Comments on: Teaching the Museum in Literature and Composition Classes

By: Heather Martin

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:19:04 +0000

The beginning comp classes at UAB include a paper assignment on “analysis of visual text” or really image analysis. The focus is on communicating with design and visuals. Visual literacy is a new focus on our campus and probably at other universities. Collaborating with museums to take these lessons and skills beyond the classroom makes sense.

I was contemplating a session proposal about library/museum/course instructor collaboration, but I think this idea covers what I had in mind.

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By: Robin Wharton

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:09:37 +0000

Roger and Amanda, including a multi-disciplinary perspective is an excellent idea. In fact, one thing we might consider is how a project like this could involve trans-disciplinary collaboration. Imagine a learning community or a set of linked courses organized around a project like this.

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By: Roger Whitson

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:08:39 +0000

Another thing I thought of (possibly b/c I’m in a talk right now with Jon Voss) is how teaching and learning would be impacted by linked-open data. This could be an interesting conversation that could link up with the museum discussion and intersect with GTech’s recent decision about FERPA.

Or it could be another session.

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By: Roger Whitson

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 22:05:37 +0000

I agree with Amanda. This is a great idea, but I wonder how a engineering class, or a astronomy class, or any of the non-humanities courses or applied-sciences classes would work with museums.

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By: Amanda French

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:39:07 +0000

It also occurs to me that we could broaden the scope of this session to talk about ways in which any number of university classes could work more closely with museums.

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By: Amanda French

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 20:33:15 +0000

Interesting, Robin. I know of several writing and literature courses that rely on (or at least visit) rare books libraries and archives, which in some ways are museums of texts, but it hadn’t occurred to me to incorporate more tradition museums of objects. At the very least, museums could offer writing students something to write about in the grand tradition of ekphrasis.

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