Spring 2017

All events are from 12:15 to 1:30 in the CTLR Lounge. You can RSVP for lunch at the bottom of each event’s description.

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

The DLA at Three Years: Looking Back and Moving Forward

As we approach the three-year anniversary of the Digital Liberal Arts Initiative (and the conclusion of our Mellon grant), we want to discuss what we have learned, and where we will be going from here. We will be joined by Bethany Nowviskie, Director of the Digital Library Federation (DLF), and Research Associate Professor of Digital Humanities in the Department of English at the University of Virginia; Bethany will participate in our conversation, both to help us see Middlebury’s DLA through fresh eyes, and guide our thinking about our next steps forward. This roundtable is a perfect opportunity for faculty and staff who have participated in the DLA, as well as those viewing us from afar, to join in a reflexive conversation.

Please note that the location for this event has changed.  It will be held in the Abernethy Room in Axinn 

 Click here to RSVP for lunch

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

The Oratory Light: How Attention to Speaking Can Help Us Teach

Yes, it’s a college-wide learning goal, an FYS learning goal, and we know it’s a critically important skill, but honestly who can afford the precious class-time it takes to teach oral expression? Colleagues Shawna Shapiro (Writing and Linguistics Programs) and Sarah Stroup (Political Science) will join Oratory Now Director Dana Yeaton (Theater) in a demonstration and discussion of the many ways, large and small, we can use speaking to deepen, broaden, and in some cases even expedite, what we already do.

Background Materials

Student Group Revives Speech Contest after 50-Year Hiatus [video}, Parker Merrill Speech Competition, Spring 2016

Orational Thought, Middlebury Magazine, Summer 2016

Envisioning a Rhetoric That Binds Us, a community-initiated conversation report, February 2017

Oratory Now website

 Click here to RSVP for lunch

Tuesday April 4 (rescheduled)

Fake News, Alternative Facts, and the Toxic Web: Strategies for Understanding and Coping with a Changing Media Universe

We live now in a world where the traditional media has been supplanted by a much more complicated set of media outlets and platforms. How do we understand this new reality? What sorts of strategies might we use to keep ourselves informed? What sorts of media literacies must we cultivate in ourselves and in our students ?

Join us for a panel discussion led by Amy Collier (Office of Digital Learning) , Sue Halpern (EAM), Terry Simpkins (Library), and Jason Mittell (FMMC)
Suggested Readings:
TRUTHY LIES AND SURREAL TRUTHS: A PLEA FOR CRITICAL
DIGITAL LITERACIES
http://www.digitalpedagogylab.com/hybridped/truthy-lies-surreal-truths/Can Higher Education Save the Web?
http://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/1/can-higher-education-save-the-webStudy: Breitbart-led right-wing media ecosystem altered broader media agenda 
http://www.cjr.org/analysis/breitbart-media-trump-harvard-study.php

How to Escape Your Political Bubble for a Clearer Viewhttps://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/arts/the-battle-over-your-political-bubble.htm

Ingraham, Christopher. “Why Conservatives Might Be More Likely to Fall for Fake News.” The Washington Post. January 19, 2017. Accessed March 7, 2017. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/12/07/why-conservatives-might-be-more-likely-to-fall-for-fake-news/.

Loyola Marymount University Libraries. Keepin’ It Real: Tips & Strategies for Evaluating Fake News. 2017.  Accessed March 7, 2017. http://libguides.lmu.edu/fakenews/LeftCenterRight

Schulten, Katherine and Amanda Christy Brown. “Evaluating Sources in a ‘Post-Truth’ World: Ideas for Teaching and Learning About Fake News.” The New York Times. January 19, 2017. Accessed March 7, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/learning/lesson-plans/evaluating-sources-in-a-post-truth-world-ideas-for-teaching-and-learning-about-fake-news.html

Tuesday February 14

Engaging Students as Researchers: Opportunities and Challenges

Working with students in research contexts presents great opportunities for learning as well as new challenges in teaching. How do we prepare students for the unknown? How can they contribute effectively to faculty projects? How do we prepare them to be effective researchers themselves? Join Will Amidon (Geology), Svea Closser (Anthropology), and Amy Morsman (History) in a discussion of the challenges they experience bringing students into their research, helping students develop their own research projects, and integrating research into a course. Lunch will be available at 12:15pm; the discussion will begin at 12:30.

RSVP for lunch