A. Background:
The Archaeology Distance Education Program seeks to develop materials and delivery systems for innovative distance education opportunities at Centre College. By distance education we refer not only to the traditional techniques of bringing the classroom experience to a wider audience, but more importantly to the presentation of information and experiences not normally possible in the classroom, since they take place at distant sites. More specifically, we seek to bring to a wide audience some of the experiences of archaeological fieldwork through a variety of integrated technologies, including video, databases, text-based and photographic resources, web discussion boards, and e-mail interactions. The basis of this program is to allow students at Centre and elsewhere to take part in the experience of working and learning at an archaeological site. The program is designed to be modular, so that teachers in different courses including archaeology, history, classics or art can make use of its various parts.
Many undergraduates do not have the resources and thus lack the opportunity to adequately study archaeology. The number of students who can take part in off-site archaeological study is quite limited, especially due to the considerable extra costs of studying and working away from campus. This has seriously affected not only the availability of the subject to undergraduate students, but also the makeup of the field at the professional level. Thus, more than most other fields, archaeology has traditionally been limited to individuals with the leisure and financial ability to undertake lengthy travel. This has had unfortunate effects for the field, making it more closed than it ought to be, and additionally affecting the way it is taught and the way that research is conducted.
B. The Project:
This proposal seeks to develop new educational technology materials based primarily on the work of the current excavations at Isthmia in Greece, and also the work of the Crow Canyon archaeological Center in southwestern Colorado. The current excavations at Isthmia possess archaeological records going back to 1952, and the work taking place at Crow Canyon has been running since the mid-eighties. The present initiative will develop the delivery mechanisms and co-ordination necessary to bring these rich materials to audiences of different types, with a primary focus on students at Centre and other ACS schools.
In particular, this program will implement a number of innovative Internet technologies to create educational opportunities for students at Centre. These technologies include a comprehensive web site, threaded discussion boards, e-mail communications, and streaming video and audio. Further, traditional excavation research materials available only in Greece or Colorado - such as excavation notebooks, video records, and information from nearby archaeological sites - will be converted into electronic format and made available to students. This means that students can work with many materials that would otherwise be inaccessible without travel to these remote locales.
Through a new web site devoted specifically to this initiative, students will have access to many unique resources that would otherwise be unavailable in any other format. Examples of such materials include streaming video of actual archaeological excavation and exploration, field notebooks and research in electronic format, and electronic 'field trips' to nearby archaeological sites. These materials will be provided in addition to introductory and background information regarding archaeology and the sites in Greece and Colorado. Other information will include specifics regarding the study of history and literature (where applicable), as well as ceramics and art.
These technologies will also be used to facilitate interaction between students at Centre College and researchers in the field, since students will also be encouraged to communicate with the archaeologists and students working at that time in Greece or Colorado. Students will also discuss topics of interest or assigned topics via web-based discussion boards. Even further, students will interact with other students from classes with varying content (such as History, Art, Anthropology, or Greek and Latin) to work towards understanding the interdisciplinary nature of archaeology.
This initiative builds on Dr. Fee's experience of teaching archaeology and educational technology to undergraduate and graduate students for nearly 10 years, as well as leading student study-abroad programs in Greece and the American Southwest since 1997. Further, Dr. Fee is an accomplished educational technologist, having developed numerous education multimedia titles and web sites. Information regarding Dr. Fee's academic and professional background and experiences can be located at http://edtech.centre.edu/sam/.
C. Incorporation Into the Classroom:
The primary technologies for this project are Internet-based. There will be one web site that will reflect various themes of archaeological study and fieldwork, including such concepts as survey, excavation, ceramics, etc. In addition, there will also be a discussion board established solely for participants in the project from Centre or other ACS schools. Streaming digital video content will also be delivered. Centre College will provide the necessary servers for web hosting and video streaming; in fact, these are already in place. In addition, software and hardware for content development (HTML, photo imaging, digital video, etc.) will also be provided by Centre. The Crow Canyon Archaeological Center and the OSU Excavations at Isthmia will provide ancillary content and materials.
The resulting educational technology materials from this project will be employed in Dr. Fee's introductory archaeology course that will be offered at Centre College in the autumn semester 2000. As part of this course, students will be working with the web materials to gain a greater appreciation for work in the field. These materials will also be used as part of Dr. Fee's Classical Archaeology course in the spring, where students at Centre will actually be able to communicate with other students from other schools who are working in Greece at that time. In addition to these archaeology offerings, the resources from this project will also be used in Dr. Fee's Educational Technology course as examples of current educational technology resources. Further, these materials will also include a special web page for instructors with suggestions for incorporating these materials into the classroom (for any other ACS faculty who may want to make partial or complete use of these materials for their own classes).
This project will undergo a formative evaluation at the end of the summer 2000 development period. At that time, the data and responses from the evaluation process will be carefully considered and the project materials will be modified to reflect the results of the evaluation. A summative evaluation will take place at the end of the autumn semester following student participation and the materials will again be modified if necessary. A final summative evaluation will follow the course offering in the spring semester, focusing primarily upon interactions between students at Centre and researchers in Greece and Colorado.
These materials will greatly enhance the archaeology course offerings by creating a media-rich learning environment for study. Successful archaeology instruction typically incorporates case studies of specific sites. In a small but very real way, this project will bring aspects of these archaeological sites directly to the students in the classroom. Furthermore, students will benefit greatly by enhanced exposure to these archaeological sites. They will be able to visualise aspects of archaeology in the field much more effectively as a result of the use of these technologies - particularly through the use of graphic images and streaming video. The ability to communicate with researchers in the field should also add a certain sense of realism to their studies. In the end, this project will help students develop a much richer understanding of archaeology than the traditional instructional tools of textbook and slides would allow. As a result, it will bring students one step closer to a better understanding of archaeology.
D. Web Resources:
http://www.centre.edu/
http://isthmia.ohio-state.edu/
http://www.crocanyon.org/
http://edtech.centre.edu/sam/
http://www.centre.edu/web/academic/phorum/