Two UIS faculty members chosen to co-teach national online courses

Two faculty members from the University of Illinois Springfield have been chosen to co-teach two online courses made up of students at 30 colleges and universities in 28 states and one Canadian province thanks to a Mellon Foundation Grant.

Ken Owen, UIS assistant professor of history, will teach a course during the spring 2017 semester titled “Divided Houses Secession and Separation” with Mary Beth Mathews, assistant professor of religion at the University of Mary Washington.

In spring 2018, Holly Kent, UIS assistant professor of history, will teach a course on “Fashion as an Agent of Social Change Since 1900” with Brenda Brown, professor of English at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma.

“The desired outcome is to build digital humanities literacy among students who participate in the courses,” said Vickie Cook, director of the UIS Center for Online Learning, Research and Service. “The courses will be taught online using a synchronous model and will result in students working across campuses to build digital humanities web presences.”

The classes will be open to students at Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges (COPLAC) member institutions, such as UIS. Students must be nominated by a faculty member to take part in the course, for which they will receive academic credit at their home institution.

“One outcome of this project is to provide an opportunity for students to gain strong skills in working with fellow students at distance locations,” said Cook. “These skills may assist with future employment needs where they may be assigned to virtual teams or need to coordinate projects and activities through using a variety of technological tools.”

For more information, contact Cook at 217/206-8303 or vcook02s@uis.edu.