Hege Academic Commons

Teaching the digital humanities

Integrating a digital project (or two) into your class can help your students learn by doing - thus refining skills relevant to their discipline - and foster collaboration. We are more than happy to work with you to design an assignment that fits your class's themes, ideas, and learning outcomes. Please note that this page deals specifically with teaching DS/DH in the classroom; for tools and resources, please visit the Tools page. If you have any questions, please contact us.

Getting started with DH

  • Identify the specific learning outcome(s) you want the assignment to address: Think about how the digital assignment will help your students gain a different perspective on content or methods in your class. Now is a good time to think about potential roadblocks so you can avoid them.
  • Methods before tools: Think about what skills your students will need. An assignment about mapping may need GIS. If you want your students to find patterns in text, you may need text mining or collaborative annotation. If you want them to create a digital exhibit, you may need to use something like Omeka. If you run in to problems, please reach out to us as we are more than happy to help.
  • Find the right tool(s) for your assignment(s): As you've seen on the Tools page, there are a number of tools you can use in each category. Keep in mind the skill level of your students when choosing the tools. Also keep in mind access both in terms of cost (free is better) and in terms of how much time will be spent on each tool. We are strong advocates of open source tools and will generally recommend them whenever possible.
  • Match digital skills with the critical knowledge your course aims to impart: As much as possible, try to make the technical challenges faced by your students part of direct engagement with the material while also developing critical thinking skills. Avoid digital tasks that are light on substance.
  • Think about timescale: Should students be able to complete this assignment in a week? Or a month? Or a semester? Make sure that the level of technical skill needed is matched to your students and that the assignment is tied to your class's outcomes.
  • Consider the end product: Will the end result be something they can share with the wider world? How much time do they need to reflect on the assignment? Engagement with the material is the goal so that your students meet both discipline-specific outcomes and more general outcomes.
  • Don't underestimate the challenges and anxieties of learning new digital skills: Even though the popular narrative is that Gen Z are digital natives, that's not really true. Issues of access still abound. More importantly, many students know how to make an app work but they don't know why it works. It's the latter that's important. Becoming a producer of digital content, which is what a DS assignment does, takes a different skillset than being a consumer of digital content.
  • Consider group work and group assignments: Studies have shown that students learn new digital skills easier when they're working with their peers. A group of peers creates a low-stakes environment where questions can be asked and answered informally. Group work can also help mitigate accessibility concerns.
  • Ask for a reflection on the process: Reflection is an important part of the learning journey at Guilford and it needs to be taken seriously. Ask your students to actively think about (and document) each decision they made and reflect on why they chose one pathway over another. Incorporate reflection into your rubric in a clear and important way.

Digital assignment examples

  • Podcasting: Ask students to create a short podcast (5-10 minutes) on the topic. DSH staff can introduce audio editing software (available in the Ideation Lab) and discuss storyboarding and other project management strategies. Hege Library and Learning Technologies also has podcasting kits available for check-out.
  • Video editing: Students can work in groups or individually to create a short video (maybe 5-6 slides) to go in depth on one topic. Students should research, author, and peer review the work leading up to the acutal recording.
  • Mapping: Using StoryMaps, a free web-based toold, students can create interactive, media-rich maps. More complex assignments involving multiple maps can be created using QGIS, which is open source mapping software, or the web-based ArcGIS Online. Feel free to ask DSH staff for a tutorial if needed.
  • Digital exhibits: A digital exhibit will bring together skills revolving around source selection, object arrangement, metadata knowledge, and topic exploration. Omeka would be a good resource here if the goal is to develop a museum-like exhibit. There are a number of other ways to approach this, as well, such as building a timeline (see the Tools page for more.

Adding DS assignments to Canvas

  • Canvas has a lot of features that go relatively unused. If you'd like to integrate a DS assignment to your Canvas site, please contact us. We will do our best to help you out.
  • Attribution: Portions of this page were adapted from similar pages at Brown University and the University of California, Santa Cruz.