Faculty First Year Seminars 191CL4 - Digital Tools and the Academy

Computers and the internet are constant companions in the 21st century and the presence of these tools in university life can have both positive and negative effects. Knowing more about these tools can guide students toward a more positive experience over their university careers. In this class, we will explore the basic tool kit available to students today, from commonly used applications (e.g., MS Office, Google Drive applications), to academic tools (e.g., Moodle, Zotero), to more advanced digital humanities platforms (e.g., Wordpress, Omeka, Twine) in weekly overviews and discussions. The purpose of these technology overviews is to not only create a familiarity with these tools, but also to generate a conversation about how these can and should operate in a classroom. This is a conversation that will long outlive the class. In particular, topics such as the role of social media in education, the value of student privacy, and the purpose of ?Ed-Tech? are not settled and not going away. Therefore, these will all be subjects of scheduled, in-class debates. Finally, although this class is taught through the lens of a particular disciplinary perspective ? Roman Archaeology ? the content will not limit the scope or relevance of our observations about how to live and thrive with digital tools at UMass in 2018.

Freshmen Only