A New Way to Read: Collaborative Textual Analysis on ePortfolio, Digital Literacy and Metacognitive Thinking

Presenter:

Jordi Getman-Eraso, Associate Professor; & Kate Culkin; Associate Professor; History; Bronx Community College

Abstract:

While students often believe that academic success is measured as the ability to regurgitate information conveyed by their professors, humanities professors aim to help students develop critical thinking skills and mastery of the analysis essential to the work of their disciplines. Bronx Community College (BCC) humanities professors have successfully addressed this disjuncture through the collaborative analysis of texts using the Digication e-portfolio Conversations tool. In this interactive presentation, BCC history faculty will involve the audience in a group analysis of a historical document to demonstrate how the participatory technology functions as well as its potential for engaging students in the epistemological foundations of the discipline that can empower them to develop metacognitive analytical skills. Presenters will also address how their scholarly research on the tool’s effectiveness in achieving student learning outcomes opens a new area for the scholarship of teaching and learning in the humanities.