SAFA national partner workshop. The University of Vermont. Burlington, VT. May 1, 2014.

1. Na#onal Partner Workshop
Students and Faculty in the Archives
Burlington, VT
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 14

2. Welcome!
9:00 – 9:30 IntroducCons
9:30 – 10:30 What is SAFA?
10:30 -­‐ 1:00 Pedagogical Design
1:00 – 2:00 LUNCH on your own
2:00 – 3:00 VisiCng the Archives (in Special CollecCons)
3:00 – 4:00 Planning Your Archives Experience
4:00 -­‐ 4:30 Wrap-­‐Up
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

3. Introduc#ons
• Julie Golia, PhD
Historian / SAFA Co-­‐Director
• Robin M. Katz, MLIS
Archivist / SAFA Co-­‐Director
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

4. Introduc#ons
• Your vitals (name, department)
• Your experience teaching with primary sources
• Where are you in your planning?
• What is your biggest quesCon at this point?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

5. What is SAFA?
• Students and Faculty in the Archives was an
innovaCve postsecondary educaCon program
which used primary sources to teach document
analysis, informaCon literacy, and criCcal
thinking skills in first-­‐year undergraduates.
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

6. What is SAFA?
• SAFA resulted in TeachArchives.org
– Project documenta>on and findings
– Sample exercises (with some digi>zed documents)
– Ar>cles on pedagogy by us and faculty
– Wide-­‐ranging audience
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

7. What is SAFA?
• Three year, $750,000 US Dept of EducaCon FIPSE grant
– Jan 2011 un>l Dec 2013 (in extension now)
• Three schools within walking distance
– City Tech (CUNY), LIU Brooklyn, St. Francis
• Nineteen local partner faculty
– All ranks and stages of career
– Wide range of disciplines (not just history)
– Variety of classes (seminars, surveys, etc.)
– Intellectual and professional community
• NaConal partners
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

8. What is SAFA?
• Centered around class visits to the archives
• Item-­‐level document analysis
– not independent student research
• Over four semesters (Fall 2011 -­‐ Spring 2013)
– 1,100 individual students
– 63 courses
– 100+ class visits to Brooklyn Historical Society
• Breadth of project allowed for
experimentaCon, lessons, crafing pedagogy
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

9. What is SAFA?
• Brooklyn SAFA: student populaCon
– Mostly first-­‐year / early academic career
– Very diverse: many minority, non-­‐tradi>onal
students, and other under-­‐represented groups
– Mostly products of NYC public schools
– Many interna>onal students, new Americans, or
non-­‐na>ve speakers of English
• Consider your student populaCon
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

10. What is SAFA?
• Sampling of SAFA classes
– Robin Michals, Introduc)on to Digital Photography
– Jen Wingate, Visual Culture of the Civil War
– Sara Haviland, U.S., 1896-­‐present
– Geoff Zylstra, Early American History
– Leah Dilworth, American Literature
– Ma?hew Gold, English Composi)on: Fire, Disease, Disaster
and the Shaping of Urban Public Space
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

11. What is SAFA?
• Beginners need to be taught document analysis
• Our teaching philosophy
– Specific learning objec>ves
– Individual documents
• The fewer the be?er!
– Tailored small-­‐group ac>vi>es
– Directed, specific prompts
• Ex: “Why did Henry Ward Beecher write this le?er?”
• Not “Who is the creator? What type of doc is this?”
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

12. SAFA Findings
• Independent evaluators have found that SAFA
students are more engaged, perform beger,
and -­‐ in some cases -­‐ have higher retenCon
rates than their peers.
– Findings summarized on TeachArchives.org
– Final Report due December 2014
– Last Evalua>on Report (2012) in folders and online
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

13. Findings: Observa#on Skills
• Q: Why might this document be worth
preserving in an archive?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
PRE POST
Students noMng a single feature
of giving a vague response
72% 49%
Students noMng mulMple physical
features
28% 51%
Tuesday, May 6, 14

