Submission Type
75-Minute Panel
Abstract
This panel explores the ways in which digital mapping has been used in humanities courses at Wheaton College (Norton, MA). In it, we discuss the variety of tools and strategies employed by faculty and staff, assessing the effectiveness of “mapping” to meet pedagogical goals and engage students. Jade Werner, Assistant Professor of English, describes how students used mapping tools to study the novel: first, collaboratively in the classroom over a one week period (“one-shot” mapping); and second, independently in a multi-month independent study (“sustained” mapping). Drawing from successes and failures in teaching Heart of Darkness from a “spatial humanities” perspective, she assesses the usefulness of three mapping tools - ArcGIS, HistoryPin, and StoryMapJS - in furthering students’ understanding of this difficult novel. Domingo Ledezma, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, has built a database of cartographical images of the New World. He discusses how students have used this database in conjunction with Google Earth, Mapbox, and Palladio to support their studies in Early Modern exploration. For several years, students enrolled in Leah Niederstadt’s courses have used digital mapping tools, including Google Earth, Omeka, and StoryMapJS, to trace the provenance, or ownership history, of objects in Wheaton’s Permanent Collection. She considers how well these tools met her pedagogical goals for the provenance assignment and how students evaluated both the assignment and the tools employed. In addition to the 3 faculty case studies, Jenni Lund, Senior Faculty Technology Liaison, offers her perspective on successfully incorporating maps and digital mapping tools into a liberal arts curriculum.
Session
Panel Discussion
Start Date
5-19-2016 10:30 AM
End Date
5-19-2016 11:45 AM
Mapping in the Humanities Classroom: An Assessment of Tools and Strategies
This panel explores the ways in which digital mapping has been used in humanities courses at Wheaton College (Norton, MA). In it, we discuss the variety of tools and strategies employed by faculty and staff, assessing the effectiveness of “mapping” to meet pedagogical goals and engage students. Jade Werner, Assistant Professor of English, describes how students used mapping tools to study the novel: first, collaboratively in the classroom over a one week period (“one-shot” mapping); and second, independently in a multi-month independent study (“sustained” mapping). Drawing from successes and failures in teaching Heart of Darkness from a “spatial humanities” perspective, she assesses the usefulness of three mapping tools - ArcGIS, HistoryPin, and StoryMapJS - in furthering students’ understanding of this difficult novel. Domingo Ledezma, Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, has built a database of cartographical images of the New World. He discusses how students have used this database in conjunction with Google Earth, Mapbox, and Palladio to support their studies in Early Modern exploration. For several years, students enrolled in Leah Niederstadt’s courses have used digital mapping tools, including Google Earth, Omeka, and StoryMapJS, to trace the provenance, or ownership history, of objects in Wheaton’s Permanent Collection. She considers how well these tools met her pedagogical goals for the provenance assignment and how students evaluated both the assignment and the tools employed. In addition to the 3 faculty case studies, Jenni Lund, Senior Faculty Technology Liaison, offers her perspective on successfully incorporating maps and digital mapping tools into a liberal arts curriculum.