RELS 602		Technological Approaches to the Humanities
RELS 602 Syllabus Schedule Resources Perl Religious Studies Arts & Sciences UPenn		Course Description Increasingly, applicants for teaching positions are asked, "How have you used technology in instruction and research?" This course will give graduate students in the Humanities the practical experience they need to answer. Students in the course will each learn to use HTML to build a sophisticated instructional web site related to an area of their own research. The web site will contain original text, graphics, and sound. It will be interactive. It will be well laid out and presented in a pedagogically sound manner. Students will use the Perl programming language to write increasingly complex programs to create web pages dynamically and to analyze textual data. Throughout the course, students will explore ethical issues related to the use of technology: security, free speech, intellectual property, software piracy, and the effects of technology on society. They will also explore elements of effective pedagogy: what are the advantages, limits, and dangers of using computers and related technology in research, publication, and teaching? Prerequisites Students in the course must be graduate students engaged in advanced research in the Humanities (at least 8 courses in the Humanities are prerequisite) and must have basic computing skills (word processing, e-mail, using the Web). Enrollment is strictly limited in order to give each student access to a computer in class. Time and Location This course is offered through CGS. Class sessions will be held Saturday mornings 9:30 to 12:10 in 421 Williams Hall. Jay C. Treat, Ph.D.