Article: “Digging in the Digital Archives: Engaging Students in an Online American History Survey”
“THE DIGITAL WORLD has unhooked information from authority and created a post-truth ethos, yet it also allows for access to the building blocks of deliberative democratic discussions: sources, evidence, and databases.”
This quote touches on the major recurring theme for the week (which is “Helping Audiences Dig Through Digitized Archives and Collections”) because it highlights how the digital world can aid in the process of historical learning and thinking. Online sources, evidence, and databases are much more accessible and plentiful than ever before and they can and should be used in the classroom in every way possible. The author goes on to list a variety of assignments that have put the following digital tools to the test and the benefits are clear as day. When taking all of this into consideration, it must be acknowledged that adaptation from both students and teachers is needed in order to make this work.
“My students and I benefitted from the massive amount of work that people have put into the Open Educational Resources (OER) movement.”
Throughout this article, Open Educational Resources or OERs are mentioned several times, yet (to my knowledge) there is not one real operational definition given. Therefore, this reading raised one question for me: what are OERs? Through further research, I found that OERs “are learning, teaching and research materials in any format and medium that reside in the public domain or are under copyright that have been released under an open license, that permit no-cost access, re-use, re-purpose, adaptation and redistribution by others.” Knowing this helps to understand how databases and other online sources are made available to students and the public as a whole.
“…helped address one of the chief concerns I have with my undergraduate students today: their lack of knowledge of library resources. For too many students, the library is solely used as a computer lab or as a place to find reserve materials.”
I believe this point is worth further exploration because I have often found this to be true amongst me and many of my peers. Oftentimes, students today use the library as a place to quietly work on their assignments when they need an escape from their hectic apartments and even more chaotic roommates. While in the library they are writing important research papers or even simply trying to find sources for annotated bibliography assignments for a future paper. Some do not think to use the library databases as a good place to find relevant sources, but instead turn to Google Scholar or Google Book. While the previous academic search engines can be helpful, the library has a plethora of databases that we would not have access to if we were not students. So, why not take advantage of them? For many, professors and other authority figures have not fully enlightened their students on how useful things like JSTOR or Ancestry Library can be. Personally, I did not learn that App State students had access to Ancestry Library until last semester (or the first semester of my junior year). I think that this quote is worth discussing more because it points out a huge blind spot in the pursuit of knowledge for college students and it is classes like these that can clear things up.
