Digital Pedagogy: Digital Exhibits and Archives

What are digital exhibits and archives?

Digital exhibits and/or archives present artifacts in a digital environment and put them in conversation with one another, in the light of a particular argument or theme.

Learning objectives for digital assignments

Learning objectives are clearly defined statements of expected goals and outcomes from the student perspective. When a student finishes an activity or a lesson, what will they know, articulate, or be able to do?

Every digital pedagogy project should have learning objectives. Here are a few tips for creating student-centered objectives:

• Relate the project to course objectives - what's the purpose of this digital element? Examples may include learning the digital tool, applying class knowledge, or communicating their research.
• Consider transferable skills (creating a visual argument) rather than hard skills (use a dashboard in Tableau).
• Create a rubric around the learning objectives to use when evaluating students' work.
• Focus on the process, not the final product. 

Getting started: try Bloom's Taxonomy Action Verbs for sample action verbs to use in learning objectives.

Example learning objectives for digital exhibits and archives

Students will be able to...

• produce a visual analysis of a collection of postcards, including relevant metadata, and display their critique in conversation with historical documents
• communicate their complex historical research in an exhibit to a broad audience.

Tools & Tutorials

Below are tools and guides to help you start a digital exhibit or archive:

Wilson Library Special Collections - UNC Chapel Hill's Wilson Library houses five special collections that are open to UNC affiliates. Special collections librarians regularly collaborate with classes to work with collections that include print materials, multimedia resources, and more.

 Omeka - an open source online platform for creating exhibits that supports extensive metadata.

 Scalar - a free, open-source multimodal publishing platform that supports non-linear pathways and interlinked elements.

 WordPress - a user-friendly website publishing platform.

UNC affiliates can create WordPress sites for free by logging in to web.unc.edu with their ONYEN and password.

 Google Sites - a user-friendly website publishing platform (free with a Google account)

 Dublin Core and Metadata Standards - Using standardized metadata (data about data, or the information about your artifacts) will help describe your collections and create a robust digital exhibit or archive.

Icon "archive" by iconcheese from the Noun Project

Finding Help

To get started with digital pedagogy and lesson planning after exploring this guide, contact Sarah Morris (semorris@email.unc.edu or (919) 962-2094).

• To work with a subject specialist, contact your Subject Librarian from Research and Instructional Services.
• For project planning and technical support, schedule a consultation with a specialist from Library Data Services.
• For help working with design and media, contact Winifred Fordham Metz (freddie@email.unc.edu), head of the Media & Design Center.

Table of Contents

• What are digital exhibits and archives?
• Creating learning objectives
• Tools & tutorials
• Sample project gallery
• Finding help