Overview
- Instructor: Dr. Kenneth Hanson
- Instructional Designer: Roslyn Miller
- College/Department: CAH, History/Judaic Studies
- Course Number & Title: JST3424: Biblical Archaeology, JST3190: Social Justice and the Prophets
Videos, games, and video games. The integration of new media in coursework is a new way to look at old objects. And this is exactly what Dr. Kenneth Hanson aimed to do with his course redesign. His goal in teaching these courses in a fully online format (beyond freeing up classroom space) was to genuinely enhance the student learning experience, through both short-term testable outcomes and long-term retention of the material presented. He had previously taught these courses in a face-to-face setting multiple times.
For JST3424, he added a dynamic video game (on the subject of biblical archaeology) to this course in order to increase student retention and satisfaction. This game was developed during Spring 2018 in collaboration with a student team at FIEA (The Florida Interactive Entertainment Academy) at the UCF downtown campus. The course redesign can accurately measure the effectiveness of educational gaming on learning objectives. This video game challenges students to correctly identify by approximate age and period of pottery by examining specific characteristics. It also takes students on a tour of the ancient tunnels beneath old Jerusalem.
JST3190 made Dr. Hanson particularly interested in seeing how the use of video lectures (what he calls a “video textbook”) affects overall comprehension of the material and allows for the integration of features that were unworkable in traditional classrooms – e.g., the dramatic vocalization of original Hebrew passages (with English subtitles). Students can watch theatrical dramatizations of the great speeches of the ancient prophets, in the ancient tongue, along with the professor’s commentary and analysis. The material he covers is intellectually challenging. He designs these videos with the goal of making it as accessible as possible.
Above all, I want this online course to be one that students will remember, hopefully as a highlight of their academic experience.