.
Burton Post-Doctoral Fellow, Ph.D., M.P.P.
Department of History
Saint Joseph's University
5600 City Avenue, B/L 112
Philadelphia, PA 19131-1395
Contact Me
Photo:
@ the Museo Sefardí de Toledo (España)
March 2009
A Saturday in Madrid, March 2009
(a quick video I put together)
Department of History
Saint Joseph's University
5600 City Avenue, B/L 112
Philadelphia, PA 19131-1395
Contact Me
Photo:
@ the Museo Sefardí de Toledo (España)
March 2009
A Saturday in Madrid, March 2009
(a quick video I put together)
SPRING 2009 NEWS
Upcoming Lecture: Abraham's Cathedral: Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic Co-existence in Late Medieval Spain (April 16, 2009)
Pneumatic Destruction of Email (P-DOE)
A back-of-the-envelople working design for a new way to get rid of email. Download the pdf or jpg.
Students’ Perception of Podcasting: A better tool for underclassmen who use it to review lectures and replay test preparation sessions (March 16, 2009)
In late February 2009, I reported on my experiences with utilizing podcasting for two history courses during the fall. These courses included HIS 1011: Introduction to Western Civilization I, a thirty-five student lecture course with some discussion, and HIS 2591: From Baghdad to Burgos: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Medieval Mediterranean, a seventeen person seminar course.
In this posting I share the results of two BlackBoard surveys of my students’ use and perceptions of the utility of podcasting. In general, while 100 percent of HIS 1011 students (primarily sophomores) reported they listened to at least one podcast, in contrast, only 50 percent of HIS 2591 students (mostly juniors and seniors) did the same. This may indicate that lecture versus seminar students may find podcasting more helpful because they are less experienced university students and that their note-taking skills may still be developing. It also may reveal that in general education requirement courses, where one might have a large number of students from other schools and majors, that these students may be using podcasting to review material they may have not understood during lecture. For example, over 36 percent of HIS 1011 students listened to podcasts between three and seven times and 9 percent listened to eight or more podcasts. In contrast only 13 percent of HIS 2591 students, almost all of whom were history majors, used podcasts more than three times during the semester. Therefore, it appears that if podcasting is too be used, it is better suited for lower division courses that serve a general student population. This finding is further bolstered by students stated rationales for listening to class podcasts – over 90 percent of HIS 1011 students reported they used these audio recordings to review for exams. None of the HIS 2591 students reported they used podcasting to study for exams. In closing, students appear to value professors’ podcasts, but only for a limited number of purposes.
Note: My complete podcasting survey results can be accessed from the links below.
HIS 1011 – Fall 2009 Podcast Survey Results
HIS 2591 – Fall 2009 Podcast Survey Results
The Opportunities and Opportunity Costs of Podcasting at SJU (Feb. 17, 2009)
During fall 2008, I decided to take the leap into podcasting with my two History courses—Introduction to Western Civilization I and From Baghdad to Burgos: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean World. My primary motivation for experimenting with podcasting via iTunes U, which can be seamlessly integrated with BlackBoard, was to determine if it might provided a pedagogical edge when trying to intellectually engage our increasingly tech-focused student body. I would say that the results of my podcasting were definitely—mixed. Podcasting is not a panacea for connecting with students, and in some ways it does not play to the strengths of our Jesuit institution and its emphasis on cura personalis.
