[Atsushi Akera asked me to forward the message below. Note that the report he mentioned is still available online: http://cra.org/uploads/documents/resources/workforce_history_reports/using.h.... It includes the first version of what become our main “History Resources” page on the website. Tom] Hi Marie, Sorry, I should have replied to your original query. And perhaps Bill has done so already. (I’m been swamped and not on top of my email, so my apologies if this repeats material already sent to list.) But several years ago, Bill Aspray and I edited a volume called “Using History to Teach Computer Science and Related Disciplines,” which was based on a concept Bill came up with through his work with Computing Research Associates. In addition to the edited compilation, there was a conference… two if I recall… that brought the authors together so we could collectively talk about what we did, and mutually improve what we were writing about. It was not a SIG project, but given the way we work, I think you can call it something that came about in relation to our efforts as a SIG. I think the one thing the volume does is to document the different modes of engagement between history and contemporary STEM education today. These might be: · The value of using history to provide a better sense of the context in which students will pursue their profession · A module embedded within a technical course designed both to enhance learning of an (especially difficult) concept (Bode plots or Fourier transforms, for example, might be one good example) · Material designed to cultivate normative engagement on the part of students · Courses focused on digital literacy · Novel pedagogic strategies such as educational simulation (a simulated social-entrepreneurial environment, for example) designed to foster student engagement with humanistic subjects. I’m not sure whether I’ve captured all of the different modes, but these are the ones that I can think of. Since I served as the Director of First Year Studies at RPI for many years, I was also involved in much more general thinking about creating common experiences (lecture series, common reading across multiple courses), and how to develop these in ways that created a genuine culture of the humanities within an engineering school. (Student, for example, learned the protocols of critical inquiry in lecture series, where they became accustomed to asking questions of a public speaker because of the consistent format we applied to the lecture series.) Faculty development was also a crucial component—we become specialists in our fields, but never are given the training on how to teach. Objectives based course design; student centered teaching; different modes of instruction and the need to pace and vary content within the classroom. These are of course very general things not specific to our work as a SIG, but on the other hand, if we are talking about teaching, I think it’s important to raise the point that we don’t want to always start with content when we speak about teaching. The formulation of the panel (how SIGs contribute to teaching) is oriented in this way that may deserve mention during the panel… Traffic between the general and specific is important in successful teaching. (BTW, this is some of what I hope will come up in our own roundtables on teaching that’s taking place on Sunday morning; opposite, unfortunately, the SIG-CIS program! I’ll have to work on that!) - Atsushi _________________________________________________________ Atsushi Akera Associate Professor, Department of Science and Technology Studies Rensselaer Polytechnic institute 110 8th Street Troy, NY 12180 USA cel: 518.300.0613/fx:518.276-2659/e:akeraa@rpi.edu /w: <http://www.rpi.edu/~akeraa> http://www.rpi.edu/~akeraa From: members-bounces@sigcis.org [mailto:members-bounces@sigcis.org] On Behalf Of M. Hicks Sent: Friday, September 20, 2013 4:49 AM To: sigcis Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] Soliciting Input for SHOT Teaching Panel Thanks to all who replied so far. I'd still like to get a little more input because I know there are folks in our SIG doing great things with teaching and mentoring. If you have any general thoughts, or specific classes or assignments that you use to bring benefits from our SIG into your teaching, please do let me know. Best, Marie ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mariehicks.net | mhicks1@iit.edu | @histoftech On Sep 18, 2013, at 1:17, Marie Hicks <mhicks1@iit.edu> wrote: Hi everyone, I've been asked to participate in a panel at SHOT that discusses how SIGs influence our teaching of the history of technology. There will be one person from each SIG and the panel's goal is to tease out how each SIG's focus influences everything from the teaching of undergraduate survey courses to mentoring graduate students. How do the particular interests of the SIGs aid in "crafting a diversified pedagogical approach"? I'd like to be able to share some insights from members here who have thought about these issues and used specific theories, methods, or topics from the history of computing and information to develop or reorient their approaches to teaching and mentoring. If you have time, I'd be grateful if you would share your ideas with me in the next few days as I finalize my comments. I'd also really like to hear from grad students who can talk about how the SIGCIS might have influenced their learning experiences (as well as their teaching techniques). The panel will be featured on SHOT's new website so that folks can read the presenters' comments before the meeting. Abstract of the panel is below if you'd like to know more. Thanks in advance for your help, Marie Title: Integrating SHOT Special Interest Group Concerns into the Teaching of History of Technology: Rethinking Modes of Instruction in a Diverse Community Organizers: Honghong Tinn, National University of Singapore, Singapore Francesca Bray, University of Edinburgh, UK Discussants: Anna Åberg, the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden Gregory Clancey, National University of Singapore, Singapore Marie Hicks, Illinois Institute of Technology, USA Ann Johnson, University of South Carolina, USA (Chair) Geoff D. Zylstra, the City University of New York, USA Abstract: This roundtable session proposes to discuss the way in which SHOT scholars have incorporated SIG themes in their scholarship as well as in their teaching practices. In recent years, several new Special Interest Groups (SIGs), such as the SHOT Asia Network and Exploring Diversity in Technology’s History (EDITH) have been formed in the Society for the History of Technology. Together with a myriad of well-established SIGs, such as Women In Technology History (WITH), the Prometheans, and the Special Interest Group on Computers, Information, and Society (SIGCIS), SIGs have offered scholars homes of productive space and meaningful interactions during and beyond the annual meetings of SHOT. While we are celebrating the diversification of SIGs as a community, the teaching concerns of the community should also consider the implications of such diversification. In the 2012 SHOT, after the plenary on “Transnationalism and the History of Technology: Lessons from Tensions of Europe and Other Projects,” Ann Johnson brought up an interesting question—how do we mentor graduate students on working in transnational research projects, even as we acknowledge the importance of transnational perspectives? This roundtable session plans to invite SHOT scholars to discuss (1) the possible contributions SIGs could make to advance the field’s graduate student mentoring and undergraduate teaching, and (2) how the recent diversification of SIGs may shape our teaching of survey courses. This session will discuss the hows and whys in crafting a diversified pedagogical approach towards the study of technology’s history, as well as examine the choices of scholars in identifying particular works or approaches in their teaching at both graduate and undergraduate levels. ______________________ Marie Hicks, Ph.D. Asst. Professor, History of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago, IL USA mhicks1@iit.edu | mariehicks.net <http://www.mariehicks.net> | @histoftech <http://twitter.com/histoftech>