Jeff McClurken’s Digital History course featured in EDUCAUSE Review

In the most recent issue of EDUCAUSE Review, Jeff McCLurken’s Digital History course has been featured as an example of “Developing 21st-Century Literacies among Students and Faculty.” The course is an excellent example of framing an experience wherein the students are asked to imagine their approach and then examine and choose their own tools based upon the nature of their projects. A methodology that challenges the idea of limiting the projects by any one pre-determined tool or approach. It’s truly an EDUPUNK approach that included all of DTLT, not simply one-tool-fits-all—against my WPMU advice, mind you— and the resulting projects exemplify this beautifully, using tools as diverse as Omeka, Simile Exhibit and Timeline, Google Docs, and, of course, WordPress.

Anyway, don’t waste your time on the bava, go read Jeff’s portion of the article here. But I must say this is particularly cool for those of us at UMW’s DTLT because Jeff has been in the situation over the last year to be one of our biggest advocates and champions during the change in leadership that has left us all a bit uncertain as to the future of our little experimental cadre. It’s not hard to imagine much of what we do may not make sense to someone who hasn’t spent some serious time thinking about the implications of the changing web on teaching and learning, and higher ed more specifically. But with faculty like Jeff (and Steve Greenlaw and Mara Scanlon and Claudia Emerson and so many others, whom I’m sorry to omit here) who constantly have our backs, I think we won’t only continue on here at DTLT, but we’ll move forward with both the trust and freedom that has made this group so uniquely situated to play at the bleeding edge of educational technology. So, in short, congratulations Jeff, and thank you!