Ancient Knowledge
Modern Technology

Dr Frances Clynes

The MA in Cultural Astronomy and Astrology was officially started in October 2002 at Bath Spa University, where it remained for five years. After we had been there a couple of years the University introduced a virtual learning environment called Blackboard, which allowed students to download course material and upload assignments. At the time Blackboard was top of the range and Bath Spa University was one of the first into the field. The University even gave introductory seminars to staff at other universities on how to use it. By 2004 we also had access to the new online databases of academic material, such as JSTOR. This was the extent of our use of the virtual world for the MA during that time. In Bath Spa the MA was delivered in the traditional offline classroom where students physically gathered each week during the semester, so the lack of a virtual world did not pose a problem at this stage.

In 2007 the MA moved to Lampeter and began to teach in distance learning mode, which necessitated an investigation of how we could best use technology for the benefit of our students. At that stage the university did not have an online learning environment, but we considered it was a necessity. Nick took the decision to move away from proprietary brands to open source and had the then, little-known application, Moodle, installed on the college servers for Sophia Centre students. This proved so successful a move that within a few years Moodle was rolled out across the university. This was the first, but not the last, time that the university would seek the advice of the Sophia Centre in the adoption of new technologies. The University's use of IT has been transformed in the last few years, but the Sophia Centre is still keeping up with the latest developments.

One of the earliest tasks when we moved to Lampeter was finding software to facilitate the running of online seminars. The early Lampeter MA students will no doubt remember Cloud Meeting - the first such application that we used. While not perfect, it meant that each module could include weekly online seminars where students could virtually meet and interact with their tutors and each other. The students were able to see each other, communicate online if needed, and, when they all met for the first time at the traditional gathering in All Bar One in Bath, the night before our annual Summer School, they immediately recognised each other. With all its imperfections, Cloud Meeting had created the Sophia Centre community of students. Technologies like Cloud Meeting were rapidly improving at that stage, and within a few years we moved to the greater functionality of Cisco WebEx, which we still use today. We run up to four MA seminars a week as well as alumni lectures and occasional public lectures.

The explosion of Social Media brought new opportunities for the Sophia Centre to connect with students, alumni and friends. In addition to the closed Facebook groups for students, tutors and alumni, we also have a public Facebook page where people can learn about events and developments. Our Facebook pages and our Twitter account are managed by our Social Media Organiser, Hanne Skagen, an alumni of the MA and a member of the Alumni Steering Committee. Another alumni, Gaia Somasca, has for several years, been the Sophia Centre photographer. Some of Gaia's stunning work can be seen on the Gallery section of the Sophia Centre website, and in the Sophia Centre's Flickr account.