Workshop

2019 Teaching Asia Workshop: Asian Studies in the Digital Age

Dickinson College, Carlisle, PA

October 12, 2019

The Teaching Asia Workshop is designed to foster better understanding of Asia among K-12 teachers

and to provide them with the tools to integrate material on Asia into their curriculum. This year’s

conference theme is “Asian Studies in the Digital Age.” Presenters will discuss how to teach about

Asia in an era increasingly dominated by digital technology. The presentations will include

demonstrations of how instructors might use new digital tools to make the history, politics, and

culture of Asia come to life in the classroom.

Please NOTE that this workshop is free for NCTA alums. 

Also, participants will be presented with a professional development certificate of completion and PA ACT 48 hours available upon request. 

Program (Room TBD)

9:00-9:15      Registration and Refreshments

9:15-9:30      Dr. Shawn Bender (Dickinson College), Welcome Address

9:30-10:00    Dr. Brenda Jordan (University of Pittsburgh), “NCTA Web Resources for Teaching about Asia”

10:45-11:30  Dr. Jonathan Abel (Penn State University), “Emoji and the Dream of a Universal Language”

11:30-12:15  Dr. Rachael Hutchinson (University of Delaware), “Videogames in the Asian Studies Classroom:

Thematic Readings and Material Culture”

12:15-1:45    Lunch and Keynote Address by Dr. Christine Yano (U of Hawaii), Vice- President,

Association for Asian Studies

2:00-2:45      Dr. Song Chen (Bucknell University), “Transforming the Classroom into a Makerspace:

Teaching China with Digital Resources”

2:45-3:30      Dr. Susan Douglass (Georgetown University), “Teaching the Indian Ocean in World History”

3:30-3:45      Conclusion and Workshop Evaluation

Register here for the Teaching Asia Workshop. 

For information on hotels and transportation, click here.

World History Textbook Rubric Evaluation Session
June 12, 2019, 5:30-8:30pm
4130 Wesley Posvar Hall
 
We are putting together a group of teahers to help with a project  that we have been working on for the past year—a rubric for evaluating World History textbooks (see the statement of purpose below for what we’ve been up to). We would like to put the rubric to the test by having a group of teachers meet for a few hours to evaluate a world history textbook (we’ll provide the text to be evaluated).  You don’t have to be a world history teacher to participate! Also, we are not limiting this to NCTA teachers, so if you have any colleagues who would be interested in this, please let them know about it.  We’ll provide dinner, free parking in the Soldiers & Sailors garage, and as a “thank you” for your time, we’ll give you a $50 stipend and a free copy of the latest title in the ‘Key Issues in Asian Studies” series.
 
If you are able to help out with this interesting project, please email Patrick Hughes  hughespw@pitt.edu by Monday, June 10.
 
Here is the STATEMENT OF PURPOSE from the Textbook Rubric Team (Michael-Ann Cerniglia, Matthew Roberts, Matthew Williams):
Based on conversations at NCTA Board of Advisors over a year ago, we embarked on developing a tool to evaluate the quality of textbooks. At first, we were thinking about the way in which East Asia was treated in World History textbooks, but then we looked more broadly at World History textbooks as a whole.  Of course, this became a very challenging endeavor over the year, in that we found even defining "quality" was subjective. At this point, we have developed a draft of a rubric which we believe produces two things.  First, it produces a subjective score that is based on operationalized definitions; though this was not, admittedly, scientifically tested. Second, it produces a process and experience from which teachers can discuss and compare their scores.  Ultimately, it is the discussion that is most valuable. To that end, we are seeking teachers who are interested in the comparative value of different textbooks based on four categories: Legitimacy, Structure, Perspective, and Agency.  We hope to workshop this rubric and engage in discussion about its value and possible changes that would make it more useful in its application.