I.7. Project Summary:
The Digital Humanities Project will create and implement a new core instructional component
for Teacher-Advisor Program (TAP) and History Methods (HST 101) courses that will serve as a
model for the integration of a new learning outcome into humanities courses. This component
focuses on teaching students how to select, analyze, and digitize primary source materials. The
learning outcome is the acquisition of technological skills that enhance analytical skills
necessary for humanities research and analysis. These skills allow students to move from being
consumers to producers of digital information. Students will work with documents and digital
technologies located in Bailey-Howe Library.
III. Project Narrative:
A. Project Description:
The Digital Humanities Project aims to bring together teaching staff of the Department of
History and the Center for Teaching and Learning to create, implement, and evaluate a new
core instructional component for required first-year Teacher-Advisor Program (TAP) and
intermediate-level History Methods (HST 101) courses. This component will teach digital
humanities methods and explore the potential of approaches to through the selection,
digitization, and creation of a collection of digital surrogates of primary source materials.
Digital Humanities, situated at the intersection of computing and the humanities disciplines, has
been defined most recently as “the use of digital media and technology to advance the full
range of thought and practice in the humanities, from the creation of scholarly resources, to
research on those resources, to the communication of results to colleagues and students.” [Dan
Cohen, Director, Center for History and New Media] Digital humanities scholars agree that the
convergent practices of the discipline are not simply a way to use computing technology to
undertake traditional scholarly tasks such as research, analysis, synthesis, and writing. They are
also a way to experiment with new research approaches made possible by new technologies.
Simple digital humanities practices such as online research, bibliographic management, and
web site creation are currently incorporated into basic information technology literacy skills.
These types of skills are supported at UVM, albeit selectively. Providing students with the
opportunity to develop more sophisticated digital humanities skills that can be applied to their
scholarly work requires a more integrated, or holistic approach. This includes providing coursebased inspiration and opportunities to create digital projects, access to information on current
standards and best practices for digital resource creation, along with a technology
infrastructure that provides tools for digitization and online delivery.
By the end of the semester, students will have acquired technological skills that enhance their
analytical abilities for humanities research and analysis. These skills will not only help students
as they continue in their studies at UVM but will be useful as they enter the job market. This
new instructional component can serve as a model for professors in other humanities courses
who wish to use digital technologies as part of primary-source based research and writing
projects. We believe that implementing this course now will be useful for new courses
connected to the proposed Humanities Major in the College of Arts and Sciences and
Humanities Concentration in the Honors College.
The first phase of the project will begin in the Summer of 2011, with the identification of an
initial selection of primary source materials in consultation with staff of Special Collections; an
evaluation of the technological resources, methods, and learning outcomes; and the creation of
a syllabus. The second phase will take place in the Fall of 2011 with the integration of the new
core component into the targeted course, culminating in the creation of an online digital
collection. We have chosen American Women’s History, a TAP course, because Special
Collections contains many documents relevant to this history. Evaluation will take place in the
third phase, as both students, the instructors, and other humanities professors examine the
design, implementation, and outcomes of this course and make suggestions for changes for the
future.
B. Statement of Objectives:
The key objective of this course is to create a new instructional component for humanities
courses that fosters the development of new skills that allow students to select, analyze, and
digitize primary source materials. This component is seen as a complement to, not a
substitution for, the content material that is presented in the course. For professors, this
pedagogical component will provide a model for those interested in working with new media in
the classroom. For students, this component will allow them to experience the excitement of
primary-source based research and the satisfaction of contributing to the dissemination of
those sources and that research. The course will be writing intensive.
C. Methods and Procedures:
During the Summer of 2011 Professor Melanie Gustafson (History) and Hope Greenberg (CTL)
will work together to identify primary source documents located at UVM’s Bailey-Howe
Library’s Special Collections, set up the technological component of the course, and write the
syllabus to integrate the new instructional component. The initial syllabus will be written for
Gustafson’s Fall 2011 TAP course, American Women’s History. The syllabus will emphasize both
the purpose and promise of digital humanities research for students interested in the
humanities as well as those thinking of majors in other fields.
The initial course will be taught during the Fall 2011 semester. Students will be introduced to
key events and individuals in American women’s history as a way of introduction to the content
of the course. From the beginning of the semester they will also be introduced to digital
humanities research, methodologies, standards and best practices. This will involve sessions at
the Center for Teaching and Learning and Special Collections. While the attainment of skills will
be the focus of these sessions there will also be an emphasis on an exploration of why an
engagement of primary sources is important. Students will use these sources as they learn
about cause and effect, change and continuity, turning points, using the past, and historical
perspective. We anticipate that students will work in small groups and the semester will
conclude with oral presentations. Students will be encouraged to present their projects and
results of their research at the annual UVM Student Research Conference.
D. Project Evaluation and Outcomes Assessment
The learning outcomes include the demonstration of students’ ability to develop historical
questions, the analysis of documents that answer the questions, and the technological creation
of digital resources for historical analysis. A quite tangible result of the project will be a webbased public collection of digital surrogates of primary materials that can be used by others to
contribute to existing historical scholarship. The overall aim is to help students move from being
consumers to producers of scholarly digital information.