Developing and Evaluating a Curriculum for Exploratory Learning in Ancient Greek Culture (Perseus)

Purpose

Perseus, a digital library on Greek culture created in 1993 at Tufts, spans the years 1200 B.C. to 323 B.C., and includes not only Greek texts but English translations, works of art, archaeological artifacts, maps, site plans, and other related materials. The originators hoped that Perseus would allow students to seek answers to sophisticated questions in the classics from authentic primary sources, while providing them with greater access, flexibility and independence in doing so.

The goal of this project was to study the impact of a second, more refined version of Perseus in six institutions as well as within the wider community of users, and to produce a set of classroom-tested curricular materials.

Innovative Features

Nine faculty members at a variety of institutions were given support to integrate the Perseus database on ancient Greek culture into their teaching. Participating colleges and universities included Holy Cross College, Rhodes College, University of Michigan, Ball State University, Wesleyan University, and Tufts University.

At these sites, Perseus was used in many different ways. For example, students used Perseus for both directed and open-ended assignments, for online exams, as a translation tool, as the basis for classics "labs," and as a library resource or supplement to a course. Perseus also proved useful as a lecture tool in classrooms, a companion to museum activities, and as part of a team-taught online telecourse.

Evaluation and Project Impact

An evaluator from a discipline other than classics, who was familiar with Perseus, was enlisted to assess the ways in which its use changed teaching and learning. He focused the evaluation not only on the particular core of materials at Tufts, but on their application in five other college settings over three years. The primary variables in his investigation were access, freedom, and collaboration. Would students work more efficiently using this tool? Would it allow them to broaden the scope of their work and collaborate with others? What difficulties does its use present for both teachers and students compared to more conventional tools?

The evaluation centered on the curriculum's assignments, activities, and methods, and their effects on students, instructors, and classics curricula. It used a combination of site visits, yearly evaluation meetings of instructors and staff, observation-both live and audio-recorded-in classrooms and laboratories, interviews with students and instructors, questionnaires completed by students, written structured reflections completed by instructors, student journals, and several content analyses of national and international uses of Perseus.

The six participating institutions used Perseus in a variety of ways. At Tufts, Perseus had long been used outside the scope of Greek language courses and general studies courses for non-majors. Ball State University used Perseus to visually investigate Greek architecture, weapons, and art, and to add iconography and visual resources in multiple courses. At Holy Cross College, students were able to pursue original assignments that, without Perseus, could only have been done by persons with years of experience. Instructors there noted that Perseus raised their expectations about the scope and quality of student work, and improved students' performance in examinations. In the University of Michigan's large undergraduate classics courses, students who were experienced and process-oriented (as opposed to their grade-oriented peers) reported finding the Perseus resource base helpful, while the other group became annoyed by the overload of information. At Rhodes College, the Perseus-based course relies on primary materials and artifacts (i.e., vase paintings, sculpture, coins and architecture) rather than on Greek texts to teach history. Perseus was fully integrated and served as the major source of historical information and course assignments. The instructor mixed traditional, content-based exams with non-traditional online administration and feedback scoring. At Wesleyan University, students put aside suggested topics relating to the course theme and, by pursuing Perseus historical and art materials, discovered unusual topics of greater interest to them and to the instructor.

The combined data from the participating institutions point to four themes in the impact of Perseus:

