Prof. Nathan Loewen specializes in the philosophy of religion and digital humanities among other things. This summer his research interests are taking him in a new direction at their intersection. Last week, I travelled to the 2019 Humanities Intensive Learning and Teaching event to learn about text analysis from Katie Rawson. Here are just a few outcomes from those five days. […]
Read More from 7 Things I Learned at HILT for the Digital Study of Religion
On my morning drive into work, I heard a news report on autonomous and intelligent road vehicles, or self-driving automobiles. The story explained that as these vehicles are optimized for road safety, designers must determine programming imperatives such as whether a vehicle should prioritize the safety of the human “driver” or a pedestrian in a roadway. If that scenario was not unsettling enough, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers is developing a certification of ethics for approved vehicles. But […]
Shannon Trosper Schorey is a doctoral candidate in the Religious Studies Department at UNC Chapel Hill. Her dissertation “The Internet is Holy” charts the fusion of religion and information technologies in Silicon Valley since the mid-20th century. (The introduction to the series is posted here.) In our Religious Studies Department at UNC Chapel Hill I teach an undergraduate course called Technology, the Self, and Ethical Problems. The course serves two purposes, the first is to introduce students to the range […]
Faculty in REL, and throughout the University, are experimenting with technology in their classrooms every semester. Last week the Center for Instructional Technology (CIT) hosted a showcase for faculty to share the cool stuff their are doing with technology in the classroom. The Department’s own Prof. Nathan Loewen presented his work in developing The College of Arts & Sciences Teaching Hub, a digital resource center that provides tools for faculty to improve and innovate in their teaching. Along with Jessica […]
Read More from Prof. Loewen Presents at the Center for Instructional Technology’s Showcase
Thanks to the wireless internet on campus and an enterprising student in class with a laptop, a quick e.g. turned into an even better example this semester. […]
What role do you think technological innovation plays in education? Watch and see what you think… The punchline? “… making a learner think seems best achieved in a social environment, with other learners and a caring teacher.” […]
Like a lot of academics, I’m sure, I got this email the other day, from a textbook publisher doing its best — like all those MOOC providers and other eBook developers — to create the impression of a need. Funny, but I thought we’d already invented a way to have an individualized reading experience. […]
by Hannah Etchison Hannah Etchison, a graduating senior majoring in Religious Studies with a minor in Asian Studies, spent six weeks of this fall in India, staying primarily at a monastery where she will learn from the women and help them with their English. This is her third post about that experience. See her first and second posts. Sogyal* struck up a conversation with me quickly. I had mentioned to another guest at the World Buddhist Centre that I was an […]
From the “your undergrad degree does not necessarily determine your life’s trajectory” files comes this interesting article on the much headlined (but, according to this author’s research, mythic) shortage of STEM researchers (STEM = science, technology, engineering, and math). Apart from little agreement in the literature on just what constitutes STEM disciplines and employment areas, the article finds: […]