Vol. 5 Issue 9 May 2024

CITI is pleased to share a new video project about innovative teaching practices called, "The 2 Minute Mentor" .To learn how to impact student success through this project, click the link below.

On April 9 and 10, The Center for Innovative and Transformative Instruction (CITI) and O'Kelly Library premiered a state-of-the-art, digital lab space located on the 2nd floor of O'Kelly Library. Representatives from Adobe, local dignitaries, WSSU administrators, faculty, staff and students came together to speak, tour, connect and experience the cutting-edge technology of the lab.

DAY ONE: April 9

Day one activities allowed Adobe representatives, administration, and local and state leaders to tour the lab and hear its conception and vision.

DAY TWO: April 10

Day Two of the grand opening featured an additional guided lab tour for the campus community. Faculty and student presenters shared innovative ways to enhance pedagogy using Adobe tools.

TECHNOLOGY TOOL OF THE MONTH:

ADOBE AUDITION

Capture, design, and mix sound with Adobe Audition, the industry’s best digital audio workstation. Easily record, edit, and clean up audio content with multitrack, waveform, and spectral frequency displays.

CITI BLOGS

The CITI Blog is a collaborative space to explore innovative instructional techniques, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), course design, and instructional technology. This month, Dr. James K. Blackwell, Jr., CITI Fellow and Assistant Professor of History, Politics and Social Justice, discusses the relationship between Digital Humanities and Data Fluency.

Digital Humanities, Data Fluency, and Teaching Large Databases Dr. James Blackwell

Digital Humanities rest at the crossroads of digital technologies and the humanities. Data Fluency enables us to express data in a shared language. At the nexus of both Digital Humanities and Data Fluency are large databases. Over the past two decades, the production of large historical databases such as slave voyages has enabled scholars to engage with long-spanning historical inquiries in new ways. Through the 2023-2024 academic year, I used historical databases with Digital Humanities to engage students with Data Fluency. The Slave Voyages Database is an extensive historical database that has chronicled and collected information related to the trans-Atlantic slave trade, enslaved names, and the internal slave trade. For students, the initial viewing of the sight can be overwhelming. To express Data Fluency, Adobe Premiere Rush was used as a medium to produce engaging and informative student-led documentaries. Students are tasked with providing context to the raw data which requires them to engage with sources both within and outside of Digital Humanities. Engaging with large historical databases, as was discussed today, still requires students to have a good grasp of traditional research and presentation methods. The use of Adobe Premiere Rush, places students in a place to not simply engage with peers but to enter to learn and depart to serve with a keen eye on our everchanging digital world.