Using the becerro digital as a teaching resourcecreating MOOCs for reluctant medievalists

Abstract

In this paper we explore ways in which the recently developed digital edition of the Becerro Galicano of San Millán, a freely available on-line database with a suite of powerful search tools, can be exploited as a resource for the development of on-line teaching materials and modules. The multi-disciplinary nature of this source makes it a particularly attractive way in which to address the lack of MOOCs or equivalent on-line teaching intitatives in a host of disciplines centred around medieval studies. The Becerro Digital (hereafter BD) is the freely available on-line digital edition of a medieval codex known as the Becerro Galicano - http://www.ehu.es/galicano/. The codex in itself is one of the most important sources for Medieval Spain, and not just for the historians of a large part of northern-central Spain (above all, Castile, Rioja, the Basque Country and Navarre) but also for philologists interested in late Latin, the emergence of Castilian and the early history of Basque. Surprisingly, though, despite its importance, this material had been poorly served by earlier paper editions. These are the circumstances which led to the development as a research project of the digital edition being presented today (see Screenshot I)