Resources Technology Workshops Services

Collaborative Research Model

First Time Teaching

Teaching FAQ's

Effective Assessment

Inclusive Classrooms

Large Class Teaching

Library and Links

Beginnings

Resource Exchange

Campus Spotlight

GTF Teaching Award

Faculty Showcase Podcasts

Search TEP site

 

 

 

  Home > Resources > Library and Links > Online Postings & Articles > Educational Technology > Ulysses

Ulysses

By Lynn Markham, GTF, Chemistry

It seems that everyone has a subject in school that they dread. For some students it's chemistry or math, but for me it's poetry. That's why I groaned when I sat down to watch the multimedia computer program that Georgeanne had suggested and realized that it was based on a poem. Was I really going to learn something about effective teaching methods when the lesson was on poetry - something I have never understood? As it turned out, poetry was the perfect topic for me, because it required both excellent teaching techniques and superior resources to make me believe that it was exciting and understandable. Ulysses provided both.

Ulysses is a multimedia computer program that could take over the role of a professor. Ulysses presents the poem and provides a multitude of options that allow a student to find out more about nearly any aspect of the poem which interests her. By clicking on a button you can learn about the history of the Trojan War, observe different literary critics commenting on their interpretations of the poem through embedded mini-video presentations, and listen to dramatized readings of the poem by famous actors. By highlighting words you can access both audio and visual definitions of words that are unfamiliar. And those are just a few of the features.

Not only is there instant access to many resources in Ulysses, but it allows a student to decide on their own path in exploring a subject. It seems that this individualized style of learning would motivate students to learn nearly any topic because they would be free to pursue the aspects of the topic that caught their interest. By helping a student find what interests them, Ulysses could also increase motivation to learn more poetry. Motivation is crucial to gaining real understanding of a subject. It is extremely difficult for a single teacher to provide the motivation that is necessary for a large group of students with widely varying interests and learning styles, yet this is exactly what Ulysses does.

Ulysses also deals well with the problem of students having different backgrounds in a subject. In my case, I knew little about the Trojan War, yet at the click of the mouse Ulysses gave me a short captivating summary of the war that made the poem much more relevant to me. As a bonus, with Ulysses there was none of the intimidation of asking a professor a similar question in a large class.

Another plus to the Ulysses program was that it presented contradicting interpretations of the poem from a number of experts. This would be a tough task for a single professor who cannot be expected to be an expert in all topics, let alone convincingly provide several of the contradicting arguments, and do it without bias. Thus, with Ulysses, the student is exposed to many alternative interpretations instead of a single "answer" to memorize. In order for students to reach their own conclusions, they must critically analyze the various interpretations, preventing the usual `memorize and regurgitate' cycle, and promoting real understanding of a topic.

The most impressive aspect of this program is that it turned a poetry phobic student like me into a genuinely motivated learner!

 

---