Sponsored by the Digital Liberal Arts Collaborative and the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Assessment, this year’s DLAC Teaching With Technology Fair features a wide range of digital projects.
RSVP for the Teaching with Technology Fair on May 8 from 12-1 PM using this form.
Buried Chinatowns: The Wyoming Chinatowns Archaeology Project
Prof. Laura Ng (Anthropology), Julia Ghorai ‘27, Avajane Lei ‘28, Luis Lopez ‘27, & Jorge Salinas ‘26
This project is a collaborative effort between Dr. Laura W. Ng, undergraduate research assistants at Grinnell College, various archaeological research collaborators, and Chinese American descendants. We study the materiality of daily life in late 19th-early 20th century rural Wyoming, labor, migration, anti-Chinese sentiment, and racial violence. Digital products for public outreach include blog posts on specific artifacts or places and ArcGIS StoryMaps on historical Chinese residents of Rock Springs, WY.
Prof. Liz Queathem & Gabriela Roznawska ‘26
In 1996 Larissa Mottl, then director of the Conard Environmental Research Area, developed a Tree Map of the Grinnell College campus for the Center for Prairie Studies. Since that time, campus has changed tremendously, with new buildings added and many trees removed and added. Over the past few years we have worked to update that map, add information about how different tree species help with climate change and rainfall infiltration, and make it available to the public (as well as people with a Grinnell College ArcGIS account) via the ArcGIS app Experience Builder. Gabriela has built on the work of past MAP students Marianna Cota ’22 and Nazma Noray ’24, as well as Sustainability Coordinators Samantha Drake-Flam ’25, Sara Garcia ’25, Corinne Fox ’26, Julia Smith ’26, Vivero Fellow Bruno Sica ’27, and Environmental and Safety Manager Chris Bair.
Collaborative Annotation for Class Discussion
Prof. Mariko Schimmel & JPN-241 students
I am using Hypothes.is, a collaborative annotation platform, to encourage students to engage with the text we read for JPN 241: Japanese Horror: Past and Present. I will discuss how I used the platform in class and how I would modify my use of Hypothes.is for class discussion, based on the observations from this semester.
shabab m. kabir ‘26, Zoe Fulu Kirn ‘26, Amy Xinmeng Mi ‘28
This project utilizes digital labor theory to analyze a body of danmei (Boy’s Love Chinese webfiction) works by Mo Xiang Tong Xiu (MXTX, 墨香铜臭). Her works are
widely accessible and have rapidly spread from the Chinese market into the global domain. We use the lens of cross-cultural circulation and platform economies to examine the dissemination of her works. The growing globalization of MXTX raises questions on how dissemination into different markets shapes discussions of queer, trans* and feminist studies, alongside eroticism and digital labor. Ultimately, using MXTX as a site of datafication, we observe and name three types of digital labor: Mediating Labor, Affective Market Labor, and Transformative Labor.
Grinnell College’s Early Chinese Alumni
Prof. Jin Feng (Chinese and Japanese) & Chikako Inoue ‘26
This website showcases the experiences of Grinnell College’s early Chinese alumni through photos, maps, and text. While more longitudinal studies are needed to fully excavate the rich and complex cultural and educational exchanges between Grinnell College and China during the past century, this website can provide a platform to connect Grinnellians past, present, and future as we navigate the choppy waters of Sino-US relations.
Integrating Static Computing into Digital Projects and Pedagogy
Morgan Smith ‘26, Prof. Sarah Purcell (History), Mark McFate (Libraries)
The Georgia Dentel and Grinnell Concerts History, 1960-2001 Project and the Grinnell Queer History Project both showcase how to make sustainable digital collections and exhibits with CollectionBuilder. These projects demonstrate how static computing, like CollectionBuilder, can teach students historical knowledge, web development skills, and create long-lasting teaching tools. This presentation will feature a student, a faculty member, and a staff member sharing their perspectives on how CollectionBuilder is being used on campus today, and how it might be useful in the future. It will also share example projects, tutorials, and resources for integrating CollectionBuilder into scholarship and teaching.
