Description of the ENCODE Database and the ENCODE teaching modules
The ENCODE database is designed to contain innovative and customisable teaching modules, both basic and advanced, aimed at promoting digital education in the field of ancient writings and scripts and enhancing participatory and intercultural approaches to cultural heritage. It is especially designed for teachers who can reuse the modules in different training and teaching contexts or take inspiration from their design and contents, but also for students who want to acquire digital competences for work or academic purposes or orient themselves in choosing training activities that enable them to develop these competences.
At the basis of the database is the design of a vocabulary for the identification of digital competences and the areas in which they are acquired, which guarantees a standard structure for the classification of the modules themselves: the same reference frameworks were used for the competence questionnaires and open badges distributed to participants at the end of the workshops organised by the project as registered in the descriptions of the ENCODE Learning Outcomes and Competencesof each training event. On the classification of competences and areas of competence acquisition, see 2.2. on how we devised the competences.
The database can be searched either by browsing the individual sections on modules, competences and areas of competence acquisition (focuses), or through the Search page, which includes a search mask in which one can search by textual strings or use facets combining different parameters such as course format, competences, incoming and outgoing levels, focuses, authors or responsible institutions.
There are three types of entries:
-
course sessions for which online material is freely available (e.g. Module 79 Trismegistos workshop on Ancient World texts)
-
courses for which the link points to the programme or syllabus on specific websites (e.g. Module 46 ENCODE DGLE Workshop 2021)
-
courses that bring together the different sessions for each of which a module has been created (e.g. Module 78 ENCODE Workshop Multilingual and Multicultural Digital Infrastructures for Ancient Written Artefacts)
The individual module pages are structured in different sections, which contain basic information such as the title, author and institution providing the module, the licence under which the material is made available, a brief description of the module itself, its format, language, skills and level attained and, if possible, a link to the teaching material (if available online) or to the course (intensive programmes or regular academic courses) programme. The material often consists of slides or video tutorials, but sometimes the links point to programmes or syllabi on specifically dedicated websites. In fact, the modules also include courses whose material is not available online, as even the content structure or syllabus of a course can be inspirational or provide a model for teachers who want to plan a training activity focusing on a specific topic. Precisely in connection with this need, it has been decided to include in the description of the modules information such as the date, the format and the medium. Some modules are grouped under larger modules describing the course or workshop in which the individual sessions were held: a section in the individual modules provides a link which points to such larger modules that gives details about the organisation of the whole course.
Bibliography
Bencivenni, Alice and Fogagnolo, Marta. “Bridging the <gap>: il progetto ENCODE e l’epigrafia digitale”. Scienze dell’Antichità 29, no. 2 (2023), forthcoming.
Elagina, Daria. Modelling Vocabulary of Digital Competencies for the Project ENCODE, Digital Classicist London 2021 (23th July 2021): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8cQAkGEJRY&t=124s.