Comments on: Project "Develop Self-Paced Open Access DH Curriculum for Mid-Career Scholars Otherwise Untrained"

By: Steven Hayes

Steven Hayes — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 01:07:51 +0000

Hi, just read your “project retrain” description as part of my background reading for THATCamp 2011 in Melbourne. Have you considered certifying existing professionals (like me…) who have no formal training but have picked up hopefully a great many of the skills you describe on the job over many years. This would be like a recognition of prior learning process and would – as a nice side effect – identify gaps in knowledge. One of the reasons I want to go to THATCamp is to fill gaps in my personal fairly “perforated” knowledgebase as it is almost impossible to find appropriately configured formal courses that will allow me to undertake professional development in any kind of structured, strategic way.

Regards

Steven Hayes

By: Learning DH the DIY Way | THATCamp Virginia 2010

Learning DH the DIY Way | THATCamp Virginia 2010 — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:24:50 +0000

[…] Meloni on the Camper list – it would be great to get her thoughts on the best approaches, given her project to “Develop self-paced open access DH curriculum for mid-career scholars otherwise […]

By: Samuel Teshale Derbe

Samuel Teshale Derbe — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 17:13:14 +0000

This is excactly what I have been looking for.I have been recently invited to contribute to a web based teaching program at the Amsterdam Network University. But, I am quite a newbie to technology for education, though I have been a college lecturer for many years- in the traditonal way,of course. I am keen on learning the tools and share my expereince in teaching adults. It requires a lot of ingenuity to teach adult students using new technology.

By: Lisa Spiro

Lisa Spiro — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 19:30:37 +0000

I’m late to the party and was not able to make it to THATCamp, but I think this is a terrific idea. If you’re looking for a publishing for the modules, check out Connexions (cnx.org/), an open platform and repository for educational content. I’d be happy to pitch in however I can.

By: Judith Tabron

Judith Tabron — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 20:32:42 +0000

This is a compelling-sounding project, so I’m said to say I disagree with its aims. As a person who can claim to be both a tech geek and a teacher, I really don’t think teaching faculty to bootstrap technology themselves will ultimately do them any good. Teaching them HTML a decade ago didn’t do them any good; it didn’t stick for most of them and now it’s obsolete. Teaching them how to integrate online discussion into their classes, now; that’s a task that never gets old, and it doesn’t much matter whether the tool in use is a VMS bulletin board, a mailing list, or a blog.

Is the purpose to help faculty invent the university of the twenty-first century? Or is it just to close a gap in technology skills that every other type of knowledge worker had to close years ago? I think the two goals would have two different agendas.

By: briancroxall

briancroxall — Sat, 22 May 2010 00:00:52 +0000

This is a great idea–one that suggests a possible solution to the sometime problem of unconferences: you’re going to leave with something tangible (a group of people) and a project that has clear goals. As someone who is hovering between the world of academia “proper” and the library and who has been tasked with getting Emory’s librarians more digitally savvy, I’d be very excited to play a part in this project. (Plus, like Kathleen said, I’m sure I’ll learn more than I bring to the table.)

By: Sharon M. Leon

Sharon M. Leon — Fri, 21 May 2010 10:07:05 +0000

I’ll only be at THATCamp for the Saturday morning sessions, but I’d love to see a healthy report-out of this session. The need is enormous, and we can no longer ignore the mid-career folks who are vaguely interested but who through up their hands saying “I just don’t know where to start.” I think one of the major issues here, is that most of us don’t remember where we started or even how — the age old problem of education and the position of the novice learner.

By: Chad Black

Chad Black — Thu, 20 May 2010 14:59:31 +0000

Love this idea. Mostly because I’d love the retraining, or training as the case may be.

By: mebrett

mebrett — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:56:54 +0000

I’m in! I’m not mid-career, but there’s a ton of things I don’t know. Getting information out there in bite-size chunks would probably facilitate the less yak more hack in the future, too.

By: kfitz

kfitz — Wed, 19 May 2010 16:43:09 +0000

I’m in, though admittedly mostly because I want this retraining, rather than because I can provide it. But absolutely, yes, yes.

By: karindalziel

karindalziel — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:42:21 +0000

Julie, I have been asked to serve on the advisory board of a project entitled “Do IT Yourself” which aims to teach librarians and archivists about similar topics, such as setting up a web server, managing content through a content management system, creating mashups, etc. (the advisory board has not yet met, the project is still in very early planning stages).

Here’s how Jason Kucsma, the project coordinator put it:

“The idea for the project comes from needs assessment efforts and conversations about improving information technology skills for librarians, archivists, and information professionals. If it helps to contextualize the project, we’re looking at this an extension of the popular 23 Things project, which aimed to familiarize librarians with web 2.0 technologies. Do IT Yourself, however, will focus on more advanced information technologies for information professionals — a sort of “Computer Science Lite.” ”

Anyway, this project will also release content under creative commons, and Jason informed me that there will be money to pay the instructors of the modules as well. Hopefully there’s some room for collaboration.

And aside from that, your idea sounds fantastic. I like the idea of targeting mid career scholars, who, in my experience, are less apt to attend classes in a totally new subject area (either because it’d be odd to sit beside students they’re also teaching or just a lack of time). I think you could get a lot more than ten scholars on board!

By: john theibault

john theibault — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:09:34 +0000

I’s be very happy to be in too. I could probably serve as part of your test group. Not quite “untrained” but pretty novice despite lots of time mucking about in digital things. And pretty stereotypically “mid-career.”

By: Jeffrey McClurken

Jeffrey McClurken — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:27:52 +0000

Great, great idea.

By: THATCamp 2010 » Blog Archive

THATCamp 2010 » Blog Archive — Wed, 19 May 2010 10:31:12 +0000

[…] it looks like there is a good number of campers (Julie, Jeff, Dave – just to name a few…and I know that Beth has a lot to say about […]

By: Patrick Murray-John

Patrick Murray-John — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:40:05 +0000

Don’t remember if I responded to that original tweet, but I’m definitely in, though some of my approach to things might be a little different (e.g., I tend to like synthetic modules (if modules can be synthetic) that pull in a lot of different components, which might be explained elsewhere in analytic, granular modules). But I digress!

Looking forward to talking about this soon!
Patrick

By: Bethany Nowviskie

Bethany Nowviskie — Wed, 19 May 2010 08:36:45 +0000

I’m in! As a matter of fact, there’s universal enthusiasm for the idea around the Scholars’ Lab. And I think it could be a partial answer to my question about useful activities/sponsorships/whatever by professional societies.