Erasmus+ Courses

Courses are opened depending on the number of incoming students. Please always check, which courses are held in each particular semester in the Study Information System of the university (SIS). Most Erasmus Courses take place in the winter semester, in the summer semester our offer of courses is limited due to a significantly lower number of incoming students.

Dates, time and room numbers of the courses are always specified before the beginning of the semester in the Study Information System.

Do you need to consult a specific subject? Don’t hesitate to contact our teachers and use individual consultations on various topics in librarianship and information studies, book and manuscript studies or new media studies (see the full overview of teached courses).
Foreign students can also attend courses at other faculty departments and other faculties of the Charles University.

Book History and Digital Humanities

Instructor: Jindřich Marek, Ph.D., jindrich.marek@ff.cuni.cz
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE00035
4 ECTS credits

The aim of the course is to acquaint students with the research of book history in the context of digital humanities. In addition to introducing the theoretical aspects of the subject, the course will focus mainly on the presentation of older book culture in the digital environment, especially on the presentation of old media (manuscripts, incunabula, early printed books) as well as various research topics (provenance, materiality of books, etc.). It also points to new directions in old media research.

The course is taught in three blocks (2 hours lecture, 1 hour seminar). The lecture is based on the frontal instruction associated with the subsequent discussion. The seminar is based on individual analytical work of students with selected electronic resources, presentation of results of work and mutual discussion. Students will submit a seminar paper presenting the critical evaluation and comparison of selected projects to book history in the digital environment.

To gain an attestation, it is necessary to demonstrate the basic orientation in digital humanities and the presentation of book history in the digital environment. The overall evaluation will also take into account the submitted seminar paper.

Outline (syllabus)

Research of book history in the context of digital humanities.

  • Book history: the nature of discipline and its methods.
  • Main principles of digital humanities and book history.
  • Data visualization in the field of book history.

Old media (manuscripts, incunabula, early printed books) in a digital environment.

  • Digital libraries: descriptions of books and facsimiles.
  • The use of bibliographic information in the research.
  • Provenance research in book history.

New directions of old media research.

  • Digital editions and “material texts”.
  • Advanced image presentation.
  • Contextualization of knowledge and integration of digital resources to book culture.

Introduction to Information Behavior Research

Instructor: PhDr. Adéla Jarolímková, Ph.D., Adela.Jarolimkova@ff.cuni.cz
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE00036
4 ECTS credits

The aim of this course is to introduce the concept of information behaviour in its various manifestations, e.g. everyday life information behaviour, workplace information behaviour, collaborative information behaviour etc. We will focus on fundamental models of information behavior and research methods used to explore its different aspects. We will use interviews, diaries and other qualitative methods to explore information needs, information seeking and information use.

Applied Project Management

Instructor: Helena Lipková, Ph.D., helena.lipkova@ff.cuni.cz
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE00023
4 ECTS credits

The course is open exclusively to the exchange students coming to the Instititute of Information Science and Librarianship.

The aim of the course is to provide students with a practical and interactive hands-on training of fundamental project managment techniques. The main focus is put on the practical aspects of project management so that students are able to integrate fast into the project team environment in real life situations.

By the end of the course, the students will be able to:

  • understand and use basic project management terminology
  • describe individual phases of the project life-cycle (project initiation, planning, execution, closure)
  • distinguish roles and responsibiilities within the project team
  • comprehend and use basic project management techniques (eg. change management, risk management, issue managment, earned value etc.)
  • analyze case studies
  • prepare their own small projects

Credit will be given based on final test results, completion of all tasks assigned and an active participation throughout the seminar.

Max. number of attendees: 12

Literature:

Introduction to Game Studies

Instructor: Vít Šisler, Ph.D., vsisler@gmail.com
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE00031

The course provides students with theoretical and methodological introduction to game studies. Game studies critically analyze the video games medium and explore its broader cultural, social, and political aspects. The topics of the course include game studies theory, video games history, video game design and development, video game analysis, and relationship between video games and the new media. The course aims to develop the students’ ability to analyze video game mechanics and to critically reflect on video games as a sociocultural phenomenon. The course is taught in English.

Literature:

  • BOGOST, Ian. Unit Operations: An Approach to Videogame Criticism. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2006. 264 s. ISBN 978-0-262-02599-7.
  • EGENFELDT-NIELSEN, S.; SMITH, J.H.; TOSCA, S.P. Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction. Routledge, 2008. 304 s. ISBN 978-0-415-97721-0.
  • FROMME, Johannes; UNGER, Alexander (ed.) Computer Games and New Media Cultures: A Handbook of Digital Games Studies. Springer, 2012, 710 p. ISBN 978-94-007-2777-9.
  • JUUL, Jesper. Half-real: Video Games Between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2005. 248 s. ISBN 978-0-262-51651-8.
  • MÄYRÄ, Frans. An Introduction to Game Studies: Games in Culture. Sage Publications. 2008. ISBN 978-1-4129-3445-9.
  • RAESSENS, J.; GOLDSTEIN, J. (ed.). Handbook of Computer Game Studies. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2005. ISBN 0-262-18240-8.

Contemporary Issues in Game Studies

Instructor: Vít Šisler, Ph.D., vsisler@gmail.com
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE00032

The course provides a deeper insight into the field of game studies and familiarizes students with its contemporary issues. The general topics covered in the course generally include cognitive and behavioral aspects of video games, persuasive video games, relationship between video games and politics, advergaming, and digital game-based learning. The actual content of the course is redefined annualy in accordance with the contemporary development of game studies and it is to a large extent modified by the research interests of attending students. The course aims to develop critical understanding of the broader role video games have in the contemporary culture and society and also the students’ ability to conduct team-based research. The course is taught in English.