14. Findings: Ar#cula#ng ‘a
usable past’
• Q: Why might this document be worth
preserving in an archive?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Sample PRE responses Sample POST responses
This is a photo from the past To show how society valued
entertainment
Because it showed what was going
on at that moment.
[It] shows how technology was
progressing in the US.
It gives insight... to what life was
like during the 1960s.
It shows how people were
sending postal cards through the
telegrams and how it was
different... than... today.
Tuesday, May 6, 14

15. Findings: Academic
Performance
• Just one class at LIU Brooklyn
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
SAFA NON-­‐SAFA
CompleMon Rate 96.9% 76.7%
Passing Rate 91.9% 48%
Grade B or be?er 60.7% 30.3%
Tuesday, May 6, 14

16. Findings: Professional Development
“This experience has helped me trust my students.”
Peter Catapano, City Tech
“I have been able to create a research project that
mirrors that of the academic research process.”
Geoff Zylstra, City Tech
“I have rethought how I teach research [...to move]
from breadth to depth, the general to the specific, in
order to engage students in ‘deep learning’ based on
close readings and observaCon.”
Deborah Mutnick, LIU Brooklyn
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

17. Why does SAFA work?
• High Impact EducaConal PracCces
– Work with first-­‐year seminars, learning communi>es
– Common intellectual experiences (among a cohort)
– Collabora>ve assignments and projects
– Undergraduate research
– Diversity/global learning
– Community-­‐based learning
– See www.aacu.org/leap/hip.cfm
• Primary source instrucCon should be consider a
HIEP and a core competency for archivists.
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

18. TeachArchives.org
Look at the site!
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

19. What is SAFA?
General quesCons about the project or
TeachArchives.org?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

20. Pedagogy: Objec#ves vs. Goals
• Learning goals vs. learning objecCves
– Why we came to find the disCncCon so important
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

21. Learning Goals
• A statement that describes in broad terms
what a student will learn from your course.
– adapted from hMp://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/fd/wri#ngobjec#ves.pdf
• Knowledge, skills, or astudes
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Objec#ves vs. Goals
Tuesday, May 6, 14

22. • Professors’ course goals were ofen the same as
SAFA’s goals
– For ex:
– Improve student engagement
– Build a sense of community
– Interact with neighborhoods
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Objec#ves vs. Goals
Tuesday, May 6, 14

23. Learning ObjecCves
• Statement in specific and measurable terms that
describes what the student will know or be able
to do as a result of comple>ng course ac>vi>es.
– adapted from http://www.oucom.ohiou.edu/fd/writingobjectives.pdf
• Provide criteria for acceptable performance; how
students will demonstrate learning
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Objec#ves vs. Goals
Tuesday, May 6, 14

24. Example: Sara Haviland’s goals vs. objecCves
• GOAL (broader)
– Students will learn the unique history of the Civil
Rights movement in the North.
• OBJECTIVE (specific)
– In their final research paper, students will iden>fy
and analyze the different issues, strategies, and
cons>tuencies of the Civil Rights movement in the
North, as compared to the South.
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Objec#ves vs. Goals
Tuesday, May 6, 14

25. • To learn more, see
teacharchives.org/ar>cles/learning-­‐objec>ves
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Objec#ves vs. Goals
Tuesday, May 6, 14

26. • Assignment Design
– We wanted to demonstrate a wide range of
assignment models
– Refined and tweaked over five semesters
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Assignments
Tuesday, May 6, 14

27. • Types of Assignments and Visits
– One-­‐off in-­‐archive ac>vity
– Semester-­‐long, mul>-­‐visit structure
– Building a collabora>ve resource as a class
– Scaffolded document-­‐to-­‐folder model
– Scholarly research paper
– Other scholarly work (oral history, walking tour)
– Research for a crea>ve project
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Assignments
Tuesday, May 6, 14

28. • Assignments: quesCons to ask yourself
– How much Mme do you have to spend in the archives over
the course of the semester?
– What knowledge or skills will your students gain in the
archives? What kind of assignment will best manifest those?
– How important is student collaboraMon vs. independent
work?
– Who are your students? (Majors vs. non-­‐majors, first-­‐years
vs. advanced students, etc.)
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Assignments
Tuesday, May 6, 14

29. • To see some successful assignments, see
teacharchives.org/exercises/
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Assignments
Tuesday, May 6, 14

