eSefarad Noticias del Mundo Sefaradi
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
Please, I need your help getting the word out.
Today, the University of Colorado System and Coursera.org are opening a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) that I’ve developed with the generous guidance and assistance of Dr. Francisco Garcia-Serrano Nebras (St. Louis University-Madrid), Dr. Anthony Puglisi (Valladolid, Spain), Mr. Marciano Martin Martin (Hervas, Spain), Lic. Esther Sanchez Calle of the Ayuntamiento de Plasencia (Spain), the Diocese de Plasencia (Spain), and Ms. Sonia Sanchez (Centro Sefarad Israel-Madrid).
The English-language course is titled, Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain.
It is a free, online course the begins on June 15, 2014, and it offers a new pedagogical and collaborative research model that is — an exciting experiment. In essence, I’m recruiting students from across the Internet to join forces with scholars from Switzerland, Spain, and the United States in crowdsourcing the transcription of early modern and medieval manuscripts from Spain. You can read more about this collaborative endeavor at the Revealing Cooperation and Conflict Project. What is different about this approach, which is atypical, is that we are energizing students to contribute to understanding fundamental research questions about human co-existence. We are charging them to serve as citizen scholars!
You can read more about the course below as well as visit the enrollment page. Please, if you can, distribute to your friends and colleagues at other institutions who might have an interest in a free, online course pertaining to the Spain, the Middle Ages, the Sephardim, and history. Likewise, students that are interested in studying and practicing Spanish paleography may find the course useful.
Deciphering Secrets: Unlocking the Manuscripts of Medieval Spain. In this course students will explore the history of Jews, Christians, and Muslims in late medieval, fifteenth century Spain. Serving as citizen-scholars, students will learn about the positive and negative elements of inter-religious co-existence in Plasencia, Spain, and more importantly, contribute to an international scholarly effort by helping transcribe manuscripts. https://www.
Thankfully, Dr. Roger L. Martinez-Davila Historian and Digital Humanist www.rogerlouismartinez.com
