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| Derritt Mason, an assistant professor in the Department of English, was able to provide his students with their own iPads for an entire semester thanks to a University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grant. Photo: Jessica Snow, Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning |
What exactly is the virtual? How can the use of current technology enrich and deepen the study of new media? These are among the questions that Dr. Derritt Mason, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of English, addressed alongside his students in a recent graduate seminar called The Virtual Child.
Learning about digital texts designed for young people, the students enrolled in The Virtual Child applied an array of technological approaches to their projects — Mason was able to provide all of them with their own iPads for the semester thanks to a University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grant. The iPads allowed access to apps that the students used to build interactive digital poster presentations, which were displayed to the public in the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning.
“Since we are using new media forms and digital technology in the class, which is relatively unconventional for an English class, it seemed like we needed an equally creative way of presenting all of the work that the students would be doing,” Mason notes. “And also, I wanted the opportunity for people to come in and see, because it’s rare that you get to see what kind of work people are doing in other graduate classes. So it’s an opportunity for my colleagues and the students’ colleagues to come in and have a look at what the students have been working on all term.”
Access to technology leads to innovative student projects
Paul Meunier, a first-year PhD student in the Department of English, delivered a presentation called Feral Virtualities / Virtually Feral, addressing issues of virtual manifestation in the voice, body, and community through performances by queer, Indigenous, feminist, and other under-represented identities. His project lent primary focus to full-metal indigiqueer, the acclaimed, recently released poetry collection by UCalgary PhD student Joshua Whitehead...
2019 University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants
The 2019 University of Calgary Teaching and Learning Grants program is now open to applications. This program is designed to provide resources for integrating research evidence into teaching practice, generating new knowledge about teaching and learning at the University of Calgary, and supporting the dissemination of results to benefit others. The grant application deadline is Oct. 29, 2019.
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Source: UCalgary News
