Engagement, enthusiasm, and empowerment: participatory learning in Special Collections instruction ...

Engagement, enthusiasm, and empowerment: participatory learning in Special Collections instruction Students less than enthused? Energize them with active learning, critical pedagogy, and reflective teaching! UMBC Special Collections faculty Lindsey Loeper and Susan Graham have developed an interactive one-shot instruction session that fosters a welcoming environment and allows students to practice visual and archival literacy. Our poster will showcase a practical example of primary source instruction through the lens of active learning, critical pedagogy, and reflective teaching. The example comes from a selection of 200-level courses in the arts and humanities. Early iterations of these classes were structured like a show and tell of the prized collections. Although we were enthusiastic, the students were not as engaged as they could be. We have developed the session to be more meaningful and participatory, incorporating aspects of critical feminist pedagogy. We emphasize diverse formats and creators and ...