Call for Applications: “Textual Data and Digital Texts in the Undergraduate Classroom,” a 2018-2019 NEH Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities
Deadline: Applications are due Thursday, February 1, 2018
We are pleased to invite applications to an NEH Institute for Advanced Topics in the Digital Humanities titled “Textual Data and Digital Texts in the Undergraduate Classroom.” This institute is designed for those who teach or support undergraduate text-based humanities courses, and are interested in learning ways to implement digital tools and methods into their pedagogy. We welcome applications from library faculty and staff, professors, instructors, and graduate students.
The institute will introduce methods for digitally examining texts, the primary object of study for many in the humanities. Participants will learn quantitative, visual, and computational means to analyze texts, approaches that require thinking about texts as digital objects and data. They will experiment with these methods to query texts at both a micro level (isolating and analyzing information contained within texts) and macro level (analyzing multiple texts at once). Participants will explore how these approaches be productively incorporated into undergraduate humanities classes.
Program and Faculty:
Comprised of introductory readings on digital pedagogy, a week-long in-person session (held July 16-20, 2018 at Mississippi State University), and virtual sessions and online communication in the year following through July 2019, the institute is structured to give participants the time and space to learn new approaches as well as integrate them into teaching. The in-person sessions will focus on methods and tools for creating and analyzing textual data. The virtual sessions will focus on pedagogical practice, introducing participants to real world examples and best practices in teaching with digital humanities. Over the course of the program, participants will develop a course, syllabus module, assignment, or workshop, and will deposit it in an open-access repository. Attendees will thus gain a foundation in key methods, issues, and tools in the creation and analysis of data derived from text, as well as ways to incorporate them in the undergraduate classroom. (See the institute website for a more detailed schedule.)
Institute Directors:
- Lauren Coats, Associate Professor of English and Director of the Digital Scholarship Lab, Louisiana State University
- Emily McGinn, Digital Humanities Coordinator, University of Georgia
Institute Host:
- Mississippi State University Libraries
In-person Session Leaders:
- Brandon Locke, Director of the Lab for the Education and Advancement in Digital Research (LEADR), Michigan State University
- Thomas Padilla, Visiting Digital Research Services Librarian, University of Nevada-Las Vegas
- Alicia Peaker, Digital Scholarship Specialist at Bryn Mawr College
Virtual Session Leaders:
- Rachel Sagner Buurma, Associate Professor of English Literature, Swarthmore College
- Michelle Moravec, Associate Professor of History, Rosemont College
- Miriam Posner, Assistant Professor of Information Studies and Digital Humanities, UCLA
- Jentery Sayers, Assistant Professor of English and Director of the Maker Lab in the Humanities, University of Victoria
- Jesse Stommel, Executive Director of the Division of Teaching and Learning Technologies, University of Mary Washington
Application Details:
The institute will be open to 22 participants who regularly teach undergraduates or train those who do, and would like to incorporate digital humanities in the teaching of texts. The institute is free for participants, and those attending will receive a stipend. (Please see the institute website for more details about stipends and conditions of award for participants.)
Application to the institute should include:
- An up-to-date CV.
- A statement of interest (500-700 words) describing how the institute will further your pedagogical and professional goals, your interest in learning and teaching digital humanities skills, and any relevant digital humanities experience.
- A description (250-500 words) of your teaching assignments and responsibilities, as well as a specific course or workshop(s) you would like to develop with a digital humanities component.
- A schedule or syllabus for a class or workshop you have taught. If the applicant has not taught before, please note this in the teaching description.
- One letter of recommendation emailed to nehtextualdata@gmail.com.
Please send all material (except recommendation) as a single PDF, with letter of recommendation under separate cover, by February 1, 2018 to nehtextualdata@gmail.com. Participants will be notified of acceptance by March 15, 2018.
Selection will prioritize candidates who demonstrate interests in learning and teaching DH skills, who have had little or no support for digital humanities pedagogy and training, who teach regularly and are engaged in undergraduate education, and who commit to incorporating digital humanities in a particular course or workshop in the year or two following the institute.
Please see the Textual Data and Digital Texts in the Undergraduate Classroom website for further details. Questions may be directed to nehtextualdata@gmail.com.