Prof. Ha Bui & ECN-282 students
Macroeconomies of the World is a Grinnell College pedagogical website created by Professor Ha Bui in collaboration with Grinnell students. It is a teaching tool, an evolving digital project, and a public-facing showcase of student-driven macroeconomic research. Every economy has a story—of growth and prosperity, of booms and recessions, of policy choices that succeed and those that fail. This site invites visitors to explore those stories across countries and over time. Students ask big questions that shape people’s lives: Why do recessions happen? What causes inflation to surge or stabilize? How do governments and central banks respond to economic shocks? Why do some countries grow rapidly while others lag behind? Using economic theory and real-world data, students analyze key macroeconomic indicators, study business cycle dynamics, evaluate policy responses, and investigate the determinants of long-run economic growth. They combine quantitative analysis, economic modeling, coding, and data visualization to turn complex macroeconomic ideas into clear, accessible insights about the global economy. This project highlights students’ abilities to work with data, build models, communicate findings, and collaborate in teams. It serves as both an educational resource and a portfolio of applied economic research for academic and professional audiences. Ultimately, Macroeconomies of the World invites students and visitors alike to think critically about how economies evolve, why crises occur, and how policy choices shape economic outcomes.
Prototyping, Customization, Accessibility, and Design: Thinking and Printing in 3 Dimensions
Max Schafer (Libraries)
Personal and academic use of the Burling Library Digital Studio’s 3D printers has grown since its inception, developing a broad and curious array of serious and fanciful projects. Try a print derived from a 3D scan of one of GCMoA’s holdings, or a flexible octopus toy with the head of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, or a working (and student-designed!) scissor jack.
Religious Healing Video Essays: Ayurvedic Medicine & Chiropractic Care in the United States
Prof. Dixuan Chen (Religious Studies); Cole Delaney ‘27, Kevin Tang ‘27, & Benke Grobler ‘27; Keisya Park ‘26, Vidushi Keni ‘26, & Filza Anis ‘26
The video projects explore Ayurvedic medicine and chiropractic care as approaches to understanding the body, health, and healing. Through these research-intensive projects, students demonstrate their knowledge, collaboration, and communication skills.
Kate Baumgartner (Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies) & Chloe Kelly ‘26
This project is a digital repository of photographs, playbills, posters, and other media relating to productions hosted by the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.
Totally Bananas: The Podcast!
Prof. Paul Hutchison (Education) & Nino Kirtava ‘28
This is a podcast and website project that explores the cultural, historical, economic, and scientific significance of bananas. Rather than just focusing on the fruit itself, the podcast uses bananas as a lens to examine broader global topics such as colonialism, trade, agriculture, and identity.
Video Essays for Literary Analysis
Prof. Erik Simpson (English & CTLA), Sofia Bedoya-Correa ‘29, Nicholas Rassmussen ‘29, and Nicholas Toc ’28
The presenters will discuss their experiences with a change in Erik Simpson’s section of English 120, Literary Analysis. In the most recent version of the course, what used to be a final essay assignment became a video essay developing the analysis of a film. The video essay built on the analytical skills students had learned throughout the semester (for assignments including two conventional essays) but also added other kinds of video and audio production skills. The video essay project was supported by DLAC collaborators Mo Pelzel and Tierney Steelberg.
Adam Kelley-Chown & Kiera Rennick ‘26
Grinnell’s student film festival, Titular Head, has a fabled history of screening off-beat and often offensive films created by students every spring semester. With the festival having gone on for over 40 years and featured 600+ films, a new partnership between the Vivero Digital Fellows and Grinnell’s Department of Alumni Relations has created an archival site dedicated to hosting the witty and ridiculous films from many years past. Under project-leads Tierney Steelberg and Adam Kelley-Chown, Kiera Rennick has revamped and updated the informational and archival sites, as well as providing support to the “Virtual TitHead” event connecting alumni of the college (some in the film industry) to student filmmakers.
Vivero Digital Fellows Program
Amy Kan ‘28, Bruno Sica ‘27, Cadence Chen ‘26, Karolina Calleros ‘26, Olyvia Liu-Cai ‘28, Steph Kama-Kama ‘28, Valery Mayorga ‘26, Zach Rusli ‘28, Zachary Bressler ‘26, Tierney Steelberg (DLAC), Prof. Liz Rodrigues (Libraries)
Vivero Digital Fellows support faculty and staff-led digital projects and provide drop-in peer support for digital liberal arts assignments. Current Vivero Fellows will share their experiences this semester, discuss their work in progress, and showcase how Vivero can support digital projects on campus – all the way from helping new projects get off the ground to supporting new digital directions for existing research or courses.