Student Generated Websites
All of these websites were developed by groups of first-year Villanova students. The software for the projects was Task Stream (www.taskstream.com), the professor was John Immerwahr, Department of Philosophy, Villanova University. These are an attempt to address some problems that I see in a lot of student writing. For a brief overview of the problem see the entry in www.teachphilosophy101.org. For a lengthier discussion of how to work with students to create these websites, see my article in the Fall 2010, APA Teaching Philosophy Newsletter.
First year humanities seminar projects:
The Journey of a Restless Heart: A College Student's Guide to St. Augustine's Confessions, developed as a resource for the website of the Augustinian Institute at Villanova University and winner of the Robert Russell, OSA. writing award.
Ever Ancient, Ever New: A Guide to the Augustinian Windows of the St. Thomas of Villanova Church, published as part of the celebration of the 125th anniversary of the dedication of the church, with an Introduction by Rev. Joseph Narog, OSA, pastor of the St. Thomas of Villanova Parish.
AugustineAtVillanova. A virtual tour of the Augustinian art on the campus of Villanova University. As in the website on the San Gimignano frescoes, the students analyze the images, set them in the context of Confessions, and relate the themes to their own lives.
A Tour of the Modern and Contemporary Wing of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. First year students explain twelve iconic modern and contemporary works in the museum, including artists such as: Cassatt, Cezanne, Matisse, Picasso, Klee, Duchamp, Warhol, and Cy Twombly.
The San Gimignano Frescoes of the Life of St. Augustine (a guide for college students). A student guide to the famous frescoes of the life of St. Augustine, painted by Benozzo Gozzoli (1429-1497) in the Church of St. Augustine in San Gimignano, Italy. The students analyze the art images, relate them to the text of Confessions, and talk about their meaning for college students today.
St. Augustine's Living Legacy at Villanova. Integrating a study of St. Augustine's Confessions, with Augustinian symbols on campus, and the experience of college freshman year. The assignment is also available.
Images of St. Augustine. Similar to the project above but focusing mostly on artistic images.
St. Augustine's Freshman Year: A Fictional Blog. A fictional blog about a first-year Villanova student who experiences many of the same things that Augustine describes in Confessions.
Leadership Lessons from the Ancient World. Students in Villanova's Leadership Learning Community derive contemporary leadership principles from Genesis, Euripides, Plato, the Gospel of Mark, and Augustine.
Websites on popular music, produced by the first year students of Dr. Jonathan Yates.
Introduction to philosophy classes. These projects were done by individual discussion sections in a large lecture class. The projects were supervised by graduate assistants, and students had somewhat less time to work on them than in the examples above. The assignment was to draw implications from Plato, Augustine, Locke, Marx and other philosophers read in the Introduction to Philosophy Course.
Update: March 25, 2014