using archives in place-based learning: lessons from students and faculty in the archives
DESCRIPTION
Katz, Robin M. "Using Archives in Place-Based Learning: Lessons from Students and Faculty in the Archives." Invited to host a half-day session for visiting faculty from Kapi'olani Community College in Hawaii, a partner of City Tech's i-Cubed project. February 28, 2013. Presentation and hands-on workshop.TRANSCRIPT
Lessons from Students and Faculty in the Archives
Robin M. Katz
Archivist / Co-Director of SAFA
Schedule
9:30 – 10:00 Welcome to BHS
10:00 – 10:30 What is SAFA?
10:30 – 10:45 Coffee Break
10:45 – 12:00 SAFA Hands-On
Welcome
• Introductions– Name, institution, what you hope to learn this morning
Welcome
• Introductions– Name, institution, what you hope to learn this morning
• Our Goals– Welcome you to Brooklyn and BHS– Encourage you to connect primary sources with
place-based learning– Leave you with some strategies for teaching with
archives and rare books
Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Innovative postsecondary education program which uses primary sources to build document analysis, information literacy, and critical thinking skills in undergraduates
Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Three year, US Dept of Education FIPSE grant• Three schools: City Tech, LIU, St. Francis• Eighteen partner faculty• Wide variety of disciplines and types of classes
Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Centered around class visits to the archives• Place-based learning beyond BHS building
Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Fall 2012 (3rd semester)– 18 courses– 15 professors– 25 class visits to BHS– 371 individual students– 528 students through the door– 6 on-campus previsits serving 102 individual students
• Other terms similar– First semester: 40+ visits to BHS
Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Our Teaching Philosophy– Goals and objectives– No show-and –tell– Actively use materials– Less is more– Document Analysis
Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Paid Summer Fellowships for Undergrads– Individual research projects– Contribute to a small exhibit in groups– Gain exposure to museums and libraries– http://safa.brooklynhistory.org/fellowship-2012– http://safa.brooklynhistory.org/2013-fellowship-app
Findings
• Q: Why might this document be worth preserving in an archive?
PRE POST
Students noting a single feature or giving a vague response
72% 49%
Students noting multiple physical features
28% 51%
Findings
• Q: Why might this document be worth preserving in an archive?
Sample PRE responses Sample POST responses
This is a photo from the past To show how society valued entertainment.
Because it showed what was going on at that moment.
[It] shows how technology was progressing in the US.
It gives insight… to what life was like during the 1960s.
It shows how people were sending postal cards through the telegrams and how it was
different… than… today.
Findings
• Just one class at LIU Brooklyn
SAFA NON-SAFA
Completion Rate 96.9% 76.7%
Passing Rate 91.9% 48%
Grade of B or better 60.7% 30.3%
Findings
• High Impact Learning Practices– Work with firsy-year seminars, learning communities,– Common intellectual experience (among a cohort)– Collaborative assignments and projects– Undergraduate research– Diversity/global learning– Community-based learning– www.aacu.org/leap/hip.cfm
Findings
• 2012 Evaluation Report– http://safa.brooklynhistory.org/docs/Eval-Report-2012.
Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• National Partners– Philadelphia, PA
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Cliveden of the National Trust, St. Joseph’s University
– Burlington, VT
The University of Vermont– Providence, RI
Brown University Library, Rhode Island College– New Bedford, MA
Whaling Museum, Bridgewater State University
Students and Faculty in the Archives (SAFA)
• Summer Institutes– for local faculty and national partners
• Dissemination– Presentations– Publications– Project-level website at http://safa.brooklynhistory.org
After the break: Experience SAFA
• A hands-on understanding• Learn about Brooklyn through primary sources• Successful examples of
– Pedagogical Design– Document Selection and Handout Creation– Wrap-Ups
• Hear more from the professors themselves
15 Minute Break
• No food or drink in the library• While enjoying your refreshments, check out:
– Landscape paintings of agrarian Brooklyn– 1770 Ratzer map of New York harbor– Exploring the Journals of Gabriel Furman exhibit
