Digital Liberal Arts Data Bootcamp

 

All meetings will be held in the Wilson Media Lab 220 LIB.

Are you new to working with data for digital scholarship? In this DLA sponsored workshop series, we will teach you some of the basics of working with data as well as some free (and mainly web-based) tools you can use to visualize data, map data, and analyze textual data. The series will include one required course on the first day, as well as three à la carte course over the following three days. Attend one, or attend all three! All courses will be 3 hours long and will include discussions of background concepts as well as hands-on work. Please contact Alicia Peaker or Ryan Clement with any questions.

Title Date
Liberal Arts Data Bootcamp – Working with Data @1pm until 4pm January 19, 2016
Liberal Arts Data Bootcamp – Visualizing Data @1pm until 4pm January 20, 2016
Liberal Arts Data Bootcamp – Mapping Data @1pm until 4pm January 21, 2016
Liberal Arts Data Bootcamp – Analyzing Textual Data @1pm until 4pm January 22, 2016

 

Tuesday

 

  • Title: Working with Data
  • Instructor: Ryan Clement

Description: What is data and how do you work with it? In this course, participants will work in teams to interpret, clean, and understand a dataset provided by the instructor. We will then reflect on this exercise and discuss the process and products of working with data, while learning how to manage and make this practice more efficient. No experience working with data is expected, though some familiarity with MS Excel will be helpful. This course is required to participate in the next three session of the Liberal Arts Data Bootcamp. If you are already familiar with working with data and would like to participate in later sessions, please contact Ryan Clement.

Wednesday

 

  • Title: Visualizing Data
  • Instructors: Ryan Clement & Alicia Peaker
  • Prerequisite: Working with Data

Description: In this session, we’ll cover some of the basic theory of visual communication, including how to choose the best visual representation for your data, and best practices for preparing visualizations for print, the web, or presenting. We’ll discuss traditional representations, including bar, line, and scatterplots, as well as touching on more advanced representations. After a discussion of how visualizations are used (and advanced) in humanistic research, we’ll use freely available web-based tools to create our own visualizations.

Thursday

 

  • Title: Mapping Data
  • Instructors: Ryan Clement & Alicia Peaker
  • Prerequisite: Working with Data

Description: In this session, we’ll work through how to prepare, use, and present spatial data. We’ll start with an overview of spatial literacy topics, including how to select a projection (and why it’s important), working with map layers, and basic cartographic theory. We’ll then explore some library resources for creating maps and obtaining spatial data, and then create our own maps using free, web-based tools.

Friday

 

  • Title: Analyzing Textual Data
  • Instructor: Alicia Peaker
  • Prerequisite: Working with Data

Description: In this session, we’ll work through how to prepare, use, and analyze textual data (e.g. novels, newspapers, journals, plays, survey responses, etc.) to address humanistic research questions. While quantitative approaches may be appropriate for some research questions, this session will primarily focus on text mining as an exploratory practice that leads to or helps refine analysis.

 

 

Flip Tips

Peggy Bacon in mid-air backflip, Bondi Beach, Sydney, 6/2/1937 / by Ted Hood Format: Film photonegative (copied from original nitrate photonegative) From State Library of New South Wales via The Commons on Flickr

Flipping the classroom is getting a lot of attention lately. If you’re anything like me, learning about concepts is interesting but actually figuring out how to implement a new technique is what really draws my interest. I’m banking on the fact that I’m not alone on this so let’s dig in.

Robert Talbert is a mathematician and educator who writes for Casting Out Nines in the Chronicle. Over the last few months he has been writing a series of posts about a calculus class that he flipped for the Fall 2013 semester. In his article “Getting Off On The Right Foot in an Inverted Calculus Class” he offers instructions for how to integrate the out-of-class component with class time. These tips pair pedagogy with action to help practioners figure out how to activate prior knowledge, employ formative assessment techniques and integrate time management methods into their usage of the flipped classroom. (Robert expands on the necessity of certain student skills here. It’s an eye opening read.)

I want to flip! Who can help me?

We’d love to talk to you about your goals and ideas! Contact Heather (hstafford@middlebury.edu) or Joe (jantonio@middlebury.edu) so we can get started! There are also several faculty on campus who are already actively working on this in their classrooms. If you are a faculty member who is working on the flip and interested in developing a community of practice with others who want to do the same, please let us know!

 

Annotating Texts to Deepen Meaning

CV Starr Professor of Russian & East European Studies Tom Beyer is no stranger to utilizing technology in the classroom. During the summer of 2013 Tom approached the digital media tutor program to see if we could assist with transitioning content from an existing Wetpaint site to another platform.

See the video below to learn more about the project and process involved.

[middmedia cd6868ebca83648aedf8ca834ba11026 hstafford Inferno.mp4 width:600 height:400]

Converting a Web Site Into WordPress

In the summer of 2013 Professor of History Jim Ralph approached the digital media tutor program to ask if we could assist with the updating of a Drupal site created about the Chicago Freedom Movement. Professor Ralph shared the history of this site and how it came to be.

[middmedia cd6868ebca83648aedf8ca834ba11026 hstafford CFM%20video.mp4 width:600 height:400]