Critical Literacies Project: ClioVis (UT System P20 Projects)
The UT System works with internal and external partners to foster critical literacies in students across the P20 continuum. UT institutions work to cultivate these literacies in students across traditional and emerging academic disciplines, and through partnerships and programs in PK12 schools, communities, and business and industry across Texas.
As part of its Critical Literacies Project, the UT System is proud to support several cutting-edge initiatives that seek to instill and expand critical literacies in school and college. These initiatives are underwritten by The University of Texas System as part of its work with UT institutions to develop quality prototypes and pathways enabling students from elementary school through university to cultivate critical literacies they will need to be successful in the knowledge economy.
ClioVis, the digital timeline visualization platform developed by PTF Erika Bsumek, was selected as one of these initiatives, recognizing the value visual timelines can bring to historical and digital literacy. Read below for the Critical Literacies Project's explanation of ClioVis for UT System audiences:
Clio Vis: Visualizing Connections: Improving historical and digital literacy by engaging students more deeply in the study of history and other disciplines.
- With ClioVis, students learn to chart events chronologically and map them conceptually, illustrating connections along the way through the use of visualization software.
- ClioVis helps students better understand the materials they are studying, provides an intuitive way for them to organize their research and course materials, and makes it easy for them to present their findings to external audiences.
- ClioVis is a tool that encourages students to move beyond their disciplinary silos and connect their work and classroom training to tangible outcomes.
- While the software was developed for history courses, other disciplines are deploying it too, including biology, to chart steps, development and progress over time of various scientific and natural processes.
- Developed at the University of Texas at Austin by Dr. Erika M. Bsumek, Professor of History and Native American Indigenous Studies.
Related Initiatives
The Keys to Understanding History: Unlocking Digital Timelines
This project started out with a simple idea: From my original proposal, we noted that “Current historical timelines are not interactive, nor do they enable students to understand connections between different events. They are good at showing chronology, but are not good at illustrating how specific events are influenced by a whole host of different historical factors.”