Surveying Digital Humani1es at Small Liberal Arts Colleges
Rebecca Frost Davis Director of Instruc1onal and
Emerging Technology St. Edward’s University
NITLE Digital Humani1es Ini1a1ve
• Finding pockets of innova1on • Connec1ng into coherent, collabora1ve effort • Advance the development of digital humani1es at liberal arts colleges
• Promote the valuable contribu1ons these colleges make to and within the broader digital humani1es movement
DH and Liberal Educa1on
Alexander & Davis. “Should Liberal Arts Campuses Do Digital Humani8es? Process and Products in the Small College World.” In Debates in the Digital Humani0es, ed. MaPhew K. Gold. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2012.
Defining Liberal Educa1on
• Small, residen1al, private, bachelors gran1ng college
• Study of the liberal arts and sciences • Prepara1on & skills for democra1c ci1zenship • Pedagogical methodology & prac1ces
-‐-‐Jo Ellen Parker, “What’s So Liberal About Higher Ed?”
Academic Commons
High Impact Prac1ces (Kuh)
• First-‐Year Seminars and Experiences
• Common Intellectual Experience
• Learning Communi1es • Wri1ng-‐Intensive Courses
• Collabora1ve Assignments and Projects
• Undergraduate Research
• Diversity/Global Learning
• Service Learning, Community-‐Based Learning
• Internships • Capstone Courses and Projects
NITLE Survey of Digital Humani1es at Liberal Arts Colleges
• AY 2012-‐2013: survey & interviews • Current results – 32 ins1tu1ons – 50 responses
• Ques1ons – Ac1vi1es – Support – curriculum
faculty
library
administrator
IT
museum
Why DH? (individual)
0%# 5%# 10%# 15%# 20%# 25%# 30%#
future#scholarship#
individual#interest#
digital#literacy#
pedagogy#
collab;undergrad;research#
student#engagement#
public#mission#
liberal#educa=on#
student#marketability#
online#learning#
recrui=ng#
Ins1tu1onal Structure
Center&
Ini)a)ve&
Group&
Projects&
None&
Curricular Structure
• Of 32 ins1tu1ons surveyed: – 1 has a major, minor, or program – 4 have a digital humani1es course, e.g., Introduc1on to Digital Humani1es – 23 have courses with some Digital Humani1es
Avenues to Engage Undergrads in Digital Humani1es
0%# 10%# 20%# 30%# 40%# 50%# 60%# 70%#
Coursework#
Undergrad#Research#
Thesis/Project#
Work#
Internship#
What’s in a Name?
• Digital Humani1es • Digital Scholarship (Occidental College) • Digital Studies (Davidson College) • Digital Pedagogy (Whiher College) • Digital Liberal Arts (Great Lakes College Associa1on)