Sunoikisis: Expanding Teaching Resources with Technology

Dr. Rebecca Frost Davis

Chief Program Officer for Sunoikisis and Intercampus Teaching

National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE)

Sunoikisis, a NITLE collaboration advancing teaching, curricular development and scholarship in Classical Studies, models how technology can expand resources for teaching Classics both inside and out of the traditional college classroom.  This project began among the sixteen institutions of the Associated Colleges of the South (www.colleges.org), but now has expanded to become a major initiative of the National Institute for Technology and Liberal Education (NITLE, www.nitle.org). 

The ancient Greek historian Thucydides (3.3.1) used the term συνοίκισις to refer to the alliance formed by the cities of Lesbos (except Methymna) in their revolt against the Athenian empire in 428 B.C.E.   In that collaborative spirit, classics departments at small liberal arts colleges work together through this initiative to offer an academic program that competes with those of the best large universities.  Sunoikisis fosters the ongoing scholarly development of faculty members in classics at participating colleges and creates enriched learning experiences for their students. Sunoikisis programming encompasses the full range of classics disciplines, including ancient Greek and Latin literature, history, art, and archaeology.  Notable programming of this virtual department includes summer seminars for curriculum and professional development, intercampus team-taught courses, an undergraduate research symposium, a virtual Latin tutor, an archaeology initiative, and a joint sabbatical replacement position.

This panel will focus specifically on Sunoikisis intercampus collaborative courses as a model for expanding teaching resources with technology.  Sunoikisis leverages courses that are offered at individual institutions into one large multi-institutional, team-taught course that combines a weekly, live online common session with weekly tutorials on individual campuses to offer upper level languages.  In order for these courses to succeed, they need the vibrant community of the Sunoikisis virtual department.  This panel will outline the history and development of Sunoikisis, and then explore successes and challenges of the initiative in three areas: virtual community, professional development, and intercampus teaching.  Finally, we will review lessons learned, outline collaboration inspired by this model, and look forward to future developments.  It is our hope that our presentation might suggest ways to apply this model in other environments such as the high school AP Latin curriculum.  This panel will consist of four presentations, with an introduction and moderation.

1. Building a Virtual Community

2. Maintaining a Virtual Community

3. Teaching in a Virtual Community

4.  Lessons Learned and Applications