Jen Boyle, professor in the Department of English and co-creator of the Digital Culture and Design program, is a prolific scholar as well as a dedicated professor. She is a recipient of grants and fellowships from Brown University, the Folger Institute, and the Dibner Library for History of Science and Technology, as well as CCU’s 2018 HTC Distinguished Teacher-Scholar Lecturer.
Boyle took a moment to discuss her teaching, scholarly, and home lives during the time of COVID-19.
While she’s familiar and experienced in the online teaching environment, other elements of Boyle’s professional roles – such as coordinating both the B.A. in digital culture and design and the minor in new media and digital culture — have posed challenges.
“Currently, I am teaching 2 sections of ENGL 231: New Media, Film, and Digital Culture; the media unit of WGST 105 for three weeks; and DCD 488 Capstone,” said Boyle. “I teach online quite a bit (I just completed a COOL grant to retool my ENGL 231 class for the online environment!), but other aspects of my work as a program director have been more challenging in the online environment. For example, I do a lot of one-on-one advising with students. I am using Zoom to create conversation possibility spaces, despite being remote. I think when people hear “digital” in our program or professional titles that it means we embrace the virtual everywhere, when in reality, our studies and teaching instruct us on the limits of online interactions. One of the positives that may emerge from this very difficult time is a more nuanced conversation about what we can do with digital spaces — and what we can’t do.”
Boyle talked a bit about her academic field and current projects, including how they impact the classroom.
“I teach and write about media transformation and theories of mediation. My books and digital installations explore ‘new’ media objects and performance, bodies and technology, and the mediated flows of objects and information through networks, from the seventeenth century to the digital present,” said Boyle. “I am currently writing a textbook (under contract with Palgrave Macmillan) on approaches to teaching with new media and working with archival and regional collections as an alternative learning model. The textbook will be both in print and a digital open resource that professors and universities can utilize to import project based new media curriculum.”
And, during all that time at home? What’s Boyle been up to?
“I am reading and writing, BUT, also catching up on all those films and series I have been wanting to work into my classes (minor binging: Black Mirror; BBC detective series; movies I missed),” said Boyle. “I am also cooking–a lot! Cooking is one of those activities that is solitary but always connected in some way with the idea of togetherness, of breaking bread with others. Even when that fuller scenario is not possible, cooking keeps me connected to those ideas, those future get togethers.”
For more information on Dr. Boyle, visit her faculty profile: https://www.coastal.edu/academics/facultyprofiles/humanities/english/jenniferboyle/
For more information on Dr. Boyle’s scholarly work, visit http://jenboyle.squarespace.com/about-me/
For more information on CCU’s Digital Culture and Design program, visit https://www.coastal.edu/dcd/programs/digitalcultureanddesignba/
