Tag Archives: project ideas

Jared’s Project Idea

In thinking about possible project ideas for this course, there is one particular project that stands out in my mind, which I have been mulling over for some time now. I would like to create an app that would combine concepts of interactive technology and pedagogy with concepts from performance studies. Drawing on similar technology used in Bluebrain’s interactive music composition “Listen to the Light” in Central Park in 2011, I would develop an a soundscape for the city drawn from recorded sound archives, such as speeches, radio programing, and oral histories. As the user explores the city spatially, the app would allow the user to explore the history and diversity of New York City. In addition to linking the audio to the geolocation information, the app would also display information about the sound clip being played and relevant historical information.  

I believe this project has the potential to enhance learning and teaching about New York City’s social and cultural history. While the app could offer traditional curated walking tours, putting the information in sequence for the user, the benefit of the geolocation technology is that it allows the individual to craft their own experience. The individual becomes a flaneur, like a character in a Joyce novel, who spends the day exploring the city on multiple levels. The app could perhaps be pushed further, to create a stronger pedagogical experience, by adding a gaming element. In this scenario the user travels the city searching the historical recordings for items in a digital scavenger hunt.

This project also offers several opportunities for collaboration with various institutions in the city: The New York Public Library, The New York Historical Society, The Museum of the City of New York, as well smaller museums who have interesting collections that could be incorporated into the project. Additionally, the project seems to be ideal not only for recent digital pedagogy initiatives, but also for the recent push for Public Humanities programs.

In terms of scope, the project offers opportunities to start small and then expand. I would be possible to establish the framework while working in a small geographic area, such as a single neighborhood or Washington Square Park, and then expand out bit by bit.

Christina’s Project Ideas

Here’s a couple of ideas that I’ve been playing around with:

1. Over the past two semesters I’ve been working with undergraduate students with autism at the College of Staten Island through a program called Project REACH. The program is designed to assist and support students as they transition from a fully-supportive high school environment to a more independent and socially complex college environment. Through my Second Year Research Project I was able to identify specific areas in which students were struggling. Not surprisingly, many of these problem areas surround social interactions with peers and teachers using computer-mediated communication such as structuring emails towards varying audiences, navigating Blackboard, and setting up privacy settings on Facebook. I recently submitted a small grant proposal to assist with implementation of a 4-week series of summer transitional workshops to target incoming freshmen on the spectrum. The summer program would consist of 2 rounds of focus groups (1 in the beginning, 1 in the end for assessment and evaluation), 4 weeks of formal classroom-based instruction meeting twice a week, and on-going opportunities for students to practice the skillsets they are learning. Overall, this is my first choice for the project.

2. Another nagging problem that I’ve come across in my teaching career has been the lack of resources for novice psychology instructors, especially within the CUNY system. This year the Graduate Center was awarded the “host school” position for the Graduate Student Teaching Association. We’ll be serving as a major resource for graduate students as they begin their teaching careers. Many of the CUNY campuses have support systems in place for graduate student instructors (CSI, GC, etc.), but students are unaware of these resources. I’d like to greatly improve the GSTA website by adding in extensive course content – teaching activities, articles on teaching, sample syllabi, instructions for developing teaching philosophies, etc. This site could be a resource for CUNY instructors, in addition to the surrounding world outside of CUNY.

Pamela’s Project Ideas

Here are some thoughts, mostly embryonic, about possible independent projects:

1) I’ve been working on incorporating simple digital tools (online searches and PowerPoint/Prezi presentations) into a dramaturgical pedagogy with my theatre classes. I’m just trying some things out this semester, but I think that there is more to be developed here, including some kind of formatting that students can plug their information into so that they don’t spend too much time on form rather than content.

2) Since I will be on a Writing Fellowship next year (location TBD), there may be opportunities to develop something in that context. I’m especially interested in the ideas of active learning and critical learning from James Paul Gee’s video game pedagogies.

3) I’d love to work on a mapping project related to my own research into the movements of scenic designers around Europe in the seventeenth century.

