CONNECTIONS Online Resource Center
Interdisciplinary Learning || Interinstitutional Cooperation

“Information Technology and Women’s Studies: Building Connections” will enable faculty to acquire and use a range of technological skills, including linking an introductory general education course between three campuses-Rhode Island College, University of Rhode Island- Kingston and University of Rhode Island-CCE in Providence.

Faculty members in Women’s Studies are already setting the pace in many areas of information technology and teaching. In fall 1998, Kat Quina, Women’s Studies and Psychology, and Sue Boatright- Horowitz, Psychology, URI did the first distance learning presentation for students from URI-Kingston to URI-CCE. Donna M. Hughes, Director, Women’s Studies at URI has used electronic bulletin boards and email for teaching for six years, and has had interactive course syllabi on the web for two years. In 1997/1998, four faculty members who teach Women’s Studies courses at URI were Teaching Technology Fellows.

Women’s Studies is very much about access to knowledge. Distance technology can increase access of our students to our courses, guest lecturers, and national speakers. Students are already using computers in various ways, including downloading web resources in term papers and projects. This has presented a challenge to instructors, who do not yet know how to evaluate web-based student projects, and to students, who do not yet know how to critically assess the resources they access on the web. Addressing these issues head-on will enable feminist scholars/teachers to assist their students in developing thinking skills, empowering them to use the web wisely, while giving teachers a better means for evaluating their students’ work.

This grant will bring opportunities to dozens of faculty members throughout the universities and hundreds of students. Although the Women’s Studies Programs at URI and RIC are small by most department standards, in fact, due to their interdisciplinary structures, they have high numbers of faculty associated with them. Women’s Studies at URI has 45 faculty members associated with the Program, at RIC there are 18.

The Goals
Information Technology and Women’s Studies:
Making Connections

1. To link an introductory level general education course in Women’s Studies between RIC, URI-CCE and URI-Kingston. Three faculty members will use a common Web-CT site to share a syllabus, materials and communication among students and faculty from all three campuses.

2. To provide opportunities for interinstitutional cooperation through distance learning technology. As RIC comes online with distance technology this fall, we have increased opportunities to share in local and national activities. We intend to utilize the distance technology, particularly PictureTel, in three ways:

a. Participate in national conferences through satellite downloads,

b. Invite “guest lectures” into our classrooms from other campuses through PictureTel,

c. Share guest lectures across campuses.

3. To advance educational pedagogy through introducing women’s studies faculty to ways to utilize technology creatively in women’s studies classrooms. Part of the process of implementing a technologically sophisticated pedagogy is to demonstrate the variety of ways in which technology can be utilized in the service of enhancing teaching and learning. Therefore, we intend to offer two informative, hands-on conferences, and a series of working sessions demonstrating specific classroom technologies in action. These conferences and working sessions will be open to the public.

4. To enhance students’ learning through access to and training with electronic media.  “Building Connections” meets all five criteria listed in the Call for Proposals. 1) It is congruent with the Universities mission to train students to be critical and independent thinkers and will help students understand the rapidly changing roles and capabilities of information technologies. 2) It is innovative in using in using the Web to link an introductory general education course on three campuses from two universities. 3) It will increase the efficiency of course preparation by making course materials permanently available on the web. 4) It will have demonstrable outcomes that will be models for similar courses on all three campuses. 5) It is an integrated interinstitutional proposal between three campuses and two universities.

We anticipate that as a result of these projects, Women’s Studies will serve our campuses as models of interinstitutional cooperation, integration of pedagogy and technology, and enthusiasm. The URI and RIC team putting this proposal together is already looking beyond the first year of funding to envision projects for the next five years.

History and Current Status of Women’s Studies at Rhode Island College

The first courses in Women’s Studies were offered in the early 1970s at RIC, with an undergraduate major and minor established in 1977. RIC also offers a graduate degree through the College’s Independent Master’s (IMA) Program. The program is administered by a Director, who reports to the Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences and who is advised by the Women’s Studies Program Advisory Committee (WSPAC). WSPAC membership is open to all faculty members who teach and/or do research in women’s studies. The Women’s Studies Program has no tenure lines. However, eight of the eighteen faculty on WSPAC have joint appointments in Women’s Studies and another department.

