iMythology

Jennifer Sheridan Moss (Wayne State University)

The many of us who teach Classical Mythology know that the amount of material we want our students to absorb is enormous.  They need to learn the gods and characters and the basic stories of mythology;  yet we also want them to understand the nature of myth and theoretical approaches to it, and we want them to experience myth the way the ancients did, through art and literature.  This is a tall order for a fourteen week semester.

In the past I have had my students read a basic mythology textbook to learn the facts, and have tried to get them to read some limited amount of literature, taking into account how much reading they must also do in the textbook.  Class time is devoted to explaining the basics and showing slides; too often I have had to cut short any detailed discussion of the literature, although this is what I would prefer to emphasize.

In order to address my concerns, I am teaching an experimental section of Classical Mythology which will use video podcasts as a substitute for a textbook and class lectures. Each student is being given a video iPod on which they will view the podcasts at their leisure;  they will be quizzed on the material electronically outside of class as well and will be required to blog about their experience.  The students’ reading time will be devoted to reading mythological literature, and class time will be spent entirely on experiencing mythology the way the Greeks did.

This course strikes a balance between the use of technology and the need to have a live instructor. Class time will be entirely active;  passive instruction will happen only during a student’s private time.  Ultimately, this course will be more academically challenging than my standard course because of its focus on literature.

In this talk I will discuss the process of creating the podcasts (including the not insubstantial costs involved), show exerpts from some of the podcasts,  and share the students’ reaction to them.  I will also propose that podcasts are a medium by which classicists nationwide could potentially share their knowledge with students at other institutions through a national database.