30. Pedagogy: Context
• How to provide context to students
– Our experience: not enough or too much context
– Finding the “Goldilocks” of context
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

31. Pedagogy: Context
• Kinds of Context
– Historical
– Technical / Format
• Processes
• Paleography
– Collec>on Info
• Provenance or donor
• How organized
– What is Special Collec>ons?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

32. Pedagogy: Context
• Possible sources
– Secondary sources
– Other primary sources
– Popular or experien>al readings
– Finding aids or other library descrip>ons
– Class lectures
– In-­‐archive lectures
– Other ideas?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

33. Pedagogy: Context
• Context: quesCons to ask yourself
– What knowledge/skills/agtudes might your
students need to acquire before encountering the
archives?
– If more than one archives visit, what knowledge do
you want them to acquire between visits?
– How can context readings help them answer
ques>ons raised (and unanswered) in archives?
– Will you preselect a reading, or will students find
one themselves?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

34. • To learn more, see
teacharchives.org/ar>cles/providing-­‐context
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Context
Tuesday, May 6, 14

35. Pedagogy: Document Selec#on
• Document selecCon: how much?
– For first-­‐year students, item level is best
• Some experiences with providing folder from manuscript
collecMon
– Small number of items for students
• Especially textual material
– Arc of visit relies on the document(s)
• What is the journey students will take?
• AnMcipate piialls and challenges
• You do have a reading in mind
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

36. • Think about your student’s first encounter with
the document. Consider:
– physical size
– condi>on or handling needs
– length of text
– legibility (especially handwri>ng)
– vocabulary
– visual literacy skills of students
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Document Selec#on
Tuesday, May 6, 14

37. • Also remember:
– How much more contextual knowledge you have
– The feeling of overwhelm in an archives
• Manageable vs. unmanageable
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Document Selec#on
Tuesday, May 6, 14

38. • To learn more, see
teacharchives.org/ar>cles/document-­‐selec>on
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Document Selec#on
Tuesday, May 6, 14

39. Pedagogy: Handouts
CreaCng specific prompts
• Why tailoring your student’s interac>on with
the documents is important
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

40. Pedagogy: Handouts
• Generic quesCons can be confusing
• Date created vs. date covered
• Author/creator
• Format
• “What is the source,” “why was this doc made,” “who
is the audience” are actually difficult to answer!
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

41. Pedagogy: Handouts
• Student prompts/handouts: why tailor?
• Primary source docs are infinitely interpretable – but
educators olen do have a reading in mind
• Handouts should reflect your specific visit objec>ves
• Tailored handouts help an>cipate regularized
experience for students
• Rather than an educator providing context to students on a
piecemeal basis (when floaMng or zoning)
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

42. Pedagogy: Handouts
• Designing prompts/handouts:
• Don’t give students too long a handout
• Ar>culate to students that they should closely
observe and read the en>re document
• Consider including context or other sources in the
handout
• Examples in your folder
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

43. • To learn more, see
teacharchives.org/ar>cles/crea>ng-­‐handouts
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Context
Tuesday, May 6, 14

44. Pedagogy: Facilita#on
FacilitaCng an effecCve visit
– Thinking deeply about logis>cs makes for a beoer
pedagogical experience
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

45. Pedagogy: Facilita#on
FacilitaCng an effecCve visit: plan ahead
– Overbudget >me in your agenda
• When to arrive and leave
• Don’t forget intros and wrap-­‐ups
• It takes students a while to physically move
– Groups allow for discussion, collabora>on,
community building
• But consider the room, the size of the docs, how long
– What tools are needed?
– Spell out roles of faculty and staff
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

46. • To learn more, see
teacharchives.org/ar>cles/logis>cs
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Facilita#on
Tuesday, May 6, 14

47. Pedagogy: Wrap Ups
Plan an effecCve wrap up
– Planning olen overlooked by Brooklyn faculty
– Consider a way for the en>re class to reconvene and
share
– You can connect the “micro” (document) back to the
“macro” (course content)
– See one great idea at teacharchives.org/exercises/
impromptu-­‐speeches
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