Literature:

  • AARSETH, Espen J. Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997. 203 s. ISBN 0-8018-5579-9.
  • BOGOST, Ian. Persuasive Games: The Expressive Power of Videogames. Cambridge: The MIT Press, 2007. 464 s. ISBN 978-0-262-02614-7.
  • JAHN-SUDMANN, Andreas; STOCKMANN, Ralf (ed.). Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008. 256 s.
  • JUUL, Jesper. A casual revolution: reinventing video games and their players. Cambridge: MIT Press, 2010. 252 s. ISBN 978-0-262-01337-6.
  • THOMPSON, Jason C.; Marc A. OUELLETTE. The Game Culture Reader. CSP, 2013. ISBN 1-443-84094-7.

The Baroque Aristocratic and Bourgeois Libraries

Instructor: Richard Šípek, Ph.D., richardsipek@seznam.cz
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE00013
8 ECTS credits

The start date will be determined 

Place: The National Museum. The meeting point is the porter’s lodge at the staff entrance into the New Museum Building (Vinohradská 1, Praha 1- http://mapy.cz/s/5iOV – exact location of the entrance is marked with a blue dot). Please, wait there for my arrival.

In the beginning, the lecture will introduce the general cultural background of the aristocracy and the bourgeoisie of baroque Europe and formal as well as effectual position of the library in the system. Emphasis will be put on finding common signs of both the libraries of aristocracy and of bourgeoisie as well as their individual differences.

In case of the aristocratic milieu the focus will be put on the representative importance of the family libraries and realization of the renaissance concept of bibliotheca universalis. The bourgeois libraries will be presented with special respect to their exploitation in the owner’s profession and thence the differences in the topical structure of the profession libraries.

Ways of acquisition, possessor’s records and marks and their importance as research sources for the history of libraries will be discussed with respect to both the aristocratic and bourgeois libraries.
As an appendix to the lecture, the baroque passion for collections and collecting (Sammellust) and the phenomena of cabinet of curiosities (cabinet de curiosités, Kunstkammer) will be described together with relations and bounds between the art collections and the libraries themselves.

Digital Technology and the New Culture of Learning

Instructor: Michaela Slussareff,Ph.D., for.michaela@gmail.com
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE50603
6 ECTS credits

The course analyses how digital cultures intersect with learning cultures. Students will be encouraged to think critically and creatively about e-learning, digital games and simulations, mobile technologies and augmented reality in the context of formal and informal education. The aim of the course is to introduce main projects and research statements. Students will be involved in the creation of learning modules and their evaluation.

Syllabus:

  • From Memex to Augmented reality: technologies in education, different approaches to learning and educational cultures
  • Main terms in education: formal, non-formal, informal, life-long etc.
  • Multimedia learning and E-learning
  • Educational games and simulations: basic overview
  • Educational games and simulations: practical demonstration
  • Mobile edu apps and location-based games: basic overview
  • Mobile edu apps and location-based games: practical demonstration
  • Augmented reality and modern toys/ wearable devices
  • Presentations and feedback

Literature is to be specified.

Academic libraries in the Czech Republic

Instructor: Hana Landová, Ph.D., Hana.Landova@ff.cuni.cz
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE50604
8 ECTS credits

This course will focus on the mission, services, users and funding of academic libraries in the Czech Republic in the context of the Czech higher education system in general. Participants will have a chance to learn about the position of academic libraries within the organizational structure of universities, about the staffing and funding, as well as about the services that are provided to various user groups. The situation in academic libraries in the Czech Republic and other European countries will be compared and based on numerous classroom discussions. Also, students will have the opportunity to see some of the academic libraries in Prague during the tours and while working on the final project.

Media and Cultural Studies – Concepts, Traditions and Currents

Instructor: PhDr. Jiřina Šmejkalová, CSc., jirina.smejkalova@gmail.com
Code for ERASMUS students: AISV148
5 ECTS credits

This course is designed to introduce students to the analytical terms and research methods, as well as interpretive
strategies employed in contemporary media and cultural studies in order to support their capacity to analyse and
conceptualize critically the transformation of print and books in contemporary media environment. Among the
questions addressed are the following ones: Can a process of contesting a society’s media representations
produce significant social change? How does the central project of British Cultural Studies relate to orthodox
Marxist scepticism? Moreover, what is the methodological legacy of British cultural studies in the process of
studying and researching democratization and commercialization of culture in former socialist countries of East
and Central Europe after the end of the Cold War? There is a special focus on interdisciplinary approaches which
allow examining the ways in which cultural processes are produced, distributed, consumed, and responded to.

Students are to investigate varied dimensions of cultural production and reception; learn to comprehend them in
their broader social, aesthetic, ethical, and political contexts. The course also aims at introducing the ideas of key
scholars who have shaped the development of the field, including Stuart Hall, Raymond Williams, Richard
Hoggart, Ann Gray, Paul Gilroy, Ien Ang, John Fiske; key figures upon whom CS has drawn (Karl Marx, Theodore
Adorno, Walter Benjamin, Pierre Bourdieu, Antonio Gramsci); and those who – more or less independently –
advanced some of its key impulses and challenges (Judith Butler, Edward Said, Robert Darnton).

The course is suitable for both, international/Erasmus students as well as the domestic ones who need to master
the appropriate conceptual frameworks and linguistic competence that would facilitate their study abroad.

Ubiquitous Learning

Instructor: Mgr. Michaela Slussareff, Ph.D., for.michaela@gmail.com
Code for ERASMUS students: AISE00034
Summer semester
6 ECTS credits

Useful links for incoming students

Erasmus+ Coordinator

PhDr. Helena Lipková, Ph.D.
helena.lipkova@ff.cuni.cz

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