Digital Stones: Teaching an Archaeological Lab Course Online

This article presents an overview of our efforts to provide training and educational resource materials in lithic analysis for beginners to intermediate level university students. We scripted a CD-ROM entitled Digital Stones that presents an interactive introduction to analysis of stone tools (Lohse...

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Main Authors: E.S. Lohse, Robert Schlader, D. Sammons
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of York 2002-07-01
Series:Internet Archaeology
Subjects:
Online Access:http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue12/lohse_index.html
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author E.S. Lohse
Robert Schlader
D. Sammons
author_facet E.S. Lohse
Robert Schlader
D. Sammons
author_sort E.S. Lohse
collection DOAJ
description This article presents an overview of our efforts to provide training and educational resource materials in lithic analysis for beginners to intermediate level university students. We scripted a CD-ROM entitled Digital Stones that presents an interactive introduction to analysis of stone tools (Lohse and Sammons 1998; 1999). The analytical system presented in the CD has been used at Idaho State University as part of standard laboratory and field training for the past decade (Lohse 1998). In the Fall semester of 1999, we used these materials as the basis for a completely online course entitled 'Anthropology 491: Stone Tool Analysis'. This course included online chat rooms with recognised experts in lithic analysis and these conversations are preserved as online documentation. Some aspects of our work have added to a solid foundation for future building of this online lab course. Some aspects need to be drastically revised and others need refinement. Our online experience in teaching a hands-on subject has reinforced some concerns expressed for online education in general and has led to some strong conclusions regarding the potential for this type of teaching.
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spelling doaj.art-8e4afcbca43941db9db63509f564bd592024-02-02T14:54:19ZengUniversity of YorkInternet Archaeology1363-53872002-07-011210.11141/ia.12.2 Digital Stones: Teaching an Archaeological Lab Course OnlineE.S. Lohse0Robert Schlader1D. Sammons2Idaho State University Idaho Museum of Natural HistoryIdaho State UniversityThis article presents an overview of our efforts to provide training and educational resource materials in lithic analysis for beginners to intermediate level university students. We scripted a CD-ROM entitled Digital Stones that presents an interactive introduction to analysis of stone tools (Lohse and Sammons 1998; 1999). The analytical system presented in the CD has been used at Idaho State University as part of standard laboratory and field training for the past decade (Lohse 1998). In the Fall semester of 1999, we used these materials as the basis for a completely online course entitled 'Anthropology 491: Stone Tool Analysis'. This course included online chat rooms with recognised experts in lithic analysis and these conversations are preserved as online documentation. Some aspects of our work have added to a solid foundation for future building of this online lab course. Some aspects need to be drastically revised and others need refinement. Our online experience in teaching a hands-on subject has reinforced some concerns expressed for online education in general and has led to some strong conclusions regarding the potential for this type of teaching.http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue12/lohse_index.htmlarchaeologyeducationlithic analysisonline teaching
spellingShingle E.S. Lohse
Robert Schlader
D. Sammons
Digital Stones: Teaching an Archaeological Lab Course Online
Internet Archaeology
archaeology
education
lithic analysis
online teaching
title Digital Stones: Teaching an Archaeological Lab Course Online
title_full Digital Stones: Teaching an Archaeological Lab Course Online
title_fullStr Digital Stones: Teaching an Archaeological Lab Course Online
title_full_unstemmed Digital Stones: Teaching an Archaeological Lab Course Online
title_short Digital Stones: Teaching an Archaeological Lab Course Online
title_sort digital stones teaching an archaeological lab course online
topic archaeology
education
lithic analysis
online teaching
url http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue12/lohse_index.html
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AT robertschlader digitalstonesteachinganarchaeologicallabcourseonline
AT dsammons digitalstonesteachinganarchaeologicallabcourseonline