Developing literacies in the digital humanities classroom include, yet transcend, the ‘traditional’ passive literacies of 
reading, hearing and seeing into the active realms of finding, evaluating, creating, engaging and communicating with 
an audience that may extend beyond institutional boundaries. Recognizing the overlaps between the core skills of 
digital pedagogy helps faculty identify how to leverage the expertise available through the library and Centers for 
Digital Scholarship. Including these campus stakeholders in the development of curricula--and potentially involving 
them in classroom instruction for discreet topics--fosters partnerships that can continue beyond a single course. The 
authentic, collaborative classroom environment described throughout this poster necessitates partnerships between 
IT staff, edtech groups, and the library. Instead of framing the contributions from staff as a service, these genuine 
collaborations foster an integrated classroom that encourages the growth of cross-campus relationships.

Building Bridges: Pedagogical Strategies for Introducing Digital Humanities in 
the Undergraduate and Graduate Classroom

Sarah L. Ketchley & Wendy Perla Kurtz

This poster highlights some of the challenges of teaching introductory-level digital humanities courses in undergraduate and graduate 
classrooms, and describes pedagogical solutions developed by faculty at UCLA and the University of Washington to address these 
complexities. These solutions include identifying and developing the core skill sets students need to begin work in digital humanities, 
including best practices for project management, for working with data, and interpreting and presenting analyses. From a faculty standpoint, 
the poster suggests strategies for building collaborative partnerships between libraries and faculty to best leverage each respective group’s 
expertise.

The theoretical framework developed by Eshet et al provides a 
robust framework for designing a course geared towards 
cultivating digitally literate students. In order to gather the data 
necessary to conduct meaningful research, work in the DH class 
combines ‘traditional’ linear search and retrieve exercises set 
against a backdrop of a more iterative and cyclical flow of 
retrieving digital material, evaluating and cleaning as 
appropriate, analyzing and visualizing, returning to repeat the 
process until satisfactory results are achieved.  In this scenario, 
students are required to evaluate and order considerable amounts 
of information from disparate sources in a short period of time. 
Repeating this process on multiple occasions, and perhaps across 
different platforms, helps reinforce this mental model for 
students, moving from an abstract concept into a defined 
workflow. The theory and practice of this type of work is the 
remit of librarians, who can offer advice on topics ranging from 
sourcing appropriately-licenced data, initiating efficient and 
comprehensive searches, curating data and working with 
metadata.  Finally, libraries can act as ‘skill-hubs’ providing 
recommendations for campus training resources that may not 
otherwise be readily discernible. 

.  

 

OVERVIEW

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS

As well as playing a central role in the provision of digital services to faculty and students, Centers for Digital Scholarship should, arguably, 
be equally involved in DH pedagogy. Often housed in the library, they are staffed by librarians whose skills range from traditional 
librarianship, technical expertise, digital project development and management, as well as the provision of training, workshop development 
and education. Although humanities faculty teaching with or about DH tools and methodologies may draw on librarians for support in 
developing their digital humanities curricula, more often they develop course materials without taking advantage of overlapping expertise 
and experience. 

The poster highlights areas of library expertise that we have drawn on in our own DH teaching, and will explore potential models for 
collaboration between faculty and librarians which address the issue of balance between technology and subject matter expertise. 

INTRODUCTION

CONTACTS
Sarah L. Ketchley, Ph.D.
Department of Near Eastern Languages 
& Civilization, University of 
Washington, Seattle WA 
ketchley@uw.edu 
@SarahKetchley

Wendy Perla Kurtz, Ph.D.
Digital Humanities Program
University of California, Los Angeles
Los Angeles CA
wpkurtz@ucla.edu 
@WendytheDH

Figure 4.  Syllabus for ‘Geospatial Humanities: Mapping Space and Place,’ UCLA

Figure 1. After Yoram Eshet-Alkalai. “Digital Literacy: A Conceptual 
Framework for Survival Skills in the Digital Era”. Journal of Educational 
Multimedia and Hypermedia (2004) 13(1), 93-106.

Figure 3.  Syllabus for ‘An Introduction to Digital Humanities’, University of Washington, 
Winter Quarter 2020

Both syllabi are designed as foundational courses in 
computation for humanities: one is an introduction to digital 
humanities and the other course focused specifically on 
geospatial techniques for the humanities.

The Commonalities
1) planning and scoping;
2) data wrangling;
3) analysis; and
4) a public-facing presentation.

These syllabi examples from our classroom underscore the 
value of identifying common pedagogical ground in an effort 
to develop curricular materials and teaching strategies that are 
relevant for digital scholars and librarians, and taught by 
specialists from both fields. The goal is to make DH 
pedagogy extensible and an engaging experience for both 
instructors and students.

