Working with a wonderful colleague this past year, I helped get a digital humanities (#dh) minor approved at Pepperdine. She did the lion’s share of the work, but I was excited by the prospect of creating the new minor to provide students with a foundation in #dh. Plus, it seemed an exciting way to encourage myself to think more about #digitalarthistory/#dah, and how I can talk to students about it who have never heard the words “digital humanities” or “digital art history”–but who might enjoy it. But how to talk about it simply and clearly? How do I convey what #dah is AND teach a class on Pre-Columbian Art History? This is the real challenge: balancing both objectives.
I realize I need to use backwards design to re-frame my class to balance #dah and the topical pre-Columbian material. So I am in the process of deciding what I want my students to be able to do with #dah by the end of the semester, and how I can use the topical material to help me achieve that goal and vice versa. Here’s to hoping I can strike a balance between #dh and pre-Columbian art history. One can dream, right?
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