First, let me describe what is involved with preparing a podcast so that you might better understand the process. In order to podcast, you will need a digital voice recorder or another device to record your class sessions. In my case, I relied on two devices—a Livescribe Pen to record my audio from class and a external microphone that I could connect to my computer (the Snowflake) to record introductions for each finished podcast. After recording my class sessions with the Livescribe Pen, I downloaded the audio files to my computer so that I could edit them. If you want a professionally sounding podcast, then you will want to remove the first seconds, as well as the last seconds, of your class recordings. Otherwise, the beginning of your podcasts will contain extraneous sounds such as your students settling into their seats and the endings of your podcasts might contain confidential conservations that you conducted with students immediately after class. To efficiently remove these extraneous recordings I used Audacity, a readily available audio file editor. With the edited, but raw, podcast completed, I next employed Apple’s GarageBand to produce the final podcast that could be uploaded to iTunes U. To produce a final podcast I typically recorded a brief introduction that reported the class title, the recording date, and a short description about the content of the podcast. Subsequently, I added custom-designed cover art for the podcast and then, finally, uploaded the file to iTunes U. For each course I taught, which meet three days a week, I prepared three podcasts per week. Although I became more efficient with generating podcasts over the fall semester, on average I dedicated about two hours each week to the process of publishing podcasts for each course that I taught. As you can imagine, over the course of the semester I spent a good deal of time each week preparing podcasts. I believe this is the true opportunity cost of podcasting—I could have utilized those two hours of weekly podcast preparation to improve my lectures, spend more time writing comments on students’ papers and tests, or any number of other tasks that would have directly impacted my students’ scholarship and learning.
Anecdotally, my former students report that in general they did listen to the podcasts, especially if they missed a class or when they chose to listen to my test review sessions. However, podcasting was not the perfect complement to my courses because I tend to use a mix of both lectures and in-class discussions and because my class sizes are relative small—15 to 35 students. Ideally, it seems that podcasting is best suited to straight lecture courses, as well as those with larger student enrollments (100+) such as those found at large public universities. Again, given that our university focuses on “concern for the individual student” and prizes small classes sizes, we enjoy a unique opportunity to bond with and take a personal interest in our students’ lives, scholarly goals, and career aspirations. Taking into consideration these communal values, it has become clear to me that podcasting is a useful tool for working with our students, but it does not enhance our connection with them. Rather, within the intimate environment of Saint Joseph’s University, I now see podcasting as a tool that I will utilize in the future to record specific types of class sessions such as test review sessions, very detail-laden class lectures, and student presentations that I might wish to record for evaluation purposes.
Lastly, I am currently conducting a brief online survey using BlackBoard so that I can garner a better understanding of how my former students used podcasts. I hope to share those results on this blog within two weeks.
Forthcoming Publication, New Course: Trans-Atlantic Empires, and More (Jan. 2009)
Conference Activities and Another Podcast (Oct. 2008)
Some Scholarly Associations of Interest (August 31, 2008)
Carvajal Genetic Genealogy Update (August 20, 2008)
Interested in the history of the Medieval Mediterranean World? (August 18, 2008)
Listen to the Opening Panel from the 18th Annual Society for Crypto Judaic-Studies Conference (August 17, 2008)
Upcoming Lecture: Abraham's Cathedral: Jewish, Muslim, and Catholic Co-existence in Late Medieval Spain (April 16, 2009)
Pneumatic Destruction of Email (P-DOE)
A back-of-the-envelople working design for a new way to get rid of email. Download the pdf or jpg.
Students’ Perception of Podcasting: A better tool for underclassmen who use it to review lectures and replay test preparation sessions (March 16, 2009)
In late February 2009, I reported on my experiences with utilizing podcasting for two history courses during the fall. These courses included HIS 1011: Introduction to Western Civilization I, a thirty-five student lecture course with some discussion, and HIS 2591: From Baghdad to Burgos: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Medieval Mediterranean, a seventeen person seminar course.
In this posting I share the results of two BlackBoard surveys of my students’ use and perceptions of the utility of podcasting. In general, while 100 percent of HIS 1011 students (primarily sophomores) reported they listened to at least one podcast, in contrast, only 50 percent of HIS 2591 students (mostly juniors and seniors) did the same. This may indicate that lecture versus seminar students may find podcasting more helpful because they are less experienced university students and that their note-taking skills may still be developing. It also may reveal that in general education requirement courses, where one might have a large number of students from other schools and majors, that these students may be using podcasting to review material they may have not understood during lecture. For example, over 36 percent of HIS 1011 students listened to podcasts between three and seven times and 9 percent listened to eight or more podcasts. In contrast only 13 percent of HIS 2591 students, almost all of whom were history majors, used podcasts more than three times during the semester. Therefore, it appears that if podcasting is too be used, it is better suited for lower division courses that serve a general student population. This finding is further bolstered by students stated rationales for listening to class podcasts – over 90 percent of HIS 1011 students reported they used these audio recordings to review for exams. None of the HIS 2591 students reported they used podcasting to study for exams. In closing, students appear to value professors’ podcasts, but only for a limited number of purposes.
