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Digital Humanities pedagogy:
new approaches and new ways of thinking
about the Humanities?
University College Cork (2013), Teaching and Learning
Centre,
Simon Mahony (University College London)
With thanks and acknowledgement to all my colleagues at UCLDH and also to
Elena Pierazzo (King’s College London) who co-authored the book chapter that
prompted this talk.
All original content is licenced under a
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License
UCLDH
What we do:
Teaching & Learning
• A new interdisciplinary degree
exploring the intersection of digital
technologies, humanities scholar-
ships and cultural heritage
• MA/MSc Digital Humanities,
launched in 2011/12
UCLDH central hub
• Arts and Hums traditional scholarship
• Brings together work in different departments and
research centres across UCL and beyond
• Interdisciplinary work
• UCL Museums and Collections
• UCL Special Collections
• Computer Science
• Engineering
• Medical Physics
What should we be teaching in DH?
• Skills?
• Methodology?
• New ways of thinking about traditional material?
• New and better questions?
• Wide range of academic backgrounds
• And skill levels
• How do we accommodate all?
Information literacy
• Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World– Committee of Inquiry into the Changing Learner Experience
• Uncritical acceptance of the Web
• Expect Google to give them the answer
• So-called "Digital Divide"
• "Google Generation" CIBER at UCL– Report for JISC and British Library
Unifying the group
• UCLDH Community Page
• Build cohesion
• Events
• Academic plus social engagement
• Inclusive not exclusive
• A "learning society" (Dearing report 1997).
Previous experience in DH
• Undergraduate
– Introduction to DH: Stand alone option module
• Postgraduate (taught Master’s) King’s and UCL
• Research/study skills: Arts & Hums
• Digital literacy
Skills?
• IT services
• UCL Graduate School
• Skills development programme
• Technical skills not thinking skills
• Not research training
• Pedagogical underpinning?
Building on what went before
• Proto-DH (ECP)
• Electronic Communication and Publishing
– Now incorporated in MA Publishing
• Internet Technologies
• Digital Resources in the Humanities
• XML (Extensible Markup Language)
Core curriculum
• Internet Technologies
• Digital Resources in the Humanities
• XML (Extensible Markup Language)
XML: what’s in a name?
• Assignment: individual project from start to finish:
• Prescriptive or allow student choice?
• Choose material
• Choose output
• Choose outcome
• How well do they execute this?
Core curriculum
• Internet Technologies
• Digital Resources in the Humanities
• XML (Extensible Markup Language)
• What else?
Developing the curriculum
• Databases
– Cooperation with Computer Science
– Logistical issues
– Grounding issues (assumptions)
• Introduction to Programming and Database
Querying (JavaScript and SQL)
• Server Programming and Structured Data (PHP)
Adding new content
• New modules introduced for this programme
– Introduction to Digitisation (new digitisation suite)
– Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities
• New modules for other DIS programmes
– Oral History from creation to curation
– Knowledge Representation and Semantic Technologies
• Existing modules that are relevant to students
– Manuscript Studies
– Paleography
• Advanced Computer Science
– Software Engineering
– Functional Programming
Optional modules
• Wide range across DIS
• Also collaborating Departments / Faculties
• Allow student to pursue existing interest
– Continuing UGs
– 1 x free choice (by agreement)
Making necessary adjustments?
• To be effective needs to be relevant
• Make use of existing interests
• Transition from students to research-students
• Things that can be learnt can be taught
• Cannot take our familiarity with tools and
resources for granted
• Pedagogy: not about learning technical skills
Iterative design?
• Respond to (reasonable) feedback
• Pay attention to what works
• Monitor the programme
• Get the students’ interest
• Field trips?
What do we learn?
• Create a community of learning
• Learn from our students
• Wider range of cultural diversity
• We are constantly learning
Teaching Digital Humanities
• Fundamental need: research methodologies
• Thinking skills most important, most transferable
• Develop students' ability to think
• Build on existing familiarity
• Reflective process
• New and different ways of thinking
• Engage with other programmes and departments
• Encourage partnerships and synergies
References:
Ron Dearing, et al, (1997) Higher Education in the Learning Society: The
Report of the National Committee of Inquiry into Higher Education. HMSO
Simon Mahony and Elena Pierazzo (2013) 'Teaching Skills or Teaching
Methodology?', in Hirsch ed. Digital Humanities Pedagogy: Practices,
Principles and Politics, Open Book Publishers.
David Melville, Cliff Allan, Julian Crampton, and John Fothergill, et al, (2009)
“Higher Education in a Web 2.0 World,” JISC report , Changing Learner
Experience.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/media/documents/publications/heweb20rptv1.pdf.
David Nicholas, Ian Rowlands, and Paul Huntington, et al, (2008) “Information
Behaviour of the Researcher of the Future,” UCL CIBER Group briefing
paper prepared for JISC and the British Library.
http://www.jisc.ac.uk/whatwedo/programmes/resurcediscovery/googlegen.
aspx.