Event Title
Reimagining the Digital Humanities with 'New Majority' Students for Public Higher Education
Location
CB1-212
Start Date
4-11-2017 1:45 PM
End Date
4-11-2017 3:00 PM
Description
When we talk about the digital humanities as scholars and practitioners in higher education, who do we imagine to be the students of this emerging field? How is this connected to efforts to make the digital humanities more inclusive and interdisciplinary? This interactive session invites audience participants to meditate on this question as we aim to reimagine the digital humanities for today's "new majority" students who are increasingly students of color, as well as low-income, first-generation, and community college students. Our session seeks to expand current understandings of what the "digital humanities" entails. We focus on two programs that combine learner-centered approaches with digital technologies, for a critical pedagogy that strives toward more inclusive, accessible and equitable futures for the digital humanities and public higher education.
We present case studies from our work with undergraduate and graduate students in two interdisciplinary programs based at The Graduate Center, City University of New York: The Futures Initiative's Peer Mentoring Program and the Humanities Alliance. Both programs use free and open-source software--namely, WordPress, and the open-source Commons In a Box installation of BuddyPress, a WordPress plug-in for building online communities--along with other digital tools to foster active student learning.
Our hour-long session will provide a brief overview of the digital humanities tools and methods used in the Peer Mentoring Program and the Humanities Alliance, and will include at least one graduate or undergraduate student from each program. Students will discuss how their use of WordPress and other digital tools contributed to their experiences of teaching, learning, and mentoring, as well as their academic, professional, and personal growth. Throughout the session, we also invite audience members to participate in interactive exercises to engage in a critical analysis of the digital humanities, and better understand the educational needs and interests of today's "new majority" students.
About the programs:
The Futures Initiative Peer Mentoring Program embodies the mission of advancing greater equity and innovation in higher education that reconnects liberal arts teaching and learning. Undergraduates learn to mentor one another while also learning and practicing transferable skills that contribute to their academic success and their lives outside the classroom: collaboration, leadership, project management, technology, time management, community-building, and organizational skills. The program is funded with the generous support of the Teagle Foundation.
The Humanities Alliance is dedicated to training doctoral students in the most successful methods for teaching humanities courses in the country's most diverse undergraduate classrooms. The program provides Ph.D. students with mentorship and professional development, while broadening and strengthening access to and engagement in the humanities for community college students. The Humanities Alliance is a partnership between The Graduate Center, CUNY, and LaGuardia Community College, CUNY, and is funded with the generous support of the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Reimagining the Digital Humanities with 'New Majority' Students for Public Higher Education
CB1-212
When we talk about the digital humanities as scholars and practitioners in higher education, who do we imagine to be the students of this emerging field? How is this connected to efforts to make the digital humanities more inclusive and interdisciplinary?
