Digital Humanities in the classroom: Mapping strategies and possibilities for teaching computational methods in humanities curricula. Stef Scagliola, Fernie Maas and Els Stronks

1. Digital Humanities in the Classroom
Mapping strategies and possibilities for teaching
computational methods in humanities curricula
Stef Scagliola Fernie Maas Els Stronks
http://www.rebeccalynneharris.org/category/digital-
humanities/
Overview DH
teaching in the
Netherlands
and Flanders
Results of
survey on
requirements
for teaching
Policy requirements
for ensuring a next
generation of
Digital Humanists

2. Provide answers to these questions:
• Where can I find a course that matches my
interest?
• Where can I find course guides and best
practices to set up a DH course?
• What do teachers need in the class room?
• What factors impede a fruitful development of
DH in Dutch and Flemish academia?

3. 1st phase – June, Benelux 2014
The Hague, pilot registry Nl/Fl
2nd phase – September, Dariah 2014
Rome, registry of Europe
NL/FL
survey
International survey +
enrich and clean Dariah
Course Registry

4. http://dhcoursereg.hki.uni-koeln.de
Overview DH teaching in the NL. and Fl.

6. Results of survey on requirements for
teaching
• We started small: DH within Dutch/Flemish
academic institutions
• Distributed among all faculties that teach DH
related subjects in Nl and Fls
• 17 respondents
• All universities represented

7. Results: the landscape
• Courses, certificates and degrees
• General tools or specific research?
• ’New media and digital culture(s)’
Literary studies and linguistics
Communication and information science

8. Results: the obstacles
• Course material
• Confined, clear and uncluttered data
collections
• Overview of tools often used in DH
• Literature and examples of DH research
• Customized online environments
• E-labs, computer labs

9. Policy requirements for ensuring a
next generation of Digital
Humanists

10. Results: the infrastructure
• Properly educated teachers
• Affordable software
o with some help of commercial
software suppliers?
o Open Source solutions?

11. Results: suggestions
• Make room for a new area of expertise in
existing curricula
• Support the integration of Digital
Humanities practices in regular courses
• Support the integration of Information
Sciences and Humanities
• Recognize the high costs of small groups
of student in hands-on DH courses

12. Why is it necessary to join forces
across universities?
• To avoid overlap in courses
• To combine rather than divide the scarce
expertise and interest of teachers and
students
• To share best practices and course
materials, to improve the quality of
courses
• To underline and demonstrate that Digital
Humanities benefit from group efforts

13. How to place Digital Humanities
on the deans’ agendas?
• Emphasize the deans’ unique position:
only they can achieve nation(s)wide
cooperation
• Emphasize the need for Digital
Humanities researchers: a population that
will not grow without support
• Any suggestions……?
• Join the platform for Teaching DH at: …….