Digital Humanities

Gustavus Adolphus College is seeking to increase the role that digital humanities play in liberal learning on campus. Faculty across the disciplines are working with students to integrate technology into life-long learning through analysis and critical thinking. We view technology as a medium that gives new avenues through which to delve into the humanities.

The Digital Humanities initiative at Gustavus, which focuses especially on sophomores, seeks to help students build on the skills they gain in First Term Seminar courses. It offers a wide variety of January Term courses that have a digital dimension (see link to Courses). These courses provide students with collaborative hands-on experiences with cultural materials in a resource-rich learning environment, developing critical thinking, analytical, and communications skills by pairing traditional humanities-based critical and interpretive skills with opportunities to develop projects. Courses with a digital humanities component emphasize collaboration, are project-based, and involve sharing the humanities with the public.

Having taken one of these digital humanities January term courses, students will:

• Understand the digital humanities as a field and as a way of learning.
• Critically analyze how digital media and texts shape meaning.
• Develop creative modes of expression through the exploration and use of digital tools.

The Digital Humanities initiative is supported with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.