Rome Wasn't Digitized in a Day - Council on Library and Information ...

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were not discern<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> their use of many questionable websites. The primary theme of these concerns
was that e-resources should not replace face-to-face teach<strong>in</strong>g. The creators of the survey thus
concluded that “blended learn<strong>in</strong>g” or where e-resources formed part of their pedagogy best
characterized the approach of faculty <strong>in</strong> classics, archaeology, and history <strong>in</strong> terms of us<strong>in</strong>g e-
resources.
Other researchers have argued that not all classroom applications of ICT 633 need to be <strong>in</strong>novative or
cutt<strong>in</strong>g edge to be useful. A recent article by Richard Ashdowne (2009) has exam<strong>in</strong>ed the development
of Galactica (“Greek and Lat<strong>in</strong> Accidence Consolidation Tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g, Internet-Centered Assessment”), a
tool that was designed to support the University of Oxford’s Classics faculty language-consolidation
classes. Accord<strong>in</strong>g to Ashdowne, each year about 155 students beg<strong>in</strong> classes at Oxford (e.g. classes <strong>in</strong>
archaeology or ancient history) that require them to have a knowledge of Greek, Lat<strong>in</strong>, or both. The
level of l<strong>in</strong>guistic experience among these students varies greatly. S<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>in</strong>tensive language classes,
along with frequent test<strong>in</strong>g, are required for all these students, the department determ<strong>in</strong>ed that some
form of onl<strong>in</strong>e evaluation <strong>in</strong> the key area of accidence test<strong>in</strong>g would be highly desirable. “Moreover,
most students now arrive with basic comput<strong>in</strong>g skills,” Ashdowne noted, “and it is the Faculty’s stated
view that it is an important part of degree-level education <strong>in</strong> Classics that students should develop
relevant skills <strong>in</strong> us<strong>in</strong>g Classics-related electronic resources.”
Consequently, Galactica was developed to replace paper-based tests, and students were expected to log
<strong>in</strong>to this Internet-based system once a week for each language they were study<strong>in</strong>g and to take the
relevant tests. Ashdowne stated that it was hoped that Galactica would provide classroom <strong>in</strong>structors
with more time to focus on teach<strong>in</strong>g and assist students <strong>in</strong> develop<strong>in</strong>g the ability to manipulate
polytonic Greek on a computer. Nonetheless, the onl<strong>in</strong>e tests themselves, he noted, largely had the
same purpose as the paper tests:
… <strong>in</strong> shar<strong>in</strong>g the aims of the paper-based system, Galactica illustrates how, although new
technology can be used <strong>in</strong> new ways or for new ends, its application does not have to be
pedagogically revolutionary. As they beg<strong>in</strong> to develop, e-learn<strong>in</strong>g and e-assessment
applications may often seem to focus on novelty (<strong>in</strong> the best sense) and <strong>in</strong>novation, creat<strong>in</strong>g
educational tools to allow what would have been impossible or impractical before; but
<strong>in</strong>asmuch as technology per se rema<strong>in</strong>s new <strong>in</strong> education, even traditional methods may be
re<strong>in</strong>terpreted and implemented <strong>in</strong> a new way, as here. Classics is one field <strong>in</strong> which
remember<strong>in</strong>g the value of what has gone before is part of its <strong>in</strong>tellectual core, and where
rediscover<strong>in</strong>g that value may itself be novel (Ashdowne 2009).
Ashdowne thus illustrated the important role that technology can play not only <strong>in</strong> help<strong>in</strong>g classicists
develop radical new teach<strong>in</strong>g methodologies but also <strong>in</strong> help<strong>in</strong>g them perform traditional teach<strong>in</strong>g
tasks such as evaluation <strong>in</strong> a far more efficient way. The Galactica system was based on TOIA
(Technologies for Onl<strong>in</strong>e Interoperable Assessment) 634 and required full Unicode compatibility, the
ability to ask “grouped multiple-choice questions,” and classroom management and result report<strong>in</strong>g. A
variety of technical issues were encountered, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g the fact that TOIA was compatible only with
Internet Explorer for PCs. Another challenge was the lack of any recognized framework for
“evaluat<strong>in</strong>g the pedagogical success of a system of this k<strong>in</strong>d” (Ashdowne 2009). Nonetheless, both
student and <strong>in</strong>structor feedback on the system from the limited trials had been very positive. Ashdowne
633 A full exploration of the use of ICT with<strong>in</strong> classical teach<strong>in</strong>g is beyond the scope of this review. For the development of one <strong>in</strong>dividual application for
Lat<strong>in</strong>, see Mallon (2006); for a general overview, see McManus and Rub<strong>in</strong>o (2003).
634 http://www.toia.ac.uk/