Alex Hunnicutt

Using Student Websites to Mitigate Isolation in Independent Studies

Wendell A. (Alex) Hunnicutt, PhD

Adjunct Instructor

Department of History, College of Liberal Arts

This project addresses the use of student-controlled website as a tool for developing, curating, and presenting knowledge acquired in the context of independent historical studies. Undergraduate students working independently may miss the structure and the interaction of traditional classrooms or even the give and take of the online discussion boards. A domain on their own may mitigate some of the isolation of independent studies as well as providing a technological means of communicating finished studies.

Students will record their time spent on the technical construction of these websites – not the content, but the presentation and manipulation of the content. Similarly, I will record my own experiences in guiding students through this process, the observed ease or difficulty experienced by the students as well as the amount of time required for me as an instructor to manage these projects. Students’ abilities to follow through and complete the projects and the quality of those projects will factor into the evaluation.

J. T. Dellinger

Hi Alex, I am interested to see how you experiment with this going forward and to see if your hypothesis around early course, intentional, high-stakes integration in a small class would increase the success of your pilot study. I have seen group work done in Domain of One’s Own where students have worked together to curate materials using Omeka and built interactive websites using WordPress. There was a good deal of collaboration and students had the opportunity to share with their classmates. Suzanne Churchill at Davidson College could be a good resource for you! Do you think developing your own domain as an example could also help students so they can see an example?
- Peggy Semingson
  
  I like the idea of collaboration for dooo. I am using a modified sort of dooo with a “group blog” and I think it’s a good way to scaffold blogging for students (and faculty) who are not used to digital spaces for academic knowledge sharing.
- Alex Hunnicutt
  
  Yes, modelling the expected behavior would likely have helped encourage participation.
Marcela Gutierrez

Hi Alex. This is an interesting project. It made me think about an article shared by Justin recently that compares the inherent tension between creating a digital identity and creating a social presence online. It will be interesting to see how this tension plays out in your project.
Jenny Roye

Hi Alex. I agree with your suggestions from your lessons learned. It’s hard to get student buy in if it’s not attached to a grade somewhere.
- Alex Hunnicutt
  
  More and more, it becomes obvious that if there is not a grade attached, the participation level will not be large.
Peggy Semingson

Great job with domain of one’s own. I am still learning about dooo! I liked your “start small” approach! Maybe you can use this process to think about what structures and supports (e.g., examples) might be motivating to students. Maybe tie it to a grade, too, as you suggested in your ‘lessons learned’? Sounds like the class may have been too small!
Cindy

I need to learn more about Domain of Ones Own!
Sharon Johnson

Alex, this is a new concept for me and I also need to learn more about this topic. So what would you do differently (in additional to making this a graded learning activity) to engage with students and increase your study participation?
Regina Urban

What an interesting concept, domain of one’s own, to assist online students with increased interaction and to foster a sense of community. In addition (and thinking small) what a smart way to connect individuals who are working on independent studies, honors projects within a course or even senior honors projects. What were your most useful resources on dooo as you prepared your project?