Syllabus

Time & Location: Meeting times and locations are dependent upon your cohort group.

Cohort Leaders: Ryan Brazell, Jim Groom, Mary Kayler, and Jeff McClurken.

Texts:

We will be reading/reviewing a variety of texts, videos, Web sites, and other resources that are freely available on the Web as part of the activity of this program. You can find the working curriculum (with links to weekly activities) on the Curriculum page.

Overview

In an increasingly digital and social networked world many faculty can miss professional opportunities by limiting their participation to traditional professional pathways. Faculty may have elements of their professional work and identify in singular, often disconnected spaces (binders, folders, conference presentations, publications, etc.) that can limit the richness and depth of their work. This initiative is designed to support faculty in developing an online identity by owning their own domain and Web space.

Digital pedagogy and scholarship takes a broader view of teaching, research and service than traditional means. A digital domain integrates the values of a faculty member with those of the discipline, department, institution though digital elements and reflective narrative explicitly addressing the integration of values beyond the local environment. Faculty involved in this initiative will be contributing to the evolving nature of digital pedagogy through scholarship.

This initiative is designed explicitly to provide resources and support for UMW faculty to develop their own domain. Participants will develop/refine a professional online presence ranging anywhere from an online CV/E-portfolio to a developmental space for exploring digital pedagogy and scholarship, to an alternative class space online.

Goals

  • Become familiar with the possibilities afforded by the Domain of One’s Own initiative
  • Develop a conceptual understanding of how the Web works
  • Begin to develop a working knowledge of how to build a site that represents you as a teacher and scholar
  • Explore the implications of digital scholarship and networks on your own teaching and disciplinary interests
  • Discover and reach out to your own online scholarly network
  • Create a “product” (your blog)  that is a representation of your thinking through this process

Format & Structure

During the Faculty Initiative, participants will meet on a weekly basis for one hour within smaller cohorts. In between meetings, participants will read/review assigned texts and resources, reflect upon them on their blog, read and comment upon the posts of fellow participants, review the technology resources provided, and complete assigned tasks on the Domain of One’s Own system. During the weekly meetings, time will be devoted to a discussion of the reading and review of the technical resources and tasks. The meeting will be an opportunity, in particular, to discuss further any part of the reading that deeply resonated with participants and to answer questions or address any confusion about the technology work of the week.

Given that there is quite a bit of content to cover, it is important to make sure we make the most use of the time between meetings to continue the conversation and answer questions. To that end, participants are required to complete the following activities outside of the face-to-face workshops:

  • Stay up with the weekly reading assignments and review the weekly technology topic resources
  • Use your blog to post about your reactions to readings and questions about the technology topics
  • Read and comment upon each other’s posts. Consider yourselves resources for each other to answer questions and provide advice.

In addition, participants are strongly encouraged to

  • Sign up on Twitter and use the hashtag #umwdomains to share your quick thoughts or questions
  • Experiment mercilessly with your own Web space. Don’t worry about breaking things; often we learn the most through our mistakes!
  • Remember, Google is your friend. Almost every technical question you have can be answered by simply typing it in the search box.

Workshop Topics

  • Week One: Understanding the Web
  • Week Two: Digital Identity
  • Week Three: Teaching on the Open Web
  • Week Four: Finding Your Digital Community
  • Week Five : Scholarship & Research in a Digital Age
  • Week Six : Our Digital Future

Post-Workshops

All participants who attend the workshops  and complete the activities as described above will receive the initial Faculty Initiative stipend.

Participants interested in receive the second half of the Faculty Initiative stipend will need to continue their work during the spring, specifically continuing to build and develop their domains, and submitting it for review by May 2015 (date to be announced).