Instructional Technology Conference
Middle Tennessee State University
Building Communities of Learners
April 3-5, 2005
Visualizing the Humanities: Effective Incorporation of Images in the Classroom
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Daniele Bascelli, Coordinator for Educational Technology Spelman College Frederick Langhorst, Associate Professor of Spanish Kathleen Phillips-Lewis, Associate Professor of History Tarshia Stanley, Assistant Professor of English Track 1 |
Abstract
This paper is a critical account of the class Wiki built by my Senior Honors Capstone students in Fall 2004. Topics discussed will include: choosing Wiki software, teaching the students how to use the software, the pros and cons of editing student contributions to the class Wiki, and how building a Wiki with my students has changed my classroom teaching. Finally, I will treat further avenues of development.
Description
The ready availability of images for the classroom provides new options for faculty members teaching in the Humanities. Still, this surfeit of information is a mixed blessing, first leaving many of us wondering where to encounter suitable images, then wondering how to apply to visual images the teaching skills that we have developed in a more text-based education. This session will feature brief visual presentations by faculty in English, History and Foreign Languages, each focusing on strategies for incorporating images into the classroom in meaningful ways.
The first presenter will consider "Images as Integral to Critical Thinking" and will present examples from the History classroom. There will be examples of images used both in History classes and in a multi-disciplinary course on the African Diaspora. These images are suitable in a variety of History classes and in other disciplines. Student perception and thinking about historical events can often be better focused through classroom appropriation of historical images.
The second presenter will discuss "Raising Awareness in Women," showing how students can learn to "read" images of women in the popular media. There will be examples from "The Ashley Project," a Spelman College student compilation of images designed to help young women deal with issues of health, body perception, safety and media representations.
The final presenter will show examples from the REALIA Project (www.realiaproject.org). This searchable database, designed to enhance the teaching of foreign languages, provides images that are royalty-free and faculty-reviewed. The discussion will center on ways to enhance (rather than displace) traditional classroom practices with visual images.
The presenters will look at questions of how to maintain best practices in the "new" classroom environment and how to teach students the critical skills necessary for understanding the images that, in some cases, form an unexamined part of their daily lives or, in other cases, may be totally foreign to their experience and understanding.