This week the Center was the site of an energizing series of conversations about digital media and its future in teaching and learning as we hosted an invitational symposium on May 5, Moving Images and the (Digital) Humanities: Toward Best Practices for Teaching and Learning. More than 30 participants from universities, museums, foundations, and educational technology and film organizations gathered for a day of discussions on how best to support the evolving role of digital media in higher education, with an eye toward identifying areas for future collaboration. Kimon Keramidas, assistant professor and Director of the Digital Media lab at the Bard Graduate Center and an organizer of the NYC Digital Humanities community, served as co-host.





Support for critical and analytical use of digital media in courses has been central to the Center’s mission over the past 15 years, so we were particularly excited to have symposium sessions devoted to exploring the potential for two of our earlier projects that continue to enjoy wide use at Columbia and beyond, Mediathread and the Film Language Glossary. In fact, Mediathread, a multimedia annotation and organization tool originally developed with a National Science Foundation grant, has grown into an open source project being used and developed at other institutions.

Over the course of the day, some key issues emerged as important areas for further work: development of digital media literacy standards; support for tools that allow for active use of digital media by faculty and students rather than merely its passive consumption; creation of an infrastructure (including tools, archives, and standard practices) for analytical and creative use of digital media that reflects the values of the academy. Next steps will include a collaboratively authored white paper to capture and expand upon major findings from the day’s proceedings.

Also this week: On April 29, CCNMTL hosted three Columbia students for a brown bag session on online learning. In addition, CCNMTL held it's first rewirED at CUMC session on Tuesday, May 6. Educational technologists Michael Cennamo and Adrienne Garber presented "Lectures that Stick" to 37 CUMC faculty and instructors.

@CCNMTL 1st @CUrewirED session at CUMC on effective presentations. 37 attendees. pic.twitter.com/jk47zsVCEq

— Michelle V. Hall (@mhallatColumbia) May 6, 2014

Coming up: Brian Greene, a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, will discuss his latest project, World Science U, as part of the Conversations on Online Learning series at Columbia University on Thursday, May 8 at 3:00PM in 523 Butler Library. Conversations on Online Learning is sponsored by Columbia’s Office of the Provost and CCNMTL. The event is free and open to members of the Columbia community with a valid University ID.