me.’” The Future of Thinking:  Learning Institutions in a Digital Age. MIT Press. 2009. Available online or in print. Free download here: https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/default/files/titles/free_download/9780262513746_Future_of_Thinking.pdf

Lynda.Com Work

1. HTML Essential Training: Units 1-4 (About 97 mins of video)

Assignments Due:

1. Discussion post on:
   1. Reaction to end of COURSERA course
   2. Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 
   3. Revise your discussion post and submit on your OWN WORDPRESS blog by Friday, 12pm
   4. Submit using Codepen.io a link to your post for the week in HTML form

During Class Meeting Online

1. Discussion of end of COURSERA, and starting HTML

March12

No class, Spring break

March 19

Guest Lecture with Professor Tatiana Rapatzikou

Assignments due:

1. Lynda.Com HTML Essential Training, Units 5-10
2. Assignment: submit link to with images, hyperlinks, videos and a list in HTML and CSS using Codepen.io. Submit the Codepen link to me using Assignments on Canvas.

March 26

What are the Digital Humanities?

Readings:

1. Debates in DH - Part 1, Defining the Digital Humanities

http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates

2. A Digital Humanities Manifesto http://www.humanitiesblast.com/manifesto/Manifesto_V2.pdf

3. "How Did They Make That?" by Miriam Posner 

4. "What Digital Humanists Do" by Paige Morgan

DH projects to review and discuss:

- Bamboo Dirt

- DH Commons

MORE PROJECTS will be given out to you closer to the date.

Assignments Due: Blog post on readings

During Online Class Discussion: Discussion of readings led by student

April 2

Because of PRECEPTING, Class will not meet, but assignments due by 9pm: Lynda.com Work:

-       HTML Essential Training, Unit 11-16 (about 2 hrs of video)

-       Discussion post on your experience learning HTML and CSS

NOTE:

Extra credit for attending and taking part in Re:Humanities conference, April 3-4

Prof. Koh will be giving the keynote for this digital humanities conference for undergraduates. Stockton students will receive free housing and meals if they choose to attend. Let me know if you’re interested in attending in advance.

April 9

Textual, Computational Analysis and forms of Rhetoric

Reading. Selections from:

Franco Moretti, Graphs, Maps, Trees: Abstract Models for Literary History.

All readings will be available on Canvas as PDF

DH Projects to Review and Discuss:

• • Voyant
  • Wordle
  • Textal
   

Assignments Due:

• Discussion post on readings and DH projects to review due by Tuesday, 12pm, day before class.
• Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 

During Online Class Discussion: Discussion of readings led by student

April 16

Critiques of Digital Humanities

Readings:

- Alan Liu, “Where is Cultural Criticism in the Digital Humanities?” Debates in the Digital Humanities http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/20

- Tara McPherson, “Why Are the Digital Humanities So White? Or Thinking Through the Histories of Race and Computation.” Debates in the Digital Humanities http://dhdebates.gc.cuny.edu/debates/text/29

- Journal of Digital Humanities 1:1 (http://journalofdigitalhumanities.org/1-1/)

- #DHPoco Open Thread: The Digital Humanities as a Historical “Refuge” from Race/Class/Gender/Sexuality/Disability? (http://dhpoco.org/blog/2013/05/10/open-thread-the-digital-humanities-as-a-historical-refuge-from-raceclassgendersexualitydisability/)  

Assignments Due:

• Discussion post on readings due by Tuesday, 12pm, day before class.
• Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 

During Online Class Discussion: Discussion of readings led by student

April 23

New Models for Scholarly Publishing, Authorship and Sharing

Readings:

- Kathleen Fitzpatrick, Planned Obsolescence (read, at least, the chapters on “peer review,” “authorship,” and “the university”):

- Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular  

Please read the introductory editorial statements from several issues and familiarize yourself with a number of projects in your discipline.

- Roy Rosenzweig, “Can History be Open Source? Wikipedia and the Future of the Past”

DH projects to review and discuss:

-       Digital Humanities Now (www.digitalhumanitiesnow.org)

-       DHThis (www.dhthis.org)

Assignments Due:

• Discussion post on readings and DH projects to review due by Tuesday, 12pm, day before class.
• Two responses to other student discussion posts (two will be assigned to you at 12.01pm Tuesday). Responses are due by 12pm, Wednesday, day of class. 

During Online Class Discussion: Discussion of readings led by student

April 30

LAST DAY OF CLASSES

*Main Campus, K-141

Assignments:

-       Produce a GoAnimate video/create a bitstrip that summarizes your take on digital pedagogy and the digital humanities—what you have learned this semester.

-       Submit link to final revised video/bistrips and post under Assignments by Friday, 12pm, for final grade.

In Class:

Presentations on your videos, and celebrations!