This is an announcement of an NEH New Media Classroom weeklong institute this June. The institute is open to secondary and college teachers, community and museum educators.
The New Media Classroom: An NEH Summer Seminar
The American Social History Project (CUNY) and the American Studies Association's Crossroads Project announce that the Millersville University (MU) will, for a third consecutive year, host one of six regional summer seminars funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. Located in Lancaster County, PA, the New Media Classroom Regional Center at Millersville University is dedicated to bringing educators together to systematically investigate and implement the effective incorporation of print and electronic media in various teaching and learning environments. The 2000-2001 MU-NMC summer institute, organized around the theme of "Comparative Diasporas," will build on the previous MU-NMC summer institutes' thematic emphasis on the centrality of migration. It will expand the existing MU-NMC network of educators from diverse sites (schools, colleges and universities, community centers, museums, historic sites, and other historical and cultural institutions) to include participants from the 2000-2001 institute program.
The program at Millersville includes a five-day summer institute (Sunday, June 25 through Friday June 30, 2000), a yearlong on-line seminar, and follow-up meetings focusing on the successful implementation of new media based instruction and interpretation. Working to enhance investigation and interpretation at their own sites, institute participants will explore relevant print and electronic resources that will enable them to elaborate connections between local histories, national histories, and world or global histories. Drawing on digital archives and museum exhibits, educators from diverse institutions will collaborate to develop instructional and interpretive activities and programs geared to the particularities of their own settings.
The summer seminar will enable participating educators to: a) promote the ability of students and other learners to construct knowledge and make connections in multi-media, text, images and sound; b) explore a range of new humanities resources available on CD-ROM and the World Wide Web; c) integrate technology into individual courses, school curricula, and public interpretive programs; d) work with scholars and educators who have pioneered in developing new media applications; and e) build an ever- widening community of educators committed to exploring what it means to learn, teach, and interpret in technology-enhanced sites. Returning to their institutions for the 2000-2001 school year, participating faculty will test the strategies they developed during the summer institute while continuing a seminar dialogue on-line.
By the end of the institute, we anticipate participants leaving with tangible products:
Web-based and CD-ROM activities that they have developed
Approaches for using e-mail, listservs and/or educational software to facilitate writing and inquiry across the curriculum
Skills in web-authoring and searching as tools for the construction of knowledge
Lists of resources, electronic archives, Web sites, educational software, etc
Strategies for increasing access to computer hardware and software
Plans for widening the circle and promoting the New Media Classroom at their institution/site
An ongoing network of new media practitioners who, meeting both electronically and sometimes face-to-face, will (1) sum-up a growing body of experience, (2) problem-solve, and (3) build support systems.
We invite applications from educators at high schools, colleges, universities, community centers, historical sites and organizations to be submitted no later than Friday, April 21, 2000. Applicants should have a background in one of the following: 1) teaching US or World history courses, interdisciplinary humanities/social sciences courses, or ESL courses; 2) developing curricula, programs and/or exhibits for museums, historic sites or other historical and cultural organizations. Applicants can apply as individuals or a team (two to four persons) from their institution. Access to and some rudimentary facility with the Internet is a minimal requirement for participation; application forms will be available on the World Wide Web. However, high-level technological skills and extensive use of new media in previous teaching are NOT (repeat: not) requirements for application. Instructional and interpretive goals will drive the use of technology in the institute, not vice versa. Graduate credit (3.0) is available through Millersville University.