Center for the Humanities and the Public Sphere

Applying new technologies to pedagogy in the humanities is becoming increasingly necessary to connect with learners in the digital age. Digital exhibits are one such tool; in addition to the digitization and dissemination of museum collections for learners and researchers to explore, researchers and teachers have been creating their own collections and exhibits to disseminate innovative research openly and to provide new learning environments for students to explore creatively. Most of the research on the use of digital exhibits in the classroom, however, has focused on their use as a learning tool for acquiring information by accessing exhibits made by others, rather than the creation of digital exhibits by students as an experiential, engaged learning pedagogy.

In this presentation, we will examine a case study of a student-created digital exhibit from an upper-level Spanish literature class. We will discuss our decision to use Omeka as the primary tool for creating and hosting the exhibit, and the training necessary to facilitate its use in this project. We will also discuss the learning objectives, pedagogical framework and practices we used to engage with students and guide them toward successful creation of the exhibit, as well as the challenges we and the students encountered during the project. Finally, we will discuss larger research questions and practices for future projects. It is clear that digital exhibits have many pedagogical applications; our project seeks to establish a clear framework for best practices in using digital exhibits as a creative learning tool for students.

Melissa Garr, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Spanish & Marina Morgan, MISt., Metadata Librarian, Florida Southern College.

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