I’d like to talk about pedagogical issues related to the use of digital tools. In particular, I’d like to discuss how we can best integrate digital tools into humanities/humanistic social sciences courses in ways that (1) students can see as clearly related to the course and (2) that will equip them with transferable skills.
It’s the transferable skills I’m most interested in, I think. What I want is for my students to learn how to determine what they need to know, then be able to figure out what they need to do to acquire that knowledge. I got good training in that respect in my own field, and have been able to make use of those skills to learn a great deal about digital tools.
What I want to do in my courses is work with students on academic and digital skill sets simultaneously. The question for me is which digital tools to use, and why—and how to get students comfortable with them (and confident that they know where to go for help if they get stuck).
I’d love to share ideas about these kinds of questions with other campers. It might also be helpful to discuss how we as instructors can develop our own digital skills—including how we teach them to our students and what resources outside our institutions we might need—particularly if we’re interested in using tools that aren’t officially supported by our institutions.