Rare and Distinctive Collections is dedicated to collaborating with instructors from the university and community to incorporate rare materials into their courses. These classes are designed to provide context and increase engagement using primary and historical materials. Please send inquiries or requests to rad@colorado.edu.
In-person offerings
Instruction Sessions, Group Visits and Tours
Sessions typically occur in our instruction classroom as an active learning experience. Effective visits rely on small group analysis of a curated selection of items. We strongly encourage instructors to create worksheets, projects, or discussions centered on the materials, and will work with them to ensure an effective session.
We also facilitate tours and curated displays for any interested groups.
Requesting and Planning a Visit
Please send all instruction and tour requests to rad@colorado.edu.
We attempt to accommodate all requests, but our schedule tends to fill up quickly. Please contact us as soon as possible (often months in advance) to ensure your desired time and visit. Sessions outside our typical open hours are often possible, if scheduling well in advance. After a time has been determined, please communicate all learning objectives and send relevant documents (syllabi, project assignments, etc.) to the Rare and Distinctive Collections' instructors. Plan to work with our staff to craft a list of relevant material.
Note that it is our policy that the instructor of record must be present for class sessions.
Project-Based Learning
We strongly encourage the creative uses of our collections into project-based learning assignments. We are happy to meet to brainstorm ideas. You can find a few examples below:
- Facilitation and support of student-created websites or online databases of digitized materials from our collections, such as:
- The fairy tales repository at CU, with entries from ITAL 4600: Once Upon a Time in Italy
- Creation of student-curated online exhibits using our collections:
- 20th Century World at War, an exhibit by students in HIST 1012: Empire, Revolution and Global War
- Facilitating resources for group presentations on materials/topic, such as:
- Talking books project (video presentations about specific primary source items)
- Environmental ethics group projects (video presentations around curated items on a topic, including scanning and selection from us)
- Student contributions to the following CU Boulder Archives Projects:
- Documenting Community, 2020, our archival collection of COVID-19’s effect on students
- The CU Boulder Black Histories Project
- The CU Boulder Racial Justice Documentation Project
Virtual offerings
Rare and Distinctive Collections will continue to support synchronous and asynchronous virtual instruction. See some examples of how this might work below:
Asynchronous Library Guides and Videos
Note, these can also have a synchronous or in-person component to explain resources/facilitate discovery of our collections.
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Guides for a course, a unit, or a topic, such as:
- History of western science guide for WRTG 3030: Radical Science Writing
- Resources guide for ENGL 1260: Introduction to Women’s Literature
- Primary source guide for RLST 2600: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
- General guide to finding historical maps
- Guides for a detailed course assignment, such as:
- The historical impact of infectious diseases for the microbiology class MCDB 4310 (note that this was used with a worksheet with questions that was separate from this guide)
- Workshop videos, such as:
- This bookbinding guide that includes multiple workshop videos
- Facilitating projects based around rare materials (see project-based learning above)
Synchronous Virtual Instruction
- “Guest lecture” format over Zoom with PowerPoint and/or manipulation of digital sources
- Synchronous Zoom sessions that introduce students to researching, finding research materials, paleography, object-based learning, or another topic
- Facilitating projects based around rare materials (see project-based learning above)
