Problem- and Project-based Learning in Digital Archaeology: Potential and Challenges
Channel: Recording Archaeology
Date: 09/10/2020

Digital Archaeology teaching has the potential to empower students with the skills required to become producers rather than passive consumers of knowledge (Cocco 2006). Project-based and Problem-based Learning (PBL) construct a framework through which students engage with authentic challenges (Bell 2010; Herrington & Herrington 2007) in a collaborative, engaged, and reflective environment. The ethos of maker culture that emphasises creativity and learning through doing, enables a collaborative and experiential learning through which students work together  to  complete  an  end  product  that  materialises  their  knowledge  and  understanding  (Helle  et  al.  2006).  In  this  process,  reflective  learning  approaches  and  peer-feedback  make  them  responsible  for  their  own  learning  and  their  weaknesses  become  strengths  to  improve  their practice (Ertmer & Simons 2005). Finally, the process of co-creation and the management challenges that collaborative projects pose, provide them with new mechanisms to critically re-spond to different situations as well as with the necessary competencies for careers in academia and industry (Cain & Cocco 2014). This paper draws from the author’s experience in teaching digital archaeology courses within a digital humanities (DH) setting. Using examples from his own practice and discussing the challenges that a diverse DH classroom poses, it will argue that project- and problem-based approaches to learning equip students with the necessary skills to respond to an increasingly competitive digital and creative economy in academia and beyond. 


Costas Papadopoulos