Weaving Learning Across the Campus: First Book Project Goes Online at Maryland Phyllis Peres, PhD Paulette Robinson, PhD Carol Burbank, PhD Copyright Phyllis Peres, PhD, Paulette Robinson, PhD, Carol Burbank, PhD. This work is the intellectual property of the author. Permission is granted for this material to be shared for non-commercial, educational purposes, provided that this copyright statement appears on the reproduced materials and notice is given that the copying is by permission of the authors. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the authors.

Agenda  The Laramie Project: Administrative  Laramie Goes Online: Technical  Using Laramie to Teach: Pedagogical

Introduction to First Year Book  First Year Book – a campus-wide initiative for all first year students  A program sponsored by Office of the Associate Provost for Academic Affairs and Dean for Undergraduate Studies  Program began in 1993 with Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address”

As a Campus-wide Community First Year Students at Maryland have various academic homes and identities These include Honors, College Park Scholars, Gemstone, Thematic Living- Learning Programs, First Year Focus Clusters and Learning Communities, Academic Majors First Year Book Project as a learning community that cuts across disciplines A shared intellectual experience for all first year students and beyond

Past Experience with First Year Book Past experiences with the First Year Book have been successful within select courses, programs,etc poetry collection, Blessing the Boats novel, Snow Falling on Cedars The First Year Book communities in the past have consisted of “learning silos”

The Laramie Project Selection selection – The Laramie Project First time partnership with Student Affairs – Campus Book A text about community Hate crimes on campus Criticism of Maryland’s First Year Book selection How to address issues?

Goals of Putting the First Year Project Online Activities Next steps for students Playwright’s presentation Resources for Faculty Linked resources for students Online archive Breaking out of the silos – interdisciplinary/inter-course discussions

What This Means Teaching and Learning interactive communities The means for inter-course communication, activities, and projects –interdisciplinary perspectives WebCT as the base for a shared learning experience across the First Year and across campus

Administrative Challenges –Putting a structure/schedule into place to facilitate the use of the space. –Creating a list of faculty who will use the First Book in their classes and uploading students into the space. –Getting faculty to come to a workshop to create activities across classes –Motivating faculty to use the space for student discussions, submitting activities, submitting student work, teaching across courses

Faculty Workshop Orientation to the WebCT space Small group activity to create activities faculty could use to process the Laramie Project— generated 5 activities that could cut across more than one class. Invitation to submit additional activities as well as student work for a project archive

Creating the WebCT Space Graphic artist/web developer managed the WebCT space created for the project. She also created the look and feel as well as the organization of the space with a collaborative team. Paulette loaded in over 3,000 students into the space and more than 50 faculty at the beginning of the semester from lists collected by Phyllis. Instructional Web-developer as well as graphic artist created the project map for the project.

The Laramie Project Space

Special Projects

Events

Resources

Project Map

Discussions

Polling

Activities

Technical Challenges Collaboration between partners— getting timely feedback Finding staff time for the project Technical expertise for the project Getting materials to put into the space Getting students and faculty into the space

CULTURAL RIPPLES: The Design Concept Events in Laramie rippled out to challenge American homophobia and intolerance The play creates similar ripples wherever it is performed

CULTURAL RIPPLES: The Design Concept (cont) History, cultural change and art/theatre overlap in the interface design as in The Laramie Project. Topics in the different circles are both distinct and inter-related Projects in each topic approach challenging ideas from different angles and disciplines

Interactivity: Students Communicate... Across ripples Across courses Across majors Anonymously Through owning their strengths Intellectually Politically With and about cultural ethics

Benefits of Modules and Problem-Based Learning Concrete tasks lead to analysis Assignments grounded in questions Paradoxes can be built into the process Projects are shared among students Projects become building blocks for further work Interdisciplinary collaboration honored

BENEFITS FOR FACULTY Community-building tool Shared database of teaching ideas Collaboratively driven by faculty, OIT professionals, students and administrators Archivable documents for tenure package or potential publication Accessible experiential training for improving online teaching effectiveness.

CHALLENGES FOR FACULTY Human resources must be in place: –Understanding/articulate OIT professionals –Motivated and articulate faculty –Existing and accessible college network –Ongoing training available throughout project –Deans/administrators committed to funding and organizing project (outside & inside OIT) –Genuine pedagogical collaboration

CHALLENGES FOR FACULTY Technology resources must be in place: –Computer labs for students who need access and/or speed –Adequate internet connections at school –Supporting programs already in the system –Classrooms must support website display –Up-to-date faculty computers

Next Steps Continued development of WebCT resources and technology to transform the First Year Book Project to a true interdisciplinary learning community Taking full advantage of WebCT capabilities Faculty/TA/Peer training Academic partnerships

Collaboration through technology is a lot of work; it’s only worth doing when it enhances communication, community, and curriculum. The point is to create a tool for teachers and students. We start with a good reason to teach this way, and build from there.