Readings
Instead of having the bookstore order physical books to campus (which I am not sure if you are going to be nearby), we will instead use digital books which we will read and annotate together via Perusall. Perusall allows for social annotation which will be a key part of our learning experience this year.
On Perusall, I have created a repository of texts useful to give you insight into the history, biography and historiography of both the Investiture Controversy and the Council of Sens (i.e. for both game play and game development). You will be expected to explore (and add to) the library in order to figure out how to win at the game, and to design a new game...
You will be expected to do readings and write annotations each week, even if there are not assigned readings. You are expected to write at least five (5) annotations each week on readings posted on Perusall.
If you wish to read/ annotate sources not posted on Perusall, provide a copy of the text to the professor so that he can upload it for the class.
You will not need to purchase any textbooks for this class.
Social annotation takes the usually solitary act of reading and allows students to do it in community with one another. By using digital tools to highlight, comment, or otherwise annotate a text, students “do the reading,” but do so in conversation with their peers.
You might want to experiment with the QQTPA method when reading. When you are reading on Perusall in preparation for class or when you researching your topic, you are asked to highlight key texts, pose questions and make comments in the margins of the textbooks. Make sure to write all of the following:
a Question: Write a discussion question based on any one of the readings assigned. As you read assigned materials, note where questions come to mind about the ideas, timeline, methods or conclusions. This can be a simple, "What is X the author is talking about" or a thoughtful question that invites analysis, synthesis, or evaluation of the material, or makes connections between the readings/ previous discussion.
a Quotation: Identify a quotation from the reading material. Find something that is especially pertinent –in your opinion– to the main points of the readings. Your selection should be neither too short (1 line) nor too long (10-12 lines). Provide a proper citation.
a Talking Point: Develop a talking point – an issue or idea developed from the reading that is of interest to you. Let us “see inside your head” as you think about, accept, reject, or otherwise engage the reading material. You do not need to answer your question (no. 1) here, but you should discuss why you think it is an important one to consider.
an Answer: As your reading the textbook and reader on Perusall, read through other students' questions and try to answer one.
Social annotation is an age-old process that is very medieval. What is different is speed. It would take centuries for texts to accrue a surrounding commentary, but we can do it online in real time in a very short span of time. Commentary (medieval or modern) can link to other media, can define key terms, provide further details or contradict the main text. We are, in essence, crowdsourcing (you being the crowd) the readings to allow you to deepen and expand your knowledge.
Perusall allows us to organize most of our readings in one place so that we can annotate them together.
The above image is of a twelfth-century commentary (or Glossa) on the Biblical Song of Songs (aka, Canticles, Cantica Canticorum). The text in dark brown is the biblical text. The much more copious lighter brown ink is the commentary, definitions and explanations of the meaning. What does this say about how we interact with texts even now?
By the later Middle Ages, an official commentary of the Bible had arisen called the Glossa Ordinario, which laid out what the "Big Thinkers" had said about various parts of the Bible. They did not always agree and so the comments would make clear to those reading the Bible what areas of disagreement might exist.
We will use it that same way in class. We can use your annotation and commentary to highlight areas of confusion and disagreement and explore debates (amongst yourselves and in the field). You can use annotations to ask questions or answer them for your fellow students. They key is that we can do it together.
Bibliography
If you want to read up on the research done on the benefits of social annotation, see:
McFarlin, T. J. (2020). Using Open-Source, Collaborative Online Reading to Teach Property, forthcoming in the St. Louis University Law Journal, Vol. 64.
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