ANTH 3156 Digital and Participatory Research Methods

ANTH 3156 Digital and Participatory Research Methods

Students enrolled in ANTH 3156 Fall Semester 2016 with Dr. David Syring (UMD) are participating in a new COIL course that has them working virtually with students in Dr. Marcos Algara-Siller’s class at the Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi, Mexico (UASLP).  Students in Dr. Syring’s class include many Anthropology majors, as well as students majoring in Accounting, International Relations, Geographic Information Systems, Political Science and Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies. Dr. Algara-Siller’s course enrolls a variety of disciplines including undergrad and graduate students. The interest in such a unique opportunity was shown when Dr. Algara-Siller only advertised his course with a Facebook post and the class filled within 24 hours. The two courses focus on the topic of sustainability.  Dr. Syring and Dr. Algara-Siller will virtually teach each other’s classes a few times throughout the semester and the two classes will have several synchronous meetings. Beyond those in-class meetings the students at both universities will be teaming up to look at environmental challenges in their communities.  Students will navigate various forms of technology to best connect with team members at the other university outside of their scheduled class time. The end result will be videos produced by the students highlighting the environmental challenges they identified. 

Listen to Dr. Algara-Siller talk about the collaboration on KUMD’s Green Visions 

More about Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)

Dan Nolan, Assistant Professor in CLA, recently began promoting and supporting COIL @UMD, which is an approach to online international course co-development available for all UMD faculty. COIL courses embrace the use of digital technology to bridge the distance between international partners. Faculty at UMD work together with an instructor from a different country to develop a course. Much like in study abroad, students in COIL courses collaborate with their international peers in group projects, extending the breadth of their studies and gaining hands-on experience in international problem solving. Doing so helps students gather and process information of global relevance to their future career paths, while also learning about how those career paths have taken on different shapes in different national contexts. 

COIL @UMD: http://d.umn.edu/coil