Abstract:

This presentation will focus on our experiences using different types of technology to teach pre-modern literature in English, and the resultant broadening of our students’ awareness of cultural and textual transmission both now and then. We examined the textual development of the hero-figure – something with which most students are already familiar - from Anglo-Saxon representations through to the literature of the Middle Ages.
As well as theorising textual transmission in the Middle Ages, however, we also encouraged students to think about hypertext. Students, working in smaller groups with particular tasks to complete, designed a course website, deciding on design and layout, keywords, and topics. In terms of content, each student was assigned a research and writing project (on which they also presented in class) which was then included on the website. The learning outcome in this part of the seminar involved students’ thinking on how readers and researchers receive, process and interpret information, particularly on the Web.
Another significant development for the seminar and a very special and rewarding learning experience for the students was a series of videoconferenced classes link with Pace University, New York. At various intervals over the Spring semester our group communicated with Professor Driver’s class. A Discussion Paper was first posted on the Blackboard Virtual Learning Environment so that the teachers and students could read and prepare for the conference. In between conferences, the Irish and American students maintained contact via Blackboard.
This paper will examine the learning outcomes of this multimedia teaching and learning experience. A combination of theory, design, and debate using new technologies allowed students to verbalise their opinions and questions, and share them with another class. This contributed significantly to their learning experiences and to their thinking about particular texts, cultures and themes. Significantly, students had to question their own interaction with, not just new technologies, but with other people through the medium of a website, or a learning technologies page, or a videolink, as well as in the traditional classroom setting.

Keywords:

humanities, middle ages, theorising textual transmission, innovation, technology.