{"599708":{"#nid":"599708","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Aaron Santesso\u2019s Literature Course in which Students Make Things Receives Innovative Course Design Award","body":[{"value":"\u003Cdiv\u003EA few years ago, Aaron Santesso asked his students to design and produce Renaissance-style medallions, using the laser cutters at the Invention Studio. The results, says Santesso, were spectacular and inspired him to rework his course on eighteenth-century literature and culture around six \u0026ldquo;communicative objects.\u0026rdquo; These ranged\u0026nbsp;from puppets to needlework samplers\u0026nbsp;that were used in the eighteenth century to communicate cultural or political\u0026nbsp;messages.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026ldquo;The idea was to read or view\u0026nbsp;a number of literary or cultural\u0026nbsp;works that engaged with each object. We would also visit local Atlanta institutions that have examples of these objects,\u0026rdquo; said Santesso, a professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology. The course would conclude with groups of students using the Invention Studio to produce their own examples of the objects, designed\u0026nbsp;to convey modern messages.\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003EThe Salomon\u0026nbsp;medallion pictured is based on Francis Bacon\u0026rsquo;s\u003Cem\u003E New Atlantis\u003C\/em\u003E, in which representatives of a utopian society travel to other nations, pretending to be mere ambassadors, but also stealing technology. That medallion is held together\u0026nbsp;with magnets, to afford a\u0026nbsp;secret smuggling compartment inside.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003EThough it won\u0026rsquo;t officially debut until Fall of 2018, Santesso\u0026rsquo;s course is the recipient of the 2017 Innovative Course Design Award, which is given by\u0026nbsp;the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) to encourage excellence in undergraduate teaching of the eighteenth century.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003ESantesso designed the course around the strengths of LMC students at Georgia Tech\u0026rsquo;s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026ldquo;Students here usually don\u0026rsquo;t have much background knowledge of literature and history, and they can be very\u0026nbsp;insecure about their writing ability. But when it comes to things like design and production, they are exceptionally talented,\u0026rdquo; said Santesso.\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nOne of the mottoes at LMC is \u0026ldquo;We make things,\u0026rdquo; and Santesso was interested in seeing how he could translate\u0026nbsp;that idea in a historical course.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nSantesso also felt a responsibility, given\u0026nbsp;the current job climate, to design a course that would leave students with something they could talk about on a job application. Rather than simply telling a potential employer \u0026ldquo;I took a literature course,\u0026rdquo; students are able to show interviewers a picture of an object they made with a 3D printer or a laser cutter and talk about how they moved from cultural works, to philosophical conversations about communication techniques, to physical production processes.\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003ESantesso said\u0026nbsp;that a number of students who have taken the class have spoken to him about how happy they were to have a \u0026ldquo;creative\u0026rdquo; option for their projects. Some said that they had not thought of themselves as having design skills or experience prior to the class, but that they grew in confidence as they produced the objects.\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003ESantesso has been previously recognized for excellence, receiving the prestigious \u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.mla.org\/awardinfo_lowell\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EJames Russell Lowell Prize\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/a\u003E in 2014 from the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.mla.org\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EModern Language Association of America\u003C\/a\u003E, the world\u0026rsquo;s largest academic association centering on the study of languages and literatures,\u0026nbsp;for his coauthored book\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/yalepress.yale.edu\/book.asp?isbn=9780300155419\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EThe Watchman in Pieces. Surveillance, Literature, and Liberal Personhood\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/em\u003E\u0026nbsp;(Yale University Press, 2013).\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003EThe School of Literature, Media, and Communication is part of the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cdiv\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nFor more information about the\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/asecs.press.jhu.edu\/Weekly%20Announcements\/innovativecourse.html\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003EASECS Innovative Course Design Competition\u003C\/a\u003E, visit their website.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/div\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EAaron Santesso, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, is the recipient of the 2017 Innovative Course Design Award, which is given by\u0026nbsp;the American Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies (ASECS) to encourage excellence in undergraduate teaching of the eighteenth century.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Aaron Santesso, professor in the School of Literature, Media, and Communication (LMC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, is the recipient of the 2017 Innovative Course Design Award. "}],"uid":"34554","created_gmt":"2017-12-08 16:29:02","changed_gmt":"2017-12-21 17:29:29","author":"ralu3","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2017-12-20T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2017-12-20T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"364341":{"id":"364341","type":"image","title":"Aaron Santesso","body":null,"created":"1449245805","gmt_created":"2015-12-04 16:16:45","changed":"1475895100","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:51:40","alt":"Aaron Santesso","file":{"fid":"201637","name":"santesso_film_still.png","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/santesso_film_still_0.png","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/santesso_film_still_0.png","mime":"image\/png","size":533617,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/santesso_film_still_0.png?itok=LwwEzAs4"}},"600152":{"id":"600152","type":"image","title":"Salomon medallion","body":null,"created":"1513783632","gmt_created":"2017-12-20 15:27:12","changed":"1513783632","gmt_changed":"2017-12-20 15:27:12","alt":"The Salomon medallion based on Bacon\u0027s New Atlantis was created by students in Aaron Santesso\u0027s 18th Century Literature Class at Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts. Santesso\u0027s course is the recipient of the is the recipient of the 2017 Innovative Course Design Award given by the ASECS.","file":{"fid":"228794","name":"LMCSantessoClassworkSalomonMedallion.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/LMCSantessoClassworkSalomonMedallion.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/LMCSantessoClassworkSalomonMedallion.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1163081,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/LMCSantessoClassworkSalomonMedallion.jpg?itok=qTMvWtW1"}}},"media_ids":["364341","600152"],"groups":[{"id":"1281","name":"Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts"},{"id":"1283","name":"School of Literature, Media, and Communication"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"}],"keywords":[{"id":"1683","name":"history"},{"id":"3747","name":"literature"},{"id":"176446","name":"eighteenth century"},{"id":"3093","name":"culture"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39511","name":"Public Service, Leadership, and Policy"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERebecca Keane\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nDirector of Communications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\nrebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu\u003Cbr \/\u003E\r\n404.894.1720\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["rebecca.keane@iac.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}