Humanities Blogs Rock!

1. Humanities Blogs Rock! Integrating information technology into the School of Liberal Arts and Academic Partnerships Shereen Hassanein

2. Project goals • Demonstrate how blogging can positively contribute to student experience. • Illustrate how student blogs neatly align with subject learning outcomes, essential employability skills and Seneca College’s planned core literacies. • Encourage colleagues with varying degrees of enthusiasm and proficiency to see the value in student blogs.

3. Challenges • Late adopters and confirmed luddites may not see the value in blogging—may see it as a gimmick. • It works best if everyone is on board; and ‘everyone’ means professors across 2 campuses, part time and full-time. • It works best if the blogging is continued over the 4 semesters of the LAT program. • It will require some brief training of students and professors.

4. Reasons why it’s not just a gimmick • Student blogs would cohere nicely with: • The subjects’ leaning outcomes • The essential employability skills • The college’s core literacies

5. Subject Outcomes (HUM100) • Display a general knowledge of intellectual and everyday life in the ancient world. • Identify and discuss beliefs, values, and customs which are central to Western civilization. • Illustrate how and why ideas, values, and customs have emerged and how they have developed over time. • Illustrate how the past has shaped the present. • Develop critical thinking skills in students enabling them to analyze and understand ideas, values, and customs.

6. Essential Employability Skills • Communicate clearly, concisely and correctly in the written, spoken and visual form that fulfills the purpose and meets the needs of the audience. • Respond to written, spoken, or visual messages in a manner that ensures effective communication. • Use a variety of thinking skills to anticipate and solve problems. • Locate, select, organize and document information using appropriate technology and information systems.

7. Essential Employability Skills (cont.) • Analyze, evaluate, and apply relevant information from a variety of sources. • Show respect for diverse opinions, values, belief systems, and contributions of others. • Interact with others in groups or teams in ways that contribute to effective working relationships and the achievement of goals. • Manage the use of time and other resources to complete projects.

8. Seneca College’s 10 core literacies • Written communication*** • Oral communication* • Quantitative literacy* • Information literacy** • Creative thinking** • Ethical reasoning, personal and social responsibility** • Inquiry and Analysis*** • Critical thinking and problem solving** • Digital literacy*** • Intercultural knowledge and global perspective***

9. And if that wasn’t enough… • Seneca’s 5 core principles: • Inspiring cross-disciplinary, networked learning* • Committing to Seneca’s Core Literacies** • Offering high-quality, relevant programs and pathways* • Committing to Teaching Excellence** • Advancing partnerships, applied research and outreach opportunities*

10. Sample blog • http://weblogs.senecacollege.ca/humanitiesblogsrock/