I have two main goals for this weekend:

First, I would like to brainstorm new and effective ways to use technology in the classroom that move beyond he use of Blackboard or Moodle. For whatever reason, my past attempts to use those particular platforms have been spectacular failures. I’d like to rethink the way I approach collaborative student work, adding class components that add value rather than merely provide additional assessment opportunities for me.

Second, I’d really like some help thinking about how the broader framework of the “digital humanities” can help push my research forward. Medievalists have done a great job of connecting the digital to medieval thought and manuscript culture, finding ways to illuminate the work they do as well as bring the insights of medieval studies to how we think about digital or collaborative creative work. I feel like early modernists have availed ourselves of these emerging tools less ably. While digital archives are changing the way we access primary source materials, I want to think about the way digital culture and technology might illuminate my work in theoretical as well as practical ways. I’m not really sure how to go about doing that, but I’m hoping this weekend will be a step in the right direction.