Just as DH has redefined the nature of traditional scholarship, so 
DH pedagogy is redefining how we build and deliver our courses. 
Conversations with librarians early in the planning process can 
help identify the most appropriate digital tools to use in the 
classroom; considerations may include ease of installation and 
management, sustainability, good documentation and 
extensibility.

The knowledge and skills developed by librarians naturally align 
with some of the principal concepts at work in DH pedagogical 
practices. These skills include traditional librarianship, technical 
expertise, digital project development and management, as well as 
the provision of training, workshop development and education. 
Miriam Posner has identified three core levels to any DH project, 
no matter which methodology is used, from mapping to text 
mining. Curating, processing, presenting, and – we have added – 
preserving, are foundational to DH project work. These are also 
the core competencies of librarianship. Figure 2 showcases the 
skills and expertise the library can offer in support of DH research 
and pedagogy on campus. It can also be used to uncover gaps 
which require further funding and support from administration. 
Most importantly, it is a means to shed light on the work librarians 
are already doing in support of the DH, underscoring the library’s 
status as a valuable stakeholder and partner.  

 

FOSTERING COLLABORATIONPROMOTING DIGITAL LITERACIES

Figure 2. Librarians as Digital Experts: Skills and Expertise

SAMPLE SYLLABI

WHY COLLABORATION MATTERS
The average DH project has many collaborators, since it is understood that no one person can be expert in all 
aspects of successful project-building. The DH syllabi we showcase here represent a full--albeit 
compressed--project cycle, with the addition of a pedagogical layer. It is therefore unsurprising that 
collaboration in the DH classroom setting is as important as it is in a DH research project. Project-based 
learning and the group work that inevitably serves as the base for those projects rely on successful team 
dynamics. But fomenting prosperous partnerships takes time, patience, and mutual goals, which can be 
challenging. In addition there’s only so much bandwidth people have available in their current roles. So, why 
should we strive to foster meaningful collaborations? Relationship-building between faculty and staff or 
student peer groups enriches the educational experience for students. Faculty teaching DH courses find the 
necessary supports for planning and executing complex DH courses and librarians can contribute their 
expertise in support of student research and learning outcomes. Creating a working agreement, project 
scoping, and establishing parameters and expectations is a crucial element to developing healthy and long 
lasting collaborative partnerships.

Course Description
Spatial Humanities, Geohumanities, GIS Humanities, “deep maps,” “digital culture mapping,” and “the spatial turn” are terms that 
have grown in popularity over recent years in the humanities and digital humanities. Digital mapping makes it possible to create rich 
stories of culturally, socially, and historically relevant materials on a cartographic interface converting a purely geographic space into a 
place. This course will provide an overview of GIS and other mapping techniques through project-based assignments. Students with 
little to no GIS experience will be exposed to the theories, concepts, and methods used for mapping projects in the humanities and 
social sciences. Student with a GIS background will have the opportunity to explore non-traditional uses of mapping systems.

Course Outcomes and Learning Objectives
By experimenting with a wide range of tools that employ a variety of data types (both structured and unstructured), students will learn 
the basics of mapping and geospatial information. Students will build skills necessary to enhance their spatial thinking and literacy. By 
learning to manipulate GIS software and generate basic spatial analysis, students will be able to apply spatial research methods to 
enhance their research in their own subject areas. Students will also learn best practices for planning, managing, and effectuating a 
digital mapping project by creating a web or mobile-based project.

Course Description
A no-prerequisite course to introduce students to concepts and methodologies of using digital humanities tools for dataset creation, 
analysis and presentation. Students will explore primary source material related to the lives and achievements of early pioneers in 
Near Eastern archaeology, focusing specifically on the period known as the 'Golden Age' of Egyptology at the end of the 19th and 
early 20th centuries. Students will analyze primary source documents using text mining methodologies, build digital maps and 
timelines, and ultimately present research results on an online platform. 

Course Outcomes and Learning Objectives
Humanities and social sciences students will become familiar with a range of tools and technologies for text mining and text analysis 
that will enhance their abilities to succeed both as undergraduate researchers and in their lives after graduation. Students in 
technology disciplines will be able to explore the applications of digital tools to humanistic endeavors. Students in this course will:
1. Learn the basic vocabulary of concepts and tools in digital humanities and become acquainted with a range of projects, best 
practices and resources in the field. 2. Gain hands-on experience of humanities dataset creation, curation, analysis and presentation. 
3. Gain an introductory knowledge of many open source digital tools or methods useful to broad humanities disciplines. 4. Create a 
digital narrative to present the results of work in (2) .

mailto:ketchley@uw.edu
mailto:wpkurtz@ucla.edu