Digitizing the Humanities: Codifying Project Processes While Enhancing Critical Thinking Skills © Center for Educational Resources, Johns Hopkins University 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 author. To disseminate otherwise or to republish requires written permission from the author.

Who we are Center for Educational Resources Johns Hopkins University Theron Feist, Sr. Information Technology Specialist Rae Brosnan, Sr. Information Technology Specialist Mike Reese, Assistant Director

Agenda Arthur Vining Davis Foundation Mini Grant Program Framework: Program, Project, and Technology Development Standards Questions & Answers

AVD Mini Grant Program Dynamics The Grant : $200K awarded from Arthur Vining Davis Foundation in early 2001 The Objective: To develop critical thinking skills in humanities courses The Team: Small CER staff and no established project teams. The Program: No established processes or protocols. Minimal grant prescribed guidelines.

High Level Process Overview

Program Level Program Level Objectives Define overarching goals, requirements, and standards Define application criteria for individual project awards Establish application guidelines and deadlines Solicit applications Compile, review, analyze applications Identify and award winners Determine High Level Evaluation Plan

Program Application Application Process Purpose Define current course dynamics and structure Communicate course objectives Describe potential solutions Determine faculty commitment to the project Application Process Benefits Facilitates faculty ownership and buy-in Sets expectations for faculty and CER Informs project level needs analysis Preliminary definition of project scope

Proposals Accepted Intro. to the History of European Art I & II Intro. to Fiction and Poetry I & II Intro. to Film Great Books: The Western Tradition Museum Studies History of Florence Philosophy Photography – The Documentary Tradition The American West

Project Examples Introduction to Film Well established course Strong history and course structure Data collected from past students Film-based learning objectives Critical thinking-based learning objectives Great Books: The Western Tradition New course with no JHU History One out of four instructors / departments in place Primary goal was to build course, technology tools were secondary (but also essential) Logistics and partnerships were key initial focus Reading, writing, and discussion intensive Introduction to the Study of Film

Project Level

Defining Project Level Objectives Project Level Objectives Define course environment and objectives in further detail Identify project team members Identify resources to build/implement Define evaluation process Begin to discuss ownership and hand-off Report on project progress to the CER Director

Project Analysis Example Introduction to Film Survey existing course resources Interview faculty and past students Analyze past performance Great Books: The Western Tradition Interview primary faculty and participating faculty in detail Review existing materials from past, similar courses Examine technology solutions to meet faculty goals Introduction to the Study of Film

Project Staffing CER staff act as PM Additional faculty Other departmental staff Resource librarians TAs / AVD Fellows Departmental IT specialists Undergraduate staff Enterprise IT specialists

Project Management Tools Building from a common framework provided by the ADDIE model we set additional standards in order to manage projects in a uniform fashion. These included the following: Standard Budget Templates Standard Project Plan Format Documented Common Goals Common Data Collection Template via Web Based Surveys (PPI) Standard Reporting Format for Monthly Project Reports

Monthly Reporting Template I. Project Description II. Project Progress A. Past Month Milestones B. Past Month Milestones Detailed C. Future Month Milestones III. Issues/Concerns

Common Evaluation Approach PPI Focus Groups Faculty Interviews (pre and post) Student Interviews Student/faculty surveys

A Common Evaluation Data Collection Tool Standard data collection template for Participant Performance Index Developed at University of Michigan

Technology Development Level

Technology Development Level Objectives Implement new resources Conduct formative and summative evaluation Recommend next steps and improvements Identify new funding opportunities Ensure sustainability of project / grant / technology deployments

Support & Sustainability

Sustainability Example

Issues and Recommendations IssuesRecommendations Many students reported the online film clips do not play, are choppy, lose sound or picture, and in general don’t work well. TAs: Review the clips on multiple machines in various settings (on campus, off campus) and investigate methods to reduce the clip size. There are too many online film clips; students feel obligated to view all of them because they aren’t able to distinguish which one(s) are most important. TAs and faculty: Reduce the number of clips online and/or rank or rate the clips as to their importance to the concept. Introduction to Film ResultsArt History Results IssuesRecommendations Glossary would be more useful if it contained images in definitions. Add images to glossary for some words. Link words defined in the glossary when they are used within another word’s definition Hotlink glossary definitions. Random Image ID Activity – Give instructions to maximize screen to help visibility Add to instructions for activity Add a link to the textbook’s web site (Stockstad at Prentice Hall) Working group will discuss; probably not appropriate because of nature of Stokstad’s activities on the web site – could be confusing to students.

High Level Process Overview

The Real Story It’s never easy for faculty to separate from the existing support structure and team It’s hard to establish CER staff as project manager while instilling ownership in faculty Finding department resources to maintain project resources is difficult Large teams can be difficult to manage

Successes We funded 11 projects instead of 4 Resources are being adopted by other courses within departments (and beyond) Librarians are now working with faculty in different areas Multidisciplinary approach being adopted Undergraduates get valuable opportunity New funding being attracted

ThankYou For more information about the projects: Documentary Traditions: Introduction to Film: Great Books: