Listening in on the Conversations: An Overview of Digital Humanities Pedagogy

Abstract

The topics of conversation among digital humanists-or "DHers"-over the last two years have been as broad as the scope of the digital humanities (DH) taxonomy and as varied as the definitions posed by its practitioners. 1 Some conversations focus "on building," some on "hack," some on "yack," and others on "alt-ac" (Ramsay, "On Building" 243-45; Nowviskie; Croxall). Fortunately, for those interested in introducing students to DH, other conversations address pedagogical concerns-teaching strategies, curricula development, and learning outcomes. (Unfortunately, there is no "-ack" synonymous with pedagogy to maintain the Suessian effect.) Such conversations would have proved helpful in the summer of 2012 as I prepped an undergraduate course in which I planned to introduce students to digital scholarly editing and encoding (TEI). As many do, I turned to the literature and found very few discussions of DH pedagogy-a fact validated by Stephen Brier's "Where's the Pedagogy?"-and even less on how to teach DH to undergraduates or within the English classroom. Without clear, practical guidelines, I managed to engage two classes in some semblance DH work-for which I found absolution in conversations about "digital experimentation," "screwing around," and "co-developing" (Fyfe 85; Ramsay, "The Hermeneutics" 7; Liu, "Digital" 20). From that point on, I have been listening in on the conversations about DH pedagogy in print, e-journals, tweets, blog posts, discussion forums, etc. What follows is an overview of select conversations "listened in on" with an analysis of how those conversations echo effective pedagogical practices. 2 The benefits most often cited for incorporating instruction in DH tools and practices in undergraduate and graduate courses tend to fall into two general categories. The first centers on the institution, viewing the incorporation of the "digital" into undergraduate and graduate courses as a means to "save the humanities," to ensure funding, and to give value to digital scholarship. "The digital humanities has the potential to revitalize what we do," William Pannapacker writes, "and to justify continuing support from institutions, foundations, academic administrations, the government, and the general public" ("Stop"). Teaching DH, Claire Warwick explains, "gives the subject a sense of stability in institutional terms" and "helps establish our credibility with academic colleagues in other disciplines" while "also provid[ing] a firmer financial basis for the future than research

The Perseids Platform: Scholarship for all!

“…Orlandi et al 2014. 20 The pedagogical models illustrated in the use of Perseids in the classroom including meaningful research collaborations between student and professor, project-based student teamwork and student publication of their contributions at earlier stages have been highlighted elsewhere as key potential contributions of digital humanities pedagogy to broader humanities teaching, see Bonds 2014, andHirsch 2012. 21 For more on on the definition of micro or nano-publications, see Groth et al 2010 andClark et al 2014.…”

The conceptual ecology of digital humanities

“…Though digital humanities programs continue to proliferate, a common curriculum – much less best practices – has yet to coalesce. Similarly, research on pedagogy is immature and many stakeholders see it as a secondary concern, even though pedagogy is crucial in establishing and consolidating an academic field or discipline (Bonds, 2014; Brier, 2012; Fyfe, 2011; Gailey, 2014; Hirsch, 2012; Spiro, 2012b; Warwick, 2012).…”

“…Interring the essay, Sample (2012) favors not only making student work public, but also encouraging them to integrate images, sounds, and objects. More broadly, project-based learning allows students to analyze knowledge production at its most ecumenical (Bonds, 2014; Clement, 2012; Thomas and Solomon, 2014). Davidson (2012) calls for educators to add algorithms to the proverbial pedagogical triptych of reading, writing, and arithmetic.…”

Beyond the one-shot: Intensive workshops as a platform for engaging the library in digital humanities

“…Many scholars have noted the relative lack of scholarly literature about pedagogy in the Digital Humanities (Brier 2012;Hirsch 2012;Bonds 2014). What literature exists tends to focus implicitly on ways of integrating DH concepts and methodologies into semester courses for undergraduate and graduate students (Brier 2012;Hirsch 2012;Bonds 2014).…”

“…What literature exists tends to focus implicitly on ways of integrating DH concepts and methodologies into semester courses for undergraduate and graduate students (Brier 2012;Hirsch 2012;Bonds 2014). Iantorno notes that, "Just as pedagogy has begun to receive more consideration in print and online, workshops and other events examining how scholars can incorporate DH in the classroom have increased," (Iantorno 2014, 141).…”