Surveying the Landscape of Undergraduate Education in the Digital Humanities
Location
KIPJ Theatre
Session Type
45-minute concurrent session
Start Date
28-4-2016 1:50 PM
End Date
28-4-2016 2:35 PM
Keywords
digital pedagogy, digital humanities, undergraduate education, higher education, course descriptions, qualitative analysis, internet research
Abstract
While only a handful of academic institutions have formalized undergraduate programs in the digital humanities in the form of majors, minors, concentrations or certificates, most universities and colleges currently offer courses that fall somewhere along the DH continuum in terms of disciplinary background, course subject matter and methodological approach. This presentation presents the results of a grant-funded study whose purpose was to investigate the extent as well as the nature of undergraduate digital humanities curricula in research institution across North America by analyzing course descriptions, course syllabi and assignment descriptions from 75 unique institutions. Using a content analysis method, this presentation evaluates the presence of project-based course components and disciplinary representation in course catalogues in American and Canadian universities and colleges. In addition, it identifies emerging themes in academic marketing of skill-based approaches and contemplates gaps between research and teaching in the digital humanities in North American undergraduate education. Ultimately, orienting itself in pedagogical theory, this presentation evaluates the extent to which undergraduate DH education in North America balances neoliberal technocratic utopianism with pragmatism and critical theory in its conceptual and practical foundations.
Surveying the Landscape of Undergraduate Education in the Digital Humanities
KIPJ Theatre
While only a handful of academic institutions have formalized undergraduate programs in the digital humanities in the form of majors, minors, concentrations or certificates, most universities and colleges currently offer courses that fall somewhere along the DH continuum in terms of disciplinary background, course subject matter and methodological approach. This presentation presents the results of a grant-funded study whose purpose was to investigate the extent as well as the nature of undergraduate digital humanities curricula in research institution across North America by analyzing course descriptions, course syllabi and assignment descriptions from 75 unique institutions. Using a content analysis method, this presentation evaluates the presence of project-based course components and disciplinary representation in course catalogues in American and Canadian universities and colleges. In addition, it identifies emerging themes in academic marketing of skill-based approaches and contemplates gaps between research and teaching in the digital humanities in North American undergraduate education. Ultimately, orienting itself in pedagogical theory, this presentation evaluates the extent to which undergraduate DH education in North America balances neoliberal technocratic utopianism with pragmatism and critical theory in its conceptual and practical foundations.