48. Pedagogy: Wrap Ups
Wrap ups: what to do
– Think about logis>cs again
• Change it up, make sure they can see/hear each other
– Facilitate community interac>on – students speaking
to each other, not you
– Ask hard ques>ons! Demand a lot from your students
– Consider shaping wrap up around a “takeaway”
• Course goal or objecMve, contemporary theme, personal
reacMon, etc.
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

49. Pedagogy: Post-­‐visit
Afer the visit
– Give clear instruc>ons on follow up assignments
• What do students do with in-­‐archives handout?
• Consider assigning a visit reflecMon
• Relate the visit back to larger assignment?
– Clarify how/whether they should come back to
archives independently
• Enlist staff member for help
• Our experiences: don’t make it opMonal
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

50. • To learn more, see
teacharchives.org/ar>cles/wrap-­‐up
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Pedagogy: Wrap Ups
Tuesday, May 6, 14

51. Pedagogy
QuesCons? Thoughts?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

52. LUNCH BREAK!
• Next session at 2:00 pm
• Meet back here, then to Special CollecCons
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

53. Class Visits: Our Experience
• SAFA Brooklyn in a nutshell
– 1 – 3 visits is best (we had 1 -­‐ 7)
– Anywhere from <10 – 40+ students in aoendance
– Faculty pre-­‐select docs with staff help, requested 3
weeks ahead of >me
– Staff pull, prep, cite, assess copyright, set up docs
– Staff greet class; review care/handling; occasionally
lecture; co-­‐facilitate exercise & wrap-­‐up
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

54. Class Visits: SeXng Up
• Room setup: the “SAFA” model
– Tweaked over five semesters
– Sta>ons and groupings
• Rotate or not? Timing?
• Even groupings
• Siong at table or standing with clipboards?
– Logis>cs
• Remember size, condiMon, other layout issues
– Independent or group work?
• Small groups of 3 -­‐ 4 students are ideal
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

55. Class Visits: Care & Handling
How to teach care and handling
– Not puni>ve, stress universality
– Policies vary, but see our example guidelines
• Have students read aloud
• Ask, “why?” or, “security or preservaMon?”
– In folders and online at
teacharchives.org/ar>cles/care-­‐and-­‐handling
• What is an archives/historical society?
– Pre-­‐visit experiment
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

56. Class Visits: Facilita#on
FacilitaCng an effecCve visit: in the archives
– Make introduc>ons both clear and enthusias>c
– Think about logis>cs
• where to sit or stand, tables vs. clipboards, acousMcs
– How available will you be to students?
• FloaMng vs. zoning
• Hang back or hands-­‐on?
• What context provided as-­‐needed?
• If you give one group a hint, tell the whole class
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

57. Class Visits
• While in Special CollecCons, consider:
– Individual document choices?
– How would you stage these?
• Think about parameters
– Number of students
– Time available, number of visits
– Course, brief goals/visit objec>ves
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

58. Class Visits
GO TO SPECIAL COLLECTIONS
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

59. Discuss: Collabora#on
We found library faculty bring important
pedagogical/insCtuConal skill sets – use them!
– Content knowledge
– History and theory of archives/collec>ons
– Teaching experience in archives segng
– Extensive doc analysis skills
– Extensive logis>cal experience
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

60. Discuss: Collabora#on
What do you hope to gain from collabora>ng?
What has been successful or challenging in the past?
What do you need help with?
What needs to be clarified about who does what? Or
about how things will work?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

61. Tools for Research
IdenCfy your research resources
• Finding aids, subject guides, digital sources, and
more
• Library faculty or other professors teaching
similar topics/collec>ons
• Resources at UVM and beyond?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

62. Discuss: Research
Researching as a teacher – not a scholar
• Iden>fying teaching docs very different than
iden>fying docs for scholarly research
– Not looking for everything – just one effec>ve
teaching document
– Do you want a representa>ve document or an outlier
document?
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

63. Planning: Your Ideas
Let’s workshop and discuss your specific
scheduling and logisCcs concerns.
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14

64. Wrap Up
Group-­‐determined quesCons and discussion.
Students and Faculty in the Archives ● Brooklyn Historical Society
Tuesday, May 6, 14