Location, Location, Location: The Role of Place in ISUComm Pedagogy
Date: Sept. 23, 2009
Time: 3:30 p.m.
Place: 212 Ross Hall
Speaker: Tanya Zanish-Belcher, Parks Library Special Collections; Kathy Svec, Ames Historical Society; Sara Kadolph, Textiles and Clothing Museum; Gail Nonnecke, Horticulture; Amy Bix, History; Don Payne, ISUComm.
Topic: In Student Success in College: Creating Conditions That Matter, Kuh, Kinzie, Schuh, Whitt, and associates document how at successful colleges and universities “the physical and emotional become inextricably intertwined to form an almost palpable ‘sense of place.’” In this workshop teachers will share ideas for using the ISU campus and the Ames community as special locations around which to center communication learning. ISUComm seeks to involve students in active learning where WOVE (Written, Oral, Visual, and Electronic) communication is tied to specific times, places, purposes, and audiences. Communicating-in-context activities motivate students to observe accurately, act ethically, respect difference, and define themselves. Our students shape, and are shaped by, their years on this campus and in this community. We encourage activities that help students to analyze the role of place in their lives and to articulate their experiences coherently.
This workshop features presenters who know about resources related to Ames and to the ISU campus—history, architecture, landscape, and student life. And it features teachers who have used location as the centerpiece of one or more classroom communication assignments. To these presenters and to ourselves we pose these basic questions:
- Why should ISU students learn about the campus and the Ames community as a physical place with a special history?
- What resources can teachers tap to help students develop a meaningful sense of the local?
- What WOVE classroom activities and projects can engage students in researching, recording, and analyzing the campus and surrounding community?