We offer from six to fifteen courses per term (several with multiple sections). Our own courses include WMST 200: Women in Society (the introductory course), WMST 162: Women in Japan (part of the college’s Core 3 requirement), and WMST 300: Field Experience (taken by majors in the senior year). Cross-listed courses include classes from numerous departments, among them African-American Studies, Art, Anthropology, English, History, Management, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work, and Sociology. Because WMST 200 counts toward the college’s general education requirement and WMST 162 is a core course, we see a large number of non-majors/ non-minors in our courses annually (roughly 150). We currently have five majors and 23 minors.

History and Current Status of Women’s Studies at the University of Rhode Island

Faculty at the University of Rhode Island began teaching courses focusing on the lives, experiences, and culture of women in the early 1970s. The first major graduated in 1979 with the degree being formally approved by the Board of Governors in 1980. Since then over 70 women have graduated with majors in Women’s Studies. Today, there are 65 courses approved for majors and minors from 16 departments and five colleges. The core staff of the program includes a full-time, tenure-track director; two tenured appointments, one split between Women’s Studies and English and the other between Women’s Studies and Sociology; a graduate assistant; and a half-time secretary. An additional 19 faculty members from 11 departments hold joint appointments in Women’s Studies. Eighteen other faculty members from 11 departments affiliate with the program and offer courses in their own disciplines. Five faculty members hold adjunct appointments.

Women’s Studies has 20 majors and a growing number of minors. We have made a commitment to broaden our interdisciplinary research and scholarship into the science, engineering and technological fields. In 1996, the Program hired Donna Hughes, who holds a Ph.D. in Genetics, to occupy the Carlson Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies. In 1996, the Program was selected to receive one of ten grants awarded nationally for the initiative “Women and Scientific Literacy: Building Two-Way Streets.” This three-year grant, funded by the National Science Foundation and sponsored by the Association of American Colleges and Universities, has drawn a number of science, engineering, pharmacy and nursing faculty into greater participation in women’s studies.

URI-RIC Interinstitutional Cooperation in Women’s Studies

The directors and faculties in Women’s Studies at Rhode Island College and the University of Rhode Island have been collaborating on course offerings since the 1980s. In the early 1990s, representatives from both programs met to discuss the possibility of a joint M.A. degree in Women’s Studies. There was enthusiastic support for this project, but it was put on hold as URI began a study of existing graduate programs and future directions. In 1996, the feasibility of collaboration at the undergraduate level was raised. Faculty at both institutions expressed an interest in further study and meetings took place over the course of the next year. Deans Wiener and Brownell met with the directors and faculty representatives of the programs in 1997. While no formal joint program has been established to date, many new initiatives have been launched.

·        Professor Dottie Bianco, Professor, Psychology and Women’s Studies at RIC, presented a colloquium at URI in April 1997.

·        In Spring 1997, faculty from RIC who were interested in more interinstitutional contact were added to the URI Women’s Studies e-mail list.

·        A celebratory joint meeting for faculty, administrators and students was hosted by Dean Walter Crocker and Professor Stephen Grubman-Black at URI-CCE in Providence in the fall of 1997.

·        Professor Carolyn Fleuhr-Lobban, a faculty member from RIC and Judge Patricia Moore, offered a URI women’s studies course “Comparative Family Law” at URI-CCE in the fall 1998.

·        In October 1998, the RIC and URI Women’s Studies Programs held their first cosponsored lecture. Susan Koppelman, the leading expert on American women’s short stories and editor of numerous collections of short stories spoke at URI-CCE.

·        Announcement of special events, conferences and lectures are sent routinely to faculty in women’s studies at both institutions.

