Dan Schnaidt, ACM for the Arts and Humanities, interviews Professor Antonio Gonz lez of Romance Languages and Literatures about his course Web site and its usefulness in teaching literature. Interviews with faculty members are a new feature in ITS News, designed to highlight the interesting uses of technology on campus. On your site you present Spanish 223 as a study of modern literature in its historical context and in relation to other artistic expressions, especially painting. Before I constructed the site the students didn t have as much context . . From a pedagogical point of view, it s particularly useful.
Students relate to the visual more immediately than to other artistic expressions.
I should be clear that my treatment is not what you would get in an art history class. The students read Ortega y Gassett s essay Concerning Point of View in the Arts, which helps us to focus the relationship between literature and painting in a particular way. For each author, you've written a short essay or reading guide, which helps to create historical context. Each guide is followed by a list of themes and questions. I draw on those themes to structure the discussion in class.