Barnard Teaches
Barnard Teaches: Real Place + Digital Access is a technology and place-based learning initiative at Barnard College, funded by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2014. Originally planned for four classes spanning four years, the grant has funded eight courses and has been extended to October 2022 (see Ongoing Courses and Past Courses for more information). Barnard Teaches supports curricular innovation using new technologies through active faculty collaborations with curators, archivists, and collection managers at New York City institutions such as museums, libraries, and archives.
Concept: to develop new and adapted courses with place-based learning and digital components, with each course meeting the following criteria: (1) students learn onsite at New York City institutions, (2) digital components of the course enhance and enrich the learning experience, and (3) collaborations between faculty, curators, and digital innovators create new points of access to share and learn information.
Goals: (1) to create prototypes for innovative pedagogical models of teaching, (2) to utilize resources at NYC institutions, (3) to use technology to enhance learning, (4) to teach practical digital skills, and (5) to assess and repeat – lessons learned from the first course are applied to the second offering of the course (all courses have at least two offerings).
Clips are from the following courses: (1) A Virtual Enlightenment, (2) New York City's Gilded Ages, and (3) The Worlds of Ntozake Shange and Digital Storytelling.
Ongoing Courses
Architecture
ARCH UN3400, Environmental Visualizations of NYC: Toxic Territories and Future Possibilities
- Faculty: Kadambari Baxi and Karen Fairbanks
- Partner: Map Division of the New York Public Library
- Course offerings: Spring 2018, Spring 2020, third semester TBD
Art History
AHIS BC3853, Exhibiting Modern Inuit Sculpture
- Faculty: Elizabeth Hutchinson
- Partner: Brooklyn Museum
- Course offerings: Summer 2021, second semester TBD
Biology
BIOL BC2851, Plants and Profit: The Global Power of Botany
- Faculty: Hilary Callahan
- Partner: New York Botanical Garden
- Course offerings: Spring 2018, Spring 2019
- Ongoing as BIOL BC2240, Plant Evolution & Diversity
Theatre
THTR UN3144, Ecologies of Transmedia Performance
- Faculty: Hana Worthen
- Partner: Billy Rose Theatre Division of The New York Public Library
- Course offerings: Spring 2021, second semester TBD
Past Courses
Africana Studies
AFEN BC3815, The Worlds of Ntozake Shange and Digital Storytelling
- Faculty: Kim F. Hall
- Partner: Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture of The New York Public Library
- Course offerings: 2015-2016 (this was a full-year course), the course continued independently in 2018-2019
Course site: bcrw.barnard.edu/digitalshange/projects
Art History
AHIS BC3988, A Virtual Enlightenment
- Faculty: Anne Higonnet
- Partner: Metropolitan Museum of Art
- Course offerings: Spring 2015, Fall 2016
Course site: bt.barnard.edu/avirtualenlightenment
Dance
DNCE BC3985, Digital Footprints: Archival/New Media Research at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- Faculty: Paul Scolieri
- Partner: Jerome Robbins Dance Division of The New York Public Library
- Course offerings: Spring 2017, Spring 2019
Course site: bt.barnard.edu/digitalfootprints
Urban Studies
URBS V3725, New York City's Gilded Ages:
- Faculty: Kimberley Johnson, Former Professor of Urban Studies & Political Science, and Meredith B. Linn, Former Assistant Term Professor of Anthropology in Urban Studies
- Partner: New-York Historical Society
- Course offerings: Fall 2015, Spring 2017
Course site: bt.barnard.edu/nycgildedages
Contact
For more information, email Barnard Teaches Program Manager Sarah Greene at sgreene@barnard.edu.