 Activities

1) Model Projects

a)      Interinstitutional linking through Web CT of an introductory level general education Women’s Studies class. Three classes of students-one taking WMST 200 Women in Society at RIC, one taking WMS 150 Introduction to Women’s Studies at URI-Kingston and another taking WMS 150 Introduction to Women’s Studies at URI-CCE - will share an online syllabus, class materials and communication boards.

b)      Design and construction of a web site for WMS 350Y International Women’s Issues. This web site will collect materials and links to be used in the annual teaching of this advanced course in Women’s Studies. The course is popular with students from Political Science and foreign exchange students, in addition to Women’s Studies majors and minors.

2) Demonstrations for faculty in use of computers, hardware and software to create online interactive syllabi, web based courses, web published papers and online documents.

3) Two Conferences on Information Technology and Feminist Pedagogy (one at URI, one at RIC, one during Fall 1999 semester, one during Spring 2000 semester) will include speakers or presenters on the following topics:

a) Pedagogical presentations and demonstrations by internal    and external presenters on the use of information technology for  undergraduate education. All presentations will be open to all faculty,  staff and students.

b) Feminist pedagogy and critical evaluation of new information technologies. Feminist pedagogy is critical to Women’s Studies teaching and scholarship. Although a specific technique does not define this pedagogy, it can be characterized as student-centered, interactive, and actively engaging students and faculty in the process of learning. Multicultural awareness and competency are essential to this process. Different learning styles are acknowledged and addressed by basing evaluation on a variety of types of assessment. Among the key learning objectives are critical thinking, development of effective writing skills, empowerment of students in acquiring and critiquing knowledge, and applications of classroom material to real-world settings, including social change. The feminist classroom is an ideal place for technological enhancement. Our experiences with e-mail classes have demonstrated that discussions are often deeper when everyone has a turn to speak and time to think.

4) Reception of electronic events and conferences. Through the use of live videoconferencing (Picture-Tel) or satellite feeds Women’s Studies faculty will be able to view and discuss international broadcasts of seminars.

Examples:

·        United Nations Development Fund for Women’s anti-violence live videoconference on International Women’s Day, March 8, 1999.

·        Sexuality Information and Education Council’s (SIECUS) first international interactive online forum on sexuality, sexual health and sexuality education, April 28 1999.

·        “Women’s Lives, Women’s Voices, Women’s Solutions – Shaping a National Agenda in Higher Education,” University of Minnesota, March 27-29, 2000.

5) Obtain and learn to use scanners, optical character reader software, and graphics software. Each central Women’s Studies office will have a computer, scanner and software that will enable faculty members to scan text and images into files for use in other electronic media.

6) New or enhanced courses. Kat Quina, Psychology and Women’s Studies, URI has taught Psychology 480 “The Female Experience” as an email-based course. She needs to move this course to the web.

Benchmarks of Success

1) Interinstitutional linking of an introductory level general education course between RIC, URI-CCE and URI-Kingston, which will include the design and use of Web-based courses.

2) Design and use of online interactive syllabi by faculty in Women’s Studies

3) Creation of Online Feminist Pedagogy and Information Technology Resource Center for publication of instructional materials and papers on this topic. All presenters will be asked to provide a paper or link to materials they have developed on their topic. Women’s Studies faculty will be able use and contribute to this online resource center.

4) Faculty and student “attendance” at electronic events, seminars and conferences

5) Central office capability to scan and upload images and documents to the web server

6) Design and construction of web-based teaching and research materials for International Women’s Issues

Personnel

Project Assistant to 1) assist in routine coordination of the project; scheduling of technical assistant, 2) assist in organizing conferences and live videoconference events; 3) assist in gathering and preparing; 4) materials for distribution to faculty; 5) prepare publicity materials for events; and 6) updating of web site after design is completed.

Technical Assistant to 1) assist with special projects; 2) assist with design and construction of web sites; 3) provide one-on-one assistance to ensure that faculty interest and skills learned in workshops results in successful implementation of ideas. All too often the best of intentions go unfulfilled because faculty lack technical assistance to finish projects they have conceived and started work on. Once a faculty member has been able to bring to fruition one project, they will be empowered with skills and confidence to try other projects.

Copyright © 1999
University of Rhode Island
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