For this semester long engagement, the librarian worked with the instructor to incorporate campus collections into a capstone project, a public-facing digital exhibit in Omeka. Here is the Course Guide created for students.
My approach to teaching with archives and special collections is inquiry-based rather than argument-based. This teaches students to ask questions about primary sources and pursue the answers to those questions in secondary research.
Updated spring 2017
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Hands-on activities in collections:
Working directly with materials gets undergraduates comfortable working with primary source documents and artifacts. With a librarian and/or an archivist present, students can ask questions about the collection, collecting practices and avenues for further research.
Artifact Analysis - longThis source analysis worksheet was given to students as they worked with boxes in Dolph Briscoe Center for American History. They could work individually or in pairs. This appraoch encourages students to ask questions in the collection and build their questions and research form there. Work with a librarian to adapt the worksheet to the collections you are using and the goals you have for your students.
Artifact Analysis - shortThis worksheet, given to students working with collections in the Benson Latin American Collection, is shorter and focuses more on questions of location, author, argument and audience. Work with a librarian to adapt a worksheet to the collection you are working with and the goals you have for your course.
Collecting Zines - worksheetThis worksheet was given to students working with zines in the Fine Arts Library. It focuses on questions around collecting practices, authorship and community. Work with a librarian to adapt this resource to your course goals.
Transcription ExerciseThis activity allows students to work closely with a document. The end result may allow them to post the transcription in a digital project where it can be searched by keyword, or it can be used to inspire further research.
Copyright, Privacy and Post-custodial Archives Work
If you are assigning a public-facing project, it's important to teach students about the responsibilities they assume when they digitize items from collections.
Fair Use ChecklistThis document was given to students during a discussion of copyright, privacy (in the context of Texas State Law) and fair use by our Scholarly Communications Librarian, Colleen Lyon. It walks students through the process of assessing whether a work falls under fair use guidelines. It's best to assign this activity as a graded assignment.
Post-custodial theory of archivesOne session, led by post-custodial archivist, Theresa Polk of the Benson, was devoted to discussing the work that UT and other institutions do when they make decisions around access, management and preservation of archives.
Omeka and Metadata Instruction
Choose Omeka for your course of you want your students to create exhibits and if you want them to engage meaningfully with metadata creation.
Teaching students how to create metadata teaches them that describing items is not a judgment-free decision; it affects those whom we describe and how people find these materials. As such, metadata creation is a responsibility we undertake in public-facing projects.
Note about tags: Omeka, and other software like Scalar and WordPress, allows students to create tags. Emphasize to students that tagging in collaborative projects is a collaborative effort as it connects items within a larger site.
Getting Started with OmekaThis is a step-by-step guide for students that covers signing into the Omeka site you've created, adding items, collections and creating exhibits in Omeka.
Metadata WorksheetThis worksheet, which followed instruction by our Head of Access Systems, Melanie Cofield, walks students through completing the Dublin Core metadata for an item you have started in Omeka. It then walks them through the metadata creation process for items in their exhibits. Adapt this worksheet to the metadata fields you want to require for student projects in Omeka.
Exhibit RubricThis rubric assesses technical fluency, research and description for a digital exhibit project.
