Professor Jeffrey McClurken shows students how to blend the traditional and the digital.
UMW’s Digital Storytelling Course Featured in EDUCAUSE Review
A certain strand of the Computer Science 106 course (a.k.a ds106, a nickname for Digital Storytelling 106) is the subject of an article by Alan Levine in the recent issue of EDUCAUSE Review Online called “ds106: Not a Course, Not Like Any MOOC” . The article frames the experimentation that went on here at Mary Washington with the open, online versions of this course from Spring 2011 up and until the present. The vision of the open online course ds106 is described as thus:
Characteristic of ds106 is its distributed structure, mimicking the Internet itself, and its open-source non-LMS platform. Students are charged with registering their own domain, managing their own personal cyberinfrastructure, and publishing to their own website. Via the WordPress plugin FeedWordPress, all content from students is automatically aggregated to the main ds106 site—but all links go back directly to the students’ sites.
What’s more, the course challenges conventions surrounding digital storytelling, online identity, and the state of online visual and vernacular culture more generally:
Most classes in digital storytelling revolve around the personal video narrative form as popularized by the Center for Digital Storytelling. But ds106 storytelling explores the web as a culture, as a media source, and as a place to publish in the open. Not claiming to authoritatively define digital storytelling, ds106 is a constant process of questioning digital storytelling. Is an animated GIF a story? What does it mean to put “fast food” in the hands of Internet pioneers? Why would we mess with the MacGuffin? Is everything a remix? Though this is perhaps simply semantic wordplay, ds106 is not just “on” the web—it is “of” the web.
And while the class has moved beyond UMW and taken on a life of its own at other universities and colleges, as well as within a vibrant open, online community, the spirit was in many ways born of the experimentation and innovation happening at UMW”s Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies over the last eight years:
No one claims ownership of ds106. Its success can be traced to innovation supported by the University of Mary Washington and carried out by the UMW Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies (DTLT) and to the vision of former UMW leaders Gardner Campbell and Chip German and DTLT team members: Jim Groom, who crafted much of the spirit and drive of ds106; Martha Burtis, who built many of the key web pieces (and has taught the class); and Tim Owens, who shaped the design and functionality of the sites. But the contributions extend further. UMW student Aaron Clemmer built a twitter bot that updates the current content on ds106 radio, itself a contribution of open participant Grant Potter
(University of Northern British Columbia).
Thanks to the work of all of UMW’s faculty, staff and students UMW has become a model for re-imagining instructional technologies as well as teaching and learning in the digital age, and this tradition of experimentation continues on as a faculty development and student enrichment effort through the Domain of One’s Own initiative.
Laurie Abeel Presents at Four Conferences in Fall 2012
Laurie Abeel, Associate Professor for Graduate Education, presented at regional, state, and national conferences in October and November 2012. Her presentations focused on creative problem solving, assessing growtih for gifted and talented students, and instructional impications of problem solving style. She is also the Creativity Network Chair for the National Association of Gifted Children (NAGC).
Tim Owens, Jim Groom Presented at Emory University
Jim Groom
Tim Owens
On Tuesday, January 29th, Tim Owens and Jim Groom, in the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, were invited to speak about Domain of One’s Own at Emory University’s inaugural “Symposium on Digital Publication, Undergraduate Research, and Writing.” The presentation covered the current pilot of UMW’s Domain of One’s Own while sharing the remarkable faculty development initiative happening around the pilot as well as the full blown implementation of this project come Fall 2013 wherein UMW gives all of its incoming freshman sponsored access to their own domain and web hosting.
Participation in UMW’s CVC Campaign Increases
The most recent report from CVC indicates Virginia is “at 96% of last year’s totals, and this is a tremendous achievement in a difficult year.” UMW stands at 28 within the state, with overall contributions at $14, 451. We improved our percentage of participation from 7 percent to 10 percent, and our average gift for this campaign was $204. Thanks to all who participated, and a special thank you to our “ambassadors,” who helped coordinate giving in their various divisions.
— Lori M. Izykowski, Office Manager and Executive Assistant to the Vice President for Advancement and University Relations
Discounted Tickets for Disney on Ice
UMW employees are eligible to purchase discounted tickets for upcoming performances of “Disney on Ice: Treasure Trove” at the Verizon Center. Special pricing is available for the opening night show on Wednesday, Feb. 13, as well as several performances from Thursday, Feb. 14 through Monday, Feb. 18. For more information, visit https://eagleeye.umw.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Washington-DC-D26-2013.pdf.
Jeff McClurken’s Class Airs on C-SPAN This Weekend
A class session from Associate Professor and Chair of History and American Studies Jeffrey McClurken’s U.S. History in Film course will air on C-SPAN 3 on Saturday, Feb. 2 at 8 p.m. and midnight and on Sunday, Feb. 3 at 1 p.m. The class session, focused on the 1939 film “Gone With the Wind,” was filmed at UMW in October 2012. For more information, visit http://www.c-span.org/History/Events/Lectures-in-History-Gone-with-the-Wind/10737437341/.
Kevin Bartram Receives Award and Serves as International Adviser
Kevin Bartram, music director of the UMW Philharmonic Orchestra, received the College Orchestra Directors Association (CODA) Recognition Award for outstanding service and dedication to the organization. Bartram, who serves as national development chair of CODA, received the award during the organization’s annual conference in Cleveland, Ohio, on Jan. 19.
During his trip to Cleveland, Bartram met with the Minister of Culture for the Republic of Argentina José Luis Castiñiera de Dios about IberMusicas, a new partnership between the U.S. and Central and Latin American countries for orchestra and music education. As a result of the meetings with Bartram and other officers in CODA, the U.S. is moving forward on developing relationships with 13 countries, including Mexico, Spain, Portugal and Brazil. Bartram will serve as an adviser and consultant to the development of orchestral music and education in these countries, and will assist in the promotion of Latin music in the U.S.
Radio Show Features UMW Chemistry Professor
Leanna Giancarlo, chair and associate professor of chemistry at the University of Mary Washington, will discuss issues surrounding boosting student performance in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields, during an interview scheduled to air on the “With Good Reason” public radio program. The program, “STEM Education in America,” will air beginning Saturday, Jan. 26.
Giancarlo, one of four experts in the program, will explore the negative stereotypes of scientists in pop culture. The program also will feature Linda Rosen, the chief executive officer of Change the Education, Robert Tai, associate professor in the Department of Curriculum, Instruction and Special Education at the University of Virginia and Sevan Terzian, associate professor and associate director of graduate studies at the University of Florida’s College of Education.
Giancarlo earned a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania, after receiving a bachelor’s of science in chemistry from the University of Scranton. Giancarlo is a member of the Sigma Xi Scientific Research Society, the Virginia Academy of Science and the American Chemical Society. A recipient of UMW’s Alumni Association Outstanding Young Faculty Member Award, she also received a School of Arts and Sciences Dissertation Fellowship while at the University of Pennsylvania.
“With Good Reason” airs weekly in Fredericksburg on Sundays from 1-2 p.m. on Radio IQ 88.3 Digital. To listen from outside of the Fredericksburg area, a complete list of air times and links to corresponding radio stations can be found at http://withgoodreasonradio.org/when-to-listen/.
“With Good Reason” is the only statewide public radio program in Virginia. It hosts scholars from Virginia’s public colleges and universities who discuss the latest in research, pressing social issues and the curious and whimsical. “With Good Reason” is produced for the Virginia Higher Education Broadcasting Consortium by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and is broadcast in partnership with public radio stations in Virginia and Washington, D.C.
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News release prepared by: Sarah Tagg