Note: My complete podcasting survey results can be accessed from the links below.
HIS 1011 – Fall 2009 Podcast Survey Results
HIS 2591 – Fall 2009 Podcast Survey Results
The Opportunities and Opportunity Costs of Podcasting at SJU (Feb. 17, 2009)
During fall 2008, I decided to take the leap into podcasting with my two History courses—Introduction to Western Civilization I and From Baghdad to Burgos: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in the Medieval and Early Modern Mediterranean World. My primary motivation for experimenting with podcasting via iTunes U, which can be seamlessly integrated with BlackBoard, was to determine if it might provided a pedagogical edge when trying to intellectually engage our increasingly tech-focused student body. I would say that the results of my podcasting were definitely—mixed. Podcasting is not a panacea for connecting with students, and in some ways it does not play to the strengths of our Jesuit institution and its emphasis on cura personalis.
First, let me describe what is involved with preparing a podcast so that you might better understand the process. In order to podcast, you will need a digital voice recorder or another device to record your class sessions. In my case, I relied on two devices—a Livescribe Pen to record my audio from class and a external microphone that I could connect to my computer (the Snowflake) to record introductions for each finished podcast. After recording my class sessions with the Livescribe Pen, I downloaded the audio files to my computer so that I could edit them. If you want a professionally sounding podcast, then you will want to remove the first seconds, as well as the last seconds, of your class recordings. Otherwise, the beginning of your podcasts will contain extraneous sounds such as your students settling into their seats and the endings of your podcasts might contain confidential conservations that you conducted with students immediately after class. To efficiently remove these extraneous recordings I used Audacity, a readily available audio file editor. With the edited, but raw, podcast completed, I next employed Apple’s GarageBand to produce the final podcast that could be uploaded to iTunes U. To produce a final podcast I typically recorded a brief introduction that reported the class title, the recording date, and a short description about the content of the podcast. Subsequently, I added custom-designed cover art for the podcast and then, finally, uploaded the file to iTunes U. For each course I taught, which meet three days a week, I prepared three podcasts per week. Although I became more efficient with generating podcasts over the fall semester, on average I dedicated about two hours each week to the process of publishing podcasts for each course that I taught. As you can imagine, over the course of the semester I spent a good deal of time each week preparing podcasts. I believe this is the true opportunity cost of podcasting—I could have utilized those two hours of weekly podcast preparation to improve my lectures, spend more time writing comments on students’ papers and tests, or any number of other tasks that would have directly impacted my students’ scholarship and learning.
Anecdotally, my former students report that in general they did listen to the podcasts, especially if they missed a class or when they chose to listen to my test review sessions. However, podcasting was not the perfect complement to my courses because I tend to use a mix of both lectures and in-class discussions and because my class sizes are relative small—15 to 35 students. Ideally, it seems that podcasting is best suited to straight lecture courses, as well as those with larger student enrollments (100+) such as those found at large public universities. Again, given that our university focuses on “concern for the individual student” and prizes small classes sizes, we enjoy a unique opportunity to bond with and take a personal interest in our students’ lives, scholarly goals, and career aspirations. Taking into consideration these communal values, it has become clear to me that podcasting is a useful tool for working with our students, but it does not enhance our connection with them. Rather, within the intimate environment of Saint Joseph’s University, I now see podcasting as a tool that I will utilize in the future to record specific types of class sessions such as test review sessions, very detail-laden class lectures, and student presentations that I might wish to record for evaluation purposes.
Lastly, I am currently conducting a brief online survey using BlackBoard so that I can garner a better understanding of how my former students used podcasts. I hope to share those results on this blog within two weeks.
