ECU's 2006 Fall Field School
Web Project Learning Assessment
and Interviews

By T Kurt Knoerl

Video Interview Transcripts


1. What do you hope the students will get from this online writing experience?

Dr. David Stewart:
“For me the biggest thing is just simply as maritime archaeologists we need to get our work out there to the broadest audience possible.  We tend to publish in journals that are seen by each other and other people who are in maritime studies.  We go to conferences and there generally maritime studies people.   We don’t do enough of the public out reach type of work and that’s something that we definitely need to do more of.  For the students themselves that was interesting.  You asked us that question before we started this and I don’t think I ever gave you a really good answer.  I think it took me a while of watching them do it to see and maybe that’s what it is for them as well is is having them come to that realization on their own that they need to be able to write not just for people within the field themselves but also for people who are not.”

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2. Why do an online journal project?

Calvin Mires:
“In describing what we're doing to family, relatives, anyone who's interested it's - you usually get the same amount of questions: treasure, Titanic these are things that come up. Here was an opportunity just to show them what our students were doing at East Carolina University and we didn't - I didn't really have any expectations other than just let's go with this and it's a credit to the students that they really made the most of it. That - you know they could have done a lot of things with it but in their writing drew people in and they did a really good job of - with their descriptions and also just describing the daily activities some of the humorous, frustrating, and challenging parts that often aren't in field reports that you don't mention because everybody kind of knows that in our field but hopefully some people out there get a chance to kind of - you know go through it with us.”

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3. Did you give the students instructions on how to write their journal entries?

Dr. David Stewart:
“No the only thing was telling them you're - you're reaching out to an audience that will be people who are maritime archaeologists or other maritime scholars but you're going to be - a lot more people out there looking at this who are not in the field at all and you want to make it interesting for them as well. That was really the only type of instruction we gave them.”

Calvin Mires:
“The students were interesting because they came up with their own style. It was an organic type of process. We really, as Dave mentioned, just basically said, this is your audience make sure it's spelled correctly and - you know be - (laughs) - you're responsible for your work - but their own sense of humor and personality, they kind of -they came up with themselves so we were learning as much about what to put in as they were going through the process themselves.”

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4. As you wrote these journal entries did you have an audience in mind?

Amy Leuchtmann:
“The way I looked at it actually - of course I sent the link out to all my family and friends - was I was hoping that they could read these entries and understand a little bit better what I do because when I try to explain it to them they always just kind of look (shakes head and shrugs) - what? You know - and so I was really hoping it was people that - hear shipwrecks and get excited think it's fun but really just try and explain the basic day to day this is what we really do.”

Adam Friedman:
“Well that - that changed. The first week that we wrote - I wrote to us you know essentially - the people participating in the field school because you know I didn't think that we were going to be getting much readership beyond that and so it was more funny, and you know making some jokes and stuff like that but later on as we realized that we were getting a broader readership I thought well gee this might be a good time to truly express some of the things that we were doing - describe things and why they mattered. ”

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7. What did you like best about the project?

Adam Friedman:
“Once I learned that there were other people visiting the site of their own free will it was kind of cool to think that I was actually conversing - I mean given that it was one way - but that I was actually participating in the field properly, that was my first experience with that.”

Amy Leuchtmann:
“I actually had a lot more fun reading the perspective from the other four crew members I mean the writing was fun and make jokes and be myself -- it was the most free I've felt writing in an assignment that I have yet in this program but I just had a - it's just so funny to sort of read and you could see the personality of everybody coming through in their journal entries, it was pretty fun.”

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8. What were some of the benefits of this web project?

Tricia Dodds:
“Well the thing that I thought was a really good opportunity through this website - online journal was that just my friends and family members and people who have been interested in what I do they don't really - just because they haven't had the same chance to experience - they don't really know what I do on a day to day basis when I'm out in the field and I tried to explain it every now and then but I don't think it really - it didn't really work to well but I think that this really gave my friends and family - the people who are interested in what I did - yeah I think it gave them a really good idea about this is what she does every day out in the field and I think that was just so great that you know - a day in the life of an underwater archaeologist - I think that was really great that people were able to see that and kind of get a better idea about you know what we do every day.”

Michelle Damian:
“(joining in) and one of the things that I was grateful for - for this was that the Maritime Studies Association, the graduate student organization affiliated with the program - we've been trying to put together an outreach program to go and teach at middle schools in the area and when I get an email saying that we'd like to schedule a class, I've been able to say them ok here is - we go ahead and schedule the class but in the meantime if you want to have your students look and see what we're doing right this very minute check us out online and I've been sending them the project journal. I haven't gotten any feedback from them on it (laughs) so I'm not sure if they have been looking at it or not but it's there, it's another tool for them to use as well. ”

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11. Do you think this project influenced your opinion about using the Internet?

Amy:
“I don’t think I really had an opinion before we did this.  I never really considered its uses and the effect you could have but now after, we thought ok maybe… you know again we’d have this small audience of interested people but it’s grown so much bigger than that and been so successful I think it’s opened my eyes to how how effective a tool it can be”

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For more information you can visit the ECU website at:
http://www.ecu.edu/maritime/index.htm

Return to Project Journal home page.