1. Perseus amplifies and augments teaching and learning. Perseus brought much new content to courses, not only in texts but in images and maps that were easily integrated. It allowed instructors to introduce new courses or activities by relating geographic characteristics with textual passages. More importantly, Perseus made possible new kinds of student learning (e.g., philological and visual investigations), even by students who knew no Greek.
2. Perseus requires a substantial physical infrastructure investment. At every site, hardware and network problems caused frustration for faculty and students, and laboratory staff had to be trained to support faculty and student access. These challenges are no different from those usually faced when introducing technology into instruction. Perseus worked best when used through the more familiar World Wide Web rather than the Hypercard-based version. Subsequent investigations confirm that access through the Web greatly reduces the local support required.
3. Perseus demands new conceptual infrastructures for teaching and learning. Substantial commitments of time are required from instructors-to create assignments and augment lectures with Perseus-and from students-to learn how to access materials and follow leads without being overwhelmed by the volumes of information available. Perseus also raises questions of how best to use class time and what content should be displaced when Perseus material is added to a course or curriculum. Instructors also must learn how to judge and react to electronic assignments.
4. Perseus is bringing systemic changes to the field of classics. There are several indicators that Perseus is beginning to change the way that classics is taught and studied. There are now more than 50 courses on the Perseus Web site, representing more than a dozen colleges and two dozen instructors, and illustrating the penetration of Perseus into classics curricula nationally and internationally. New faculty position announcements in classics now list computer experience as a requisite.

In addition to the evaluation at the participating institutions, Perseus questionnaires were administered in ten courses at eight college sites. Among the many variables in the questionnaire, "computer system interface" and "learning effects" produced the most suggestive results. Statistically reliable correlations imply that the type of system interface used is more strongly related to student learning than are students' previous computer experience, age, or frequency of use. The success of this technological innovation, then, depends more on the users' impression of an attractive and usable system and less on their demographic characteristics and experience levels.

A content analysis of the Perseus discussion list shows that among 271 messages from 83 individuals in 1995-96, the majority originated in the United States. This was not surprising, given that this was the first time anything like Perseus had been put on the Web, most of the topics dealt with implementation and logistical issues and the program's availability and format, as well as its implications for instruction and the future of classical studies.

The Perseus Web site took off dramatically in 1995-96. A member of the evaluation team initiated a second content analysis of the Perseus list messages. He found, for example, that over a several-week period in July and August 1996, the site transmitted 3,034,294 files-an average of 8,994 per day-from virtually every country in the world. As of March 1999, Perseus was receiving about 125,000 hits per day. This extremely high hit rate (by comparison, according to Library of Congress spokeswoman Helen Dalrymple, the Library of Congress recorded an average of 60 million hits per month in fiscal year 1998 or an average of 2 million per day) demonstrates the range and size of the Perseus community and the increasing role that electronic databases play in the humanities and instruction.

Lessons Learned

Major logistical and time barriers impeded the development and use of Perseus. The necessary computing hardware is still not widely accessible. Even when it is, some non-majors, highly conscious of time-grade tradeoffs, are reluctant to invest time learning a tool specialized to one course. To get around this, instructors at several campuses give assignments in which students are able to draw Perseus materials from the Web rather than having to learn a new tool. Only among major courses that make moderate to heavy use of Perseus does the cost in time to fully learn to use the range of services and materials in Perseus seem warranted.

A related problem is that the new technology requires instructors to make fundamental shifts in syllabus and teaching strategies. In addition, junior faculty have little incentive to devote considerable time to learning new computer techniques, when publishing their own research is more likely to impress tenure committees.

Continuation and Recognition

The entire edition of Perseus 1.0 has sold out, and a new version has been released. Popular textbooks now include Perseus companion paths; commercial encyclopedias on the Web link directly to Perseus for detailed information; and a spin-off company, Classical Technology Systems, provides training and support.

A 1998 FIPSE grant to Tufts aims to broaden the audience for scholarly documents using the World Wide Web. It allows humanists with first-rate ideas to create documents intended for the general public. Building on the Perseus database, this project will develop a new model to help change the culture of publication in the humanities.

Available Information

The many syllabi, course materials and assignments created during this three-year period as well as previous years' evaluation reports may be found at the Perseus Web site under "Teaching with Perseus." The time investments that instructors make in adopting Perseus are also described at the Web site: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/classes/CS.96s.html. A number of articles relating to Perseus are also available.

Additional information may be obtained from:

Gregory R. Crane
Tufts University
Classics Department
Eaton Hall 124
Medford, MA 02155
Web site: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Teaching.html
Web site: http://www.stoa.org

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