Articulating the value of humanities education
Video Series | Brown University, 2022–present
Considering return on investment
▻ The Problem
There’s a common assumption that humanities degrees have a poor return on investment, that humanities degrees contribute little to a successful career. In a climate of budget cuts and government scrutiny, it’s important to articulate return on investment for humanities programs.
▻ The Solution
I developed an annual video series for the Cogut Institute for the Humanities at Brown University, featuring current and past student fellows and affiliated faculty describing, in their own words, the impact of the institute’s courses and events on their research, teaching, and career trajectories.
Leveraging qualitative research
▻ The Challenge
The impact of the Cogut Institute isn’t easily quantifiable. Although we can track enrollment and attendance for the institute’s courses and events, these numbers communicate only constituent engagement, telling us nothing about what constituents take away from the institute.
To assess the institute’s impact, I knew that qualitative research in the form of interviews would be essential and that video would be the best medium for reaching a wider audience.
▻ My Role
I planned the video series, hired videographers to record the interviews, conducted the interviews, and edited the videos, seeking regular input from the institute’s leadership.
Interviewing stakeholders
▻ The Interview Questions
For the first year of the series, I started small, interviewing only the four undergraduate fellows currently participating in the institute’s yearlong research seminar. I developed open-ended questions that would prompt them to share their experience authentically:
How would you describe the seminar?
How was your experience as a listener, reader, participant, and presenter?
Name one thing that surprised you or that you found memorable about the seminar.
What will you carry with you from your time at the Cogut Institute?
▻ The Interviews
I wanted the interviewees to be as comfortable as possible. The videographers and I set up the recording space in the same room where the seminar regularly met, and I encouraged the interviewees to dress as they might when attending the seminar. I also shared my interview questions in advance so that the interviewees could think about the sorts of things that they might say.
Three of the four interviewees were able to participate in person. One had to be recorded remotely via Zoom.
Gathering insights
▻ The Scripts
Now that I had footage, I autocaptioned it and created a full transcript of each interview. And for each, I assembled the pithiest segments to form scripts of approximately two minutes in length. Themes emerged across the interviews:
Being in an interdisciplinary setting such as the seminar challenges a scholar’s assumptions about their work and helps them to hone it.
Working alongside scholars at other levels helps undergraduates practice professionalism and gives them an important perspective of life beyond graduation.
Being treated as peers helps undergraduates to feel validated and to gain confidence.
The seminar helps scholars at all levels to build community.
I created another pair of scripts splicing together material from all four interviews to articulate these themes.
I’m not an undergrad here. I’m a listener. I’m part of the conversation. My voice is heard just as equally as everyone else at the table.
— Undergraduate Fellow
▻ The Editing Process
After finalizing the scripts, I edited the footage in Adobe Premiere Pro and made finishing touches, such as animated titles and a subtle vignette effect, in Adobe After Effects.
Implementing refinements
▻ Lessons Learned
I identified two technical improvements for future videos and implemented these in subsequent years:
Film every interview with two cameras at different angles, which allows for more polished cuts between clips and adds visual interest.
Introduce light background music during intro and outro segments to add auditory emphasis.
▻ Updates to the Questions
Each year, I’ve interviewed a different group of stakeholders to gain insights into the ways in which the institute impacts its constituents, and I’ve modified the list of questions. The second year of the series, I interviewed the institute’s postdoctoral fellows and added these questions:
How did your experiences at the Cogut Institute impact the content or process of your research?
In what ways do you feel you made an impact on the Brown community during your time here?
In what ways do you feel your postdoc experience has prepared you for the next stage of your career?
▻ New Insights
Each year’s videos reveal different ways in which the institute impacts a scholar’s work and guides their career. Insights from interviews with postdoctoral fellows include:
The fellowship cultivates intellectual community across disciplines and ranks, which alleviates the isolation of scholarly work.
The fellowship provides scholars with the time and encouragement necessary for experimenting with new ideas.
The fellowship puts disciplines into dialogue, which highlights both shared interests and unique contributions.
The fellowship provides postdocs with the opportunity to develop original courses, which extends their research interests into the classroom.
The fellowship facilitates networking between postdocs and faculty, which leads to career-building opportunities.
The fellowship prepares postdocs for a diverse working environment.
The isolation of scholarly work can really weigh upon you a lot of the time. I think this is a place where you can come with ideas at any stage of development and say, “Is this anything? Does this make any sense to you?”
— Postdoctoral Fellow
Videos
▻ 2021–22 Series
Featuring undergradute fellows
▻ 2022–23 Series
Featuring undergradute and postdoctoral fellows
▻ 2023–24 Series
Featuring doctoral students and faculty associated with the Doctoral Certificate in Collaborative Humanities program