Forthcoming Publication, New Course: Trans-Atlantic Empires, and More (Jan. 2009)
- This spring my article, "Jews, Catholics, and Converts: Reassessing the Resilience of Convivencia in Fifteenth Century Plasencia, Spain," will appear in the Journal of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian Crypto Jews. Abstract: A systematic reappraisal of fifteenth century Jewish and Christian convivencia, or coexistence, is long overdue because within it resides a hidden history of cooperation among Old Christians, conversos, and Jews. Utilizing a historiographical lens to evaluate interfaith relations in several Castilian and Aragonese communities, one finds a broader range of communal outcomes than is traditionally acknowledged. This study offers new findings pertaining to the cohesive collaboration and intertwined relations of Jews, conversos, and Old Christians in the Extremaduran city of Plasencia. It refutes the long-held assumption that Jews and Christians were routinely segregated from one another and corrects the misguided belief that the converso Santa Maria family persecuted their former co-religionists. Further, this investigation reveals the previously unknown strategic partnership of the converso Santa Maria and Old Christian Carvajal family in the city of Plascencia and the role it played in maintaining medieval norms of interreligious cooperation.
- New Course: Beyond the Pillars of Hercules: The Trans-Atlantic Empires of Spain and Portugal (1492-1713). In 1516, Spanish Emperor Charles V proudly proclaimed the motto, "Plus Ultra", to signal to the world that Spain intended to surpass the Roman Empire by going beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar). Unlike the Romans, who considered the strait to be the extent of the known world, Spain ventured across the Atlantic Ocean. In the process, they encountered the Americas and established a global empire. This course will investigate the Spanish and Portuguese kingdoms' earliest encounters with the New World, the formation of colonial settlements and governments, and the bi-directional flow of people and goods. Additionally, the class will focus intensely on the cultural and religious challenges that resulted from the secret migration of Jews to the Americas, as well as the intermixing of European and Native American populations.
Conference Activities and Another Podcast (Oct. 2008)
- In October, I will be presenting a paper titled, "Promoting Family Piety and Nobility: Creating Cardinal Juan de Carvajal of Plasencia, Spain," at the Sixteenth Century Studies Society Conference.
- Check out my other course podcast --
Some Scholarly Associations of Interest (August 31, 2008)
- The American Numismatic Society - "The mission of The American Numismatic Society is to be the preeminent national institution advancing the study and appreciation of coins, medals and related objects of all cultures as historical and artistic documents, by maintaining the foremost numismatic collection and library, by supporting scholarly research and publications, and by sponsoring educational and interpretive programs for diverse audiences."
- The Sixteenth Century Society - "is a scholarly society that is interested in the early modern era (ca. 1450-ca. 1660). Our geographical scope is as worldwide as our membership. The society welcomes scholars from all disciplines who have an interest in early modern studies."
- The Society Crypto-Judaic Studies - "was founded in 1991 in order to foster research and networking of information into the historical and contemporary development of crypto Jews of Iberian origin."
- The Middle East Studies Association - "is a non-political association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom."
- The Society for Spanish
Portuguese Historical Studies
-
was "founded in 1969 to promote research in all
aspects and epochs of Iberian history and
related disciplines. SSPHS conducts annual
meetings, provides a forum for scholars of
Iberian Affairs, awards prizes for books,
articles and dissertations, and publishes its
Bulletin triannually."
Carvajal Genetic Genealogy Update (August 20, 2008)
- New paternal (Y-DNA) results are posted. Read more about the project. See the newest results.
Interested in the history of the Medieval Mediterranean World? (August 18, 2008)
- As a part of my St. Joseph's University course, HIS 2591, From Baghdad to Burgos: Christians, Muslims, and Jews in the Medieval Mediterranean World (600 to 1600 c.e.), I'll be podcasting class lectures and discussions using iTunes U. If you are interested in being a "listening participant" in our class, please subscribe to the podcast. Also, you can download the syllabus and read along with us. --Learn More--
Listen to the Opening Panel from the 18th Annual Society for Crypto Judaic-Studies Conference (August 17, 2008)
- In this panel, Dr. Seth Kunin (University of Durham) discusses the "Diversity in Crypto-Jewish Religious Choices." Following is a response by Dr. Stanley Hordes (University of New Mexico).
