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Communicating the Classics via Digital Storytelling

Photo of Clare RowanThis project seeks to introduce students to the genre of digital storytelling, which provides a modern alternative to the traditional Classics 'gobbet' (a detailed written examination of a particular text or image which often forms part of assessment). As part of the second-year Core Module The Hellenistic World, students will, in the Autumn term, be asked to consider the different ways in which we can interpret and present the ancient world through an interdisicplinary perspective, culminating in a trip to Oxford to compare the differing representations of artefacts in the Pitt Rivers Museum and in the Ashmolean. In the Spring Term, students will be trained in Digital Storytelling (via the company Netskills), which will include seminars on What Makes a Good Story, Storyboarding, and training in the use of Vimeo, a video editing software. The students will be asked to work in groups to develop their own digital stories focused on a person / event / text / object from the Hellenistic World. Student and staff feedback will be used in assessing the viability of digital storytelling as a means of assessment in the future.

Clare Rowan is a Research Fellow in Numismatics in the Department of Classics and Ancient History. Before coming to Warwick she was involved in developing a peer mentoring scheme in Australia, Telemachus, which has been awarded two university teaching awards (2007, 2008) and an Australian Learning and Teaching Council Award for Programmes that Enhance Learning (2010). She has already 'flirted' with the digital world via the Coins at Warwick blog, and in 2014/15 she is the module convenor for The Hellenistic World.

On the module website

Digital Storytelling

Videos

(Video clip) The eagle and the thunderbolt
- Clare Rowan's first example video

(Video clip) Finding Venus
- Connor O'Shea, Elena Prest and Jennie Watkin, supported by Harmeet Randhawa

(Video clip) The Sampul Tapestry (Or The Trousers of Destiny)
- Ben Howarth, Callum Gordon and Scott Kennard