Library online services, including access to electronic journal databases, the course readings system, and off-campus proxy access to licensed resources will be unavailable between 7:00am and 7:30am on Thursday, June 16th, while Brock IT performs network maintenance.
Planned Maintenance
Categories: Main, MDGL, Uncategorised
The Fall 2020 term is set to be a very unique experience. The Digital Scholarship Lab at Brock University is working hard to put together some great new things for you to check out.
We’ve posted a full schedule of workshops for the term. If you’ve ever wanted to learn about R, Visualizations, how GIS works, or even how to create a bibliography for your paper, we’ve got your covered. Our completed listing can be found on ExperienceBU.
We talk a lot about visualization as a cool way of presenting your findings, and we spend a good amount of time teaching people how to use visualization software, now we want to see what you can cook up. For the first time ever we are holding a design a visualization contest. If you’ve created a visualization in one of our workshops, or for some work you’re doing for a class or project, we want to see it. The winner will get a gift card and their work will be highlighted on the DSL visualization wall (once it’s safe to go back to campus of course)
Interested? Find the Full details and Submission Form on our website.
Did you know that the The Digital Scholarship Lab has a podcast? It’s called “Steering the Digital Scholarship” and it chronicles the work we’ve been doing with the lab. It features interviews with different people on campus doing digital scholarship work and features lots of nautical puns. Find more information on the Podcast Homepage or subscribe directly via RSS. We are also listed on Apple Podcasts, and Spotify.
Be sure to check our website throughout the term. We keep adding more tutorials and resources there to help you explore and learn about digital scholarship.
Best of luck with your classes!
Over the past three and a half years we’ve had the privilege of collaborating with students and faculty on a variety of personal and curricular based projects. We got to sit down with Dr. Karen Louise Smith who has been an avid supporter and user of the Makerspace, and we asked her some questions to learn a bit more about what sparked her interest in using the Makerspace. She has previously collaborated with the Makerspace for another course she teaches, COMM 3P91 – Information Technology: Policies and Issues where students had to 3D print an object to spark a conversation about a controversy that emerges from an information technology theme.
Dr. Karen Louise Smith
PhD, University of Toronto
MA, Simon Fraser University
BA, McMaster University
What technology did you use in your class to enhance experiential learning?
I developed a podcasting assignment for the Social Media course (Comm 2P91 / IASC 2P91 / PCUL 2P91) in the fall 2019 semester that was centered around fake news. The students in my course were able to borrow technologies like a Zoom recorder, or snowball microphone, from the Makerspace to record audio clips to use in their podcasts. After the students recorded their audio, they could continue to edit their podcasts using Audacity software in the Makerspace. Because Audacity is an open source software title, students could also download a copy of the editing program to work on their projects independently.
What sparked the idea to collaborate with the Makerspace for this class?
I wanted to collaborate with the Makerspace on this podcasting assignment so that my students could explore the democratic potential of social media. Through this assignment, I wanted my students to tinker, create, and act as media makers versus consumers online. Podcasting provides a relatively early example of a social media genre, which fostered opportunities for creative expression and self-publishing for internet end users. Creating opportunities for my students to create their own digital media closely relates to my previous research on web literacy and citizenship. I remain hopeful that experiencing the democratic potential of the web is one way in which society can resist disinformation, surveillance, exploitation and some of the negative aspects of our digitally mediated lives.
What has been your overall experience with working with the Makerspace staff and technology resources?
The Makerspace offers all of the technical equipment that my students need to create a quality podcast. I hear from students that they appreciate that the Makerspace is available virtually every day during the term for drop-in support. Makerspace staff are also readily available to me as a faculty member when I need assistance.
Do you hope to collaborate with the Makerspace in the Future?
Yes, I hope to repeat the podcasting assignment again in the Social Media course in 2020.
We look forward continuing our relationship with Dr. Smith by supporting her innovative and nuanced methods of incorporating Makerspace technology into her pedagogy.
Links
Dr. Karen Louise Smith https://brocku.ca/social-sciences/cpcf/people-in-the-department/karen-louise-smith/#1562268043356-51eb4bbe-b548
Social Media course https://brocku.ca/webcal/2019/undergrad/comm.html#COMM_2P91
Audacity https://www.audacityteam.org/
Previous research https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/6174
Web literacy https://mozilla.github.io/webmaker-whitepaper/
Information Technology: Policies and Issues https://brocku.ca/webcal/2019/undergrad/comm.html#COMM_3P91
Come explore Omni, our new academic search tool. All students, staff, and faculty are invited to attend one of three hands-on workshops this month.
Learn to:
You are welcome to just drop-in to a session however, students will earn CWC credit if they register first on ExperienceBU
Faculty, Staff, Students, Training & Development, Workshops
Categories: Main, Uncategorised
Nominations are now open for the Brock University Award for Open Access, which will recognize a member of the Brock community who is a champion of open access. Relevant qualifications could include a demonstrated record of openly sharing research, participating in projects or platforms advancing open access, or conducting research into open access.
The award includes a grant of $2,500 which may be used either:
Applications are due Oct. 1, 12 pm.
Contact Elizabeth Yates, Liaison and Scholarly Communication Librarian ~ eyates@brocku.ca ~ x4469
Two of Canada’s leading advocates for greater access and affordability of teaching and learning materials will be at Brock Thursday, Dec. 7 to speak during a half-day event focused on Open Educational Resources (OER). Learn more.