The Study of Shakespeare Must Evolve

Creative Commons licensed by Vaun Raymond

That's right: the study of Shakespeare must evolve. This is the theme that I have set for my current Shakespeare courses. On this blog I will be documenting how I am changing my approach to teaching Shakespeare on the college level, and here I will also coach my students in doing the same. It is my contention that Shakespeare can be experienced more meaningfully if students are invited to let go of some traditional approaches and to try other ways newly available due to the wide accessibility of media and new communication tools.

Click through to read my description of how teaching and learning about Shakespeare in the digital age compares with a more traditional approach.

Balancing Directed and Self-Directed Learning

What am I supposed to do to prepare for class, my students at times wonder, if I am not being directed what to read or what homework to do? 

A look of student uncertainty (courtesy of jamelah on Flickr)

It's a fair question. I am not following custom in my Shakespeare course. There is no calendar of readings, no exam slated, no paper due. Not even a quiz. In short, I am not providing for my students the sort of completely directed curriculum that they've likely experienced as their professors have handed out a course syllabus with its exact and exacting set of readings and assignments. It's enough to make more than one student feel a little edgy.

Toward Life-Long Learning

As my students know, I emphasize a combination of self-directed learning and socially-optimized learning, mediated through the emerging tools that make each of these two poles of the learning continuum more feasible and enjoyable.

I'd like to relate my approach to teaching and learning to the Aims of a BYU Education. Note how it refers specifically to keeping up with technological advances:

BYU should inspire students to keep alive their curiosity and prepare them to continue learning throughout their lives.... Thus, a BYU diploma is a beginning, not an end, pointing the way to a habit of constant learning. In an era of rapid changes in technology and information, the knowledge and skills learned this year may require renewal the next. Therefore, a BYU degree should educate students in how to learn...

This is why I have introduced the basic concepts of digital literacy, and why I press my students to learn blogging, social discovery, and especially the mindset that comes with the ability to rapidly and frequently share one's thinking, learning, and creative efforts. It can be a steep learning curve, but we're building for the long haul here.

Have you considered your own life-long learning? What are the things you are going to need to figure out when you aren't inside the protected walls of school? Will you need to know some online and digital skills to help your children succeed? Will you be at an advantage if you know how to connect with other learners and develop learning plans specific to your career, your jobs, your family, your community? Obviously I think so.

What are you doing to make the courses you are taking today something that builds toward more than a diploma? How will you make this semester's learning last for decades and continuously contribute to you, your family, and your many future social connections?

Photo: flickr - jisc_infonet