I wanted to design a ‘big project’ for this third-year eighteenth-century literature and culture course. I conceptualized a website project that would encourage teamwork and a strong classroom culture, enhance research and bibliographic skills, teach ‘writing for the web’, promote a deeper understanding of eighteenth-century British culture, and generate a legacy project for the students. I got a lot of support from the English Department’s liaison librarian, Chad Crichton, the UTSC Library’s Digital Scholarship Unit Coordinator, Kirsta Stapelfeldt, and Nancy Johnston from the UTSC Writing Centre. We worked together throughout the semester to try to achieve our goals. It was also important to me to ask the students to connect our understanding of Hogarth’s series to the twenty-first century. I hope that the insightful comments my students made about the ongoing struggle to address sexual violence and community responsibility show how the study of historical periods and other cultures can enhance learning and help to effectively activate and promote change.
~ Anne Milne