4) My department has an image database that is constantly growing but not widely utilized. It might be useful to see how it might better serve student need and try to optimize it.

5) A central location that collects freely available theatre images, films, and sound files is something that I know I would have liked to have when I was starting to teach, so maybe putting something like that together.

6) There are large number of my colleagues in theatre who don’t know what tools CUNY makes available to us, or how to use them particularly well. I could coordinate a few workshops on CUNY tools particularly for Theatre students.

7) I’m just branching out into mapping (I’ve done a little using ArcGIS) but I’ve found that learning tools tend to focus on examples that don’t work for the humanities (optimal locations for businesses, density of certain professions). I’d like to see (put together once I’ve developed stronger skills) a workshop focus on mapping for the humanities, with an emphasis on how we can gather our data and get it into the appropriate file format because often we can’t pull from readily available sources. I’d also be interested in learning more about open source GIS, since it isn’t dependent on institutional access.

8)Two possible ideas for the “ethnography of technology” option: a review of instructional technology in introductory theatre courses, or an investigation of the methods and effectiveness of an ongoing Twitter project in CUNY undergraduate acting classes started by some of my colleagues.

my project ideas

Project ideas

 

  1. Yesterday I went to the wiki-editing event and, it was so much fun! I did most of my editing and writing into the wiki in Spanish and realized why when I was teaching in Mexico I didn’t allow my students to use Wikipedia and here I do. The wiki in Spanish is AWFUL! No sources, bad writing, etc, etc. So I was thinking of doing an event, or a series of events, inviting people from all over (especially in NY and Mexico, which is where I have contacts) to edit and add to the wiki in Spanish. I could even promote an event at Baruch (where I teach) for everyone to add to the wiki in their own language (being it that the student body is so diverse).

2. My topic of research is Erotic Literature. I am still unsure of what my dissertation will look like, but my ultimate goal has always been to find out what makes a text erotic. (in comparison to just plain cheesy or pornographic). I could go different ways – techwise- with this. DO a data anaylsis of texts, repetition of particular words, or set of words, and how they work.

3. The other way I could go would be to create a database of some sort, a place, perhaps a website, which is an erotic literature encyclopedia, indicating where to go, what to read, what can be expected, etc. I am talking about high quality erotic literature, which is really hard to find, considering most of the smut and corniness around.

4. Another erotic diagram could be on influences of literature, very visual as to who has influenced who in forms of writing. It could also be following the way something has been described, i.e. the orgasm, or even more specifically, female or male orgasm. by compiling the data some form of analysis could be made, no? (or description of particular parts of the body?) (it could also be compiled in different languages and even compare translations)

5. Something else erotic related…

6. Create an app or website which teachers can approach to get teaching approaches. I would do this for literature classes for non-lit majors. I love teaching non English majors, students who, for the most part, dislike literature. I love the challenge of the turning of the screw, of finding a way to connect with the students, helping them find a way to connect with the texts. I know many teachers struggle on how to teach particular texts, so this could be a peer-to-peer, user generated content site. Many students who are not literature or art oriented usually don’t like to read. The kind of requirement courses we often teach are the last resort we have to enamor students to literature. I have found that by using alternative and more tech oriented forms of teaching, students find a way to connect to the texts better and find reason, joy and pleasure in reading.

7. Why not make students teach other students? If students use ‘rate my professor’, why couldn’t they use a similar ‘rate my reading’ site? What to look for in a class, what assignments with a particular teaching or in a particular requirement class are harder and what is easier.

8. Another part of this last idea would be to give the students a place where they can share their works. It happens that they work very hard on certain projects and then it doesn’t go beyond the teachers eyes, or sometimes their fellow peers. What would happen if we could build a platform where the students could ‘paste’ their work, in an anonymous way, but also in a way that would help their peers study for the exam, come more prepared to class, etc. (Like I make them do Tumblrs, why not share what they have made? Another class has them do tiki-tokis. I will also have them do, as an optional assignment, youtube-book reviews)