Using innovative teaching practices to inspire critically engaged reading and writing in a neoliberal university environment

This article presents the authors' successful experiences with Cirrus, a purpose-built Digital Humanities teaching and learning platform developed at The University of Queensland between 2016 and 2018. Our case studies in teaching the crafts of close reading, critical analysis, and writing show...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Higher education research and development 2019-01, Vol.38 (1), p.110-123
Main Authors: Kilner, Kerry, Collie, Natalie, Clement, Jennifer
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cirrus
College Instruction
Critical Reading
Criticism
Digital humanities
Digital technology
Documentation
Foreign Countries
Higher education
Humanities
Humanities Instruction
Instructional Innovation
Literature
neoliberal university
Neoliberalism
Reading
teaching
Teaching innovations
Teaching methods
University teaching
Web Based Instruction
writing
Writing (Composition)
Writing skills
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Summary:This article presents the authors' successful experiences with Cirrus, a purpose-built Digital Humanities teaching and learning platform developed at The University of Queensland between 2016 and 2018. Our case studies in teaching the crafts of close reading, critical analysis, and writing show that Cirrus's annotation tools enable teachers to push students towards close critical engagements with the material they are studying - across textual, image, audio, and video formats - while the exhibition-building software allows for the transformation of the classic essay into a multi-faceted online presentation combining words, images, and other resources. However, we problematise our own involvement in the development of the platform by considering the ways such tools may become implicated in the negative impacts of neoliberalisation on the university sector in Australia and internationally. We are concerned that universities are using digital tools and innovative teaching practices to further reduce their investment in teaching.
ISSN:0729-4360
1469-8366
DOI:10.1080/07294360.2018.1537258