2014 Blogging Archaeology eBook

inclusion in a digital portfolio. The goals for the course were for studentsto: 1) speak knowledgeably about traditional and social media use inanthropology; 2) discuss problems with presentation in anthropology; 3)explore new techniques and technology applicable to anthropologicalresearch and practice; 4) produce innovative, high-qualitypresentations; and 5) understand how to make anthropology morevisible to the public and how to become one of the public faces ofanthropology. Links to readings, questions from the discussion leaders,and projects were put up each week on a closed wiki, but throughoutthe semester, I blogged about the discussion and projects produced[See all posts here]. Since I never wrote an overview blog post for thecourse as a whole, I thought I would take the opportunity provided bythis forum to reflect on what worked and did not work in the course, andgive some suggestions for best-practices in teaching about publicengagement in anthropology.Reflections on Unit Themes, Readings, and DiscussionAttempting to find relevant articles and book chapters for teachingthis course was more difficult than I had anticipated. Anthropology,unlike many other fields, does not have a strong culture of researchinghow to teach the subject. In the universities at which I have taught, Ihave had free reign to choose whichever texts I want for Introduction toAnthropology, and the curriculum has not been standardized, evenamong sections of the same course at the same university. For all the inkspilled over STEM education and outcomes at the university level, and forall the discussions at multiple institutions about how anthropology shouldbe considered part of or at least relevant to the STEM disciplines, there isan astonishing lack of research into how to promote anthropology andengage the public with the information anthropologists generate. While Ithink it is important that anthropology be taught a multitude of ways witha multitude of voices, the lack of research into how to teachanthropological concepts seems to discourage publication of bestpracticearticles. Still, there are some bright spots on the web, like the“Syllabus as Essay” xcv mini-series at Ethnography Matters. In that vein, mythoughts on the readings and discussions for each unit follow.Blogging Archaeology Page 37