• First, recognizing that many of my own students have been more likely to "hit the net" for their initial research, I wanted to provide some guidance to the kinds and quality of material available on the WWW (resulting in the Kankedort Page, my academic homepage). 
• Second, groups of scholars working independently on WWW projects of their own and discussing their efforts on academic listservs and at scholarly conferences have wisely seen the benefits of pooling their interests and expertise.
• Third, well meaning but unprepared students understandably seek out scholars' opinions on easily accessible email forums like Ansax-l or Chaucernet without having done the basic legwork in their own libraries or even in their assigned readings.  Like the more broadly based Chaucer Metapage, the Chaucer Pedagogy Page is designed to be not an end in itself or a replacement for good old fashioned library research but an academically sound starting point for teachers and students doing WWW research on Chaucer and the Middle Ages.

The Chaucer Pedagogy Page is designed specifically for undergraduate and even K-12 faculty and students, and my hope is that this website will bring together non-specialists and specialists alike in the common pursuit of teaching and exploring Chaucer and the Middle Ages.

As part of the group working on the Chaucer Metapage <http://www.unc.edu/chaucer/>, I am developing the online pedagogical section of the Metapage. (You can see the Chaucer Pedagogy Page at <http://cwolf.uaa.alaska.edu/~afdtk/ pedagogy.htm>. Please send me your comments and suggestions!).

I am putting out a call for contributors for the online pedagogy section—something I'll probably do at the beginning and the end of each semester. I'd like to approach this CFC from two angles: (1) a search of the Chaucernet archives for teaching and assignment ideas (the recent thread on manuscript studies being an excellent example) and (2) a call for new content, largely in the form of syllabi, assignment sheets, exercises, or brief essays. Initially at least, I am aiming for an undergraduate audience and non-specialist teachers (including K-12 instructors) who might be looking for new assignment or project ideas, though I also will gladly post advanced or graduate level materials. Some ideas?

• Syllabi
• Reading schedules
• Ideas for including Chaucer in survey courses, in broad based medieval courses (literature, history, women's studies, philosophy, etc) or other classes.
• Creative pairings of Chaucerian and other (modern?) texts
• Test and essay questions
• Creative assignments on medieval culture (manuscripts, images, bookmaking, weaving, others)
• Creative assignments on Chaucerian topics like prosody (Pete Beidler gave a great paper on "Low Tech Chaucer" at the MLA this year!); rewriting a Canterbury Tale (or the Canterbury pilgrimage) in a contemporary setting; supplying a conclusion for the Cook's Tale, for example; or writing a tale for one of the tale-less pilgrims, etc.
• Book and bibliographical suggestions for specific interest and grade levels
• Research paper ideas
• Multimedia projects (from elementary school shadow boxes to web sites!)
• And whatever else has worked in your classroom.

Another possibility intrigues me: a Student Showcase that would feature instructor nominated student work along with instructor commentary (especially from the K-12 and undergraduate levels). I know we all must be wary of internet plagiarism, but I think there might be great pedagogical benefit to posting student work (or selections), with the assignment that prompted it, and a brief note from the instructor as to why the student work is exemplary. (But again, I'm open to suggestions on how to safeguard responsible scholarship and academic rigor from the pernicious perpetrators of plagiarism!)

A few suggestions about procedure.

First, since the Chaucernet archives are now quite extensive, as is the combined expertise of list members, I will seek your permission via email to post any suggestions or ideas you have individually contributed and will not post any content without permission.

Second, since the Chaucer Metapage is a national cooperative effort involving nationally known scholars (the present author excepted!) and directed toward an international audience, in my view any material posted would rate a line on a vita comparable to signed entries in an encyclopedia or other reference work. (Perhaps others would care to opine on this issue as well?)

Third, since one of my hopes for the Pedagogy page is to put scholars and teachers of all sorts in touch with one another, I would gladly link back to your email address or your personal, departmental, or school homepage (though I understand that some might not want to be that accessible—just let me know).

Fourth, although I can manually scan in printed or typed material, it is probably easiest to submit via email attachment. Just be sure to have your name just as you would like for it to appear, with at least—let's say—your department and school.

My hope is that this webpage can become a clearinghouse for all of our best teaching ideas and, eventually, a cyberplace for continued academic exchange about Chaucer and the later Middle Ages.

Thanking you ahead of time for your input,

Dan Kline
Associate Professor of English
University of Alaska Anchorage
Building K 212-C
Anchorage, Alaska  99508
Email:  <afdtk@uaa.alaska.edu>

Chaucer Pedagogy  | Students | Electronic Canterbury Tales | Teachers | Chaucer Metapage

Copyright © 1998-2003. Daniel T. Kline & The Kankedort Page All rights reserved.

This page was last revised on 12.05.03.