Thirteenth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies

Abstract

This paper will discuss the possibilities and pitfalls of teaching ancient and medieval arts and cultures in a fully digitized classroom. As a new faculty member in the Liberal Studies program at New York University, where the city itself is considered to be part the classroom, I have fully digitized my pedagogy. Quizzes are conducted in real time on smartphones. Readings are digital, allowing students to prepare for class on the subway or at the park. Online forums allow for asynchronous responses to readings, and digital, multimodal assignments are easily archived and published online. While my presentation will discuss the results of a year-long experiment teaching global premodernisms in a technological environment, a few benefits have already emerged. For example, Polynesian mythology is most commonly performed through movement. Students can access widely available recordings of hula, a sensory art form that transmits ancient myths. Students can also access visual images, archived in our program’s digital textbook and on the Met Museum’s website with ease. Of course, the premodern classroom suffers some losses from the digitizing of analogue cultures. The physical labor of scribal arts may be lost on students who have never been asked to use such arts in intellectual pursuits. A second major issue is decentralization of resources, as students cannot simply reference a single textbook in order to glean the information they require. But ultimately, I anticipate reporting the usefulness of digital pedagogy in a classroom concerned with global premodernity.