Applied e-learning in literature teachings in the humanities. Or: How I learned to love the code
Vision · My project is constructed around the following vision for the literature teachings at the humanities: E-learning supports cultural and social learning processes and must therefore be implemented in the teachings at the University of Southern Denmark (SDU). The student network as well as the teacher’s community will benefit from this implementation. The projects case study has two major focuses: 1) SDU’s e-learning platform Blackboard and 2) an web based update of the studies and teachings of nordic literature at the Centre of Nordic Language and Literature. Blackboard · Knowledge craves knowledge, this seems to be one of the principal “laws” behind the general use of the World Wide Web. Enormous amounts of data- and information are available and this simple fact alone boosts both curiosity and thirst for knowledge enhancement. In 2003 most companies have homepages, e-commerce is growing economical factor in the Danish segment of the WWW, and the growing number of anglicisms in the Danish language shows that Danish (and therefore also Danish literature) is in a state of change, partly influenced of the World Wide Web. As in the rest of the Western world, convergence is a megatrend in Danish media. TV news is Web news is Paper news is Radio News and so on and so forth … New media (eg. web pages, SMS, mail, computer games) constitutes the single most important social and cultural trend since approximately 1990. Despite the obvious fact of this, it is necessary to underline that the teachings in Danish literature today do not reflect the common trend in media convergence. To include new media in literary studies and teachings seems obvious, nevertheless most researchers/teachers have absolutely no experiences whatsoever in regard to new media and thus neglects to include it in their teachings. Two years ago the e-learning system Blackboard was implemented at SDU as a part of the university’s offerings with regard to e-learning, still e-learning has won no general use amongst the researchers at the Centre of Nordic Studies. - Why is that? What can be done to implement e-learning in the literary teachings? The technological basis of the Blackboard system is a HTML generated user interface. In the Virtual Classroom everything is Java generated. However useful these formats should be complemented with publishing in eg. the .pdf format. The National Department of Teaching recommends .pdf publishing in public sites in the following document: http://www.fsk.dk/fsk/publ/elarkiv/inde0005.htm#0001. (in Danish) With HTML, Java and .pdf formats the basic need for text and image publishing is supposedly covered. The use of formats like .jpg, .ra, .mp3, mpeg, .wav and finally PowerPoint- presentations is also needed, though, and will be used extensively in this projects teaching. Parts of existing printed lecture material will be published in BB – with due respect to publishing rights, of course. The next step will be to incorporate video recordings of the teaching sessions. This aspect will function both as a part of the general documentation and as a help to the students. Future internal teacher evaluation meetings will perhaps include video documentation, in online meetings this aspect will be of essential value. Furthermore physically disabled students will be able to follow the teachings from home, and finally, everybody in the class will be able to repeat the lectures. The (web based) visual repetition of lectures is considered of high importance. Primary Goals · The project’s empirical research stands on three pillars:
Next it is intended to research in and develop new teaching approaches, based on web technologies, Video on Demand (streaming) being the foremost important area. Finally the project will move to a theoretical examination of ways in which literary theory and –analysis can be updated with regards to the newest fictional literature, which on its part is recognized by a general artistic collaborative effort. The arts blend and literature adopts artistic expressions that previously were considered non-literary. “Blending” is a useful metaphor for this tendency. How does e-learning affect teachings? Well, first it must be noted, that the Blackboard system is developed in the US and the Blackboard user interface has not been translated to Danish. Thus it is expected that it is going to take the users some time to accustom themselves to Blackboard. Important tasks in the first part of the project are:
The present study of the Danish literature is based on an historical core where every aspects of Danish literature supposedly is covered. Never the less, a fast survey amongst lecturers reveals that it is primarily Danish Literature from the middle ages and forward to 1980 that is being lectured. The importance of "updating" the literary study with studies and teachings in contemporary literature must be underlined. A primary hypothesis of this project is that an update must be executed alongside with the implementation of e-learning. The second primary goal of this Ph.D. project is to develop an e-learning platform to the teachings in literature. E-learning must be implemented in basic theoretical subjects such as Literary Theory and Contemporary Literary History. It is an implicit concern of this project, that e-learning generates a positive network based synergetic side effect. But it is important to note, that students as well as lecturers need to establish new focuses and goals, considering both literature and teaching traditions, in the virtual e- learn community. Starting point · A negative side effect of the de-centralized campus structure on the University of Southern Denmark (four areas in Funen and Southern Jutland) has been that the lecturers live almost in every part of Denmark. This means that the employees commute to and fro SDU with a notion of the premise: “Everyone here comes from somewhere else.” The same applies to the students. Furthermore the student as of today asks for more flexible learning offers. The humanities has always been known to conduct dialog oriented, classroom lectures. In 2003, however, the situation is different. The national tendency towards the “mass university” demands new and more flexible lecture-offerings: The classroom teaching is sometimes inconvenient in the every day life of a student who may have a work, children, physical handicaps and a lot of other things to take care of. An e-learning forum like the Blackboard-system (which University of Southern Denmark have at disposal) will establish the foundations for a strong virtual community, a virtual teaching forum, where the students – partly – study and work. Nevertheless, the project is developed from a notion of “digital homelessness” amongst the researchers at the Centre of Nordic Studies. Many researchers have only recently accustomed themselves to the mail client. Browsing on the web is still not considered a reasonable part of general preparation. Documentation · There is a double strategy behind this projects intention of general documentation. Firstly I will seek to document every aspect of the project online and ad hoc. Next – and just as important – I will implement the documentation in the projects thesis. Important parts of my project will be published online, both on www.sdu.dk and in relevant discussion forums and news groups. This method is chosen because it is important to demonstrate in what way the technical and methodological choices and moves is performed. The saying goes: “The proof is in the eating” and it is my principal idea that the important aspects of the project has to be published and reviewed from outside. External critique is of the highest importance for a project like this. Final remark · A fully functional campus network is implemented at the Technical University of Denmark. Despite the researchers and teachers evident (computer based, technologically) competences the Campusnet still can’t be considered completely integrated as a virtual e-learning forum and virtual campus site, because a lot of teachers do not make use of the system. - Why is that? A research fellow stay where “the human factor in e-learning” is acknowledged at MIT is an obvious idea in the second half of the project. |