DH100: Introduction to Digital Humanities
Tuesday/Thursday 9:25am – 10:40am
Brian S. Matzke
Email: bmatzke@ccsu.edu
To meet with me, please schedule an appointment here
Readings and Other Course Materials
Students will be required to purchase a domain and hosting for a website through Reclaim Hosting. This costs $45 for one year. Your website will be where you upload all assignments. This is the only purchase that you are required to make. There is no textbook, and all readings will either be provided as links to articles online or be available through the library’s website.
Work Commitments
Over the course of the semester, you will complete 25 assignments. These assignments are due by midnight of the day listed on the course schedule, and relate to the tool or concept introduced in that day’s lesson. All of these assignments involve adding and/or modifying content on your website. Each assignment is worth three points, and the assignments are graded satisfactory/unsatisfactory. Grades and feedback on assignments will be sent via email, and students can always ask in person or via email to check their grades. A grade of “satisfactory” translates to three points (full credit); a grade of “unsatisfactory” translates to zero points; however, you may revise your work on the assignments as many times as necessary to earn a grade of “satisfactory,” up until November 21 (except in cases of plagiarism). No additional revisions to your website will be graded after November 21.
Thirteen of these assignments are Blog posts. These are pieces of reflective writing that you will post to your website’s blog. Nine of these assignments are Gallery entries. These are pages that you will create on your website and link to on your website’s gallery. These gallery entries will have content related to your semester-long research project. Two other assignments involve other modifications to your website, and the last assignment is a peer critique of one of your classmates’ final papers. Detailed descriptions of all of these assignments will be available via the course schedule.
At the end of the semester, you will also write a Final paper. For this paper, you will craft an academic argument about your research project, in which you will analyze the content that you have added to your site for the gallery entry assignments. This final paper is worth fifteen points, and a detailed description of the paper is available here.
Finally, you will have twelve pop quizzes over the course of the semester. These quizzes will take place at the start of class and will be taken with pen and paper (not on the computer). Each quiz is worth one point. If you are late to class or miss class without a documented excuse (such as a doctor’s note) you will not be given an opportunity to take the quiz, and your score will be a zero. If you miss class due to illness or another unavoidable conflict, you will be able to schedule a makeup quiz to be taken outside of class. I will drop the two lowest quiz grades when calculating your final grades.
Course Structure
This course works on a “flipped classroom” model, meaning that readings and video lectures will be provided outside of class and class time will be devoted to discussion, activities that reinforce the concepts in the lectures and readings, and free time to work on assignments. On the course schedule, most days have a link to a video demo (which will be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour in length), a reading (which may be required or optional), and an assignment. In the video demo I will explain the new concepts that we are covering that day and demonstrate any tools that you will need to use to complete the assignment. You are expected to watch the video, complete any required readings, and at least attempt the assignment prior to class. Then, during our scheduled class time (Tuesday/Thursday 9:25am-10:40am), you can come to class with questions about what was covered in the readings and lectures, and you will have the opportunity to work on the assignment. The assignment should be posted to your website by midnight that night and will be graded the following morning.
Attendance
I do not take attendance. If you prefer to work on your own you are free to do so. If you are feeling the least bit sick, DO NOT ATTEND—go to the Student Wellness Center instead of coming to class. However, if you do not attend, bear in mind that you may miss out on a pop quiz or on activities and discussions that may be help you complete assignments. If a student misses a lesson, I will not recap the missed material over office hours or in a one-on-one meeting.
Email and Meetings
I am typically available Monday-Friday, 8am-4pm. I typically respond to emails that are sent during these hours on the same day; however, because I have meetings, classes, and other commitments during the day, it may take several hours for me to respond–do not expect an immediate response. I will typically respond to emails that are sent outside of my normal hours on the following business day. If you send me an email and I have not responded within one full business day, please assume that I either did not receive it or accidentally overlooked it and email me again.
I am also available to meet with students one-on-one either in person or online. You can use this webpage to schedule a meeting with me.
Academic Integrity
All cases of academic misconduct will be referred to the Office of Student Conduct. Academic Misconduct includes (but is not necessarily limited to) using ideas, words, images, or content in any other media that you did not create and presenting that content as if you were the creator. Copying content that other people created–either directly or in a modified form–without properly acknowledging the creator qualifies as academic misconduct, as does utilizing unauthorized digital tools such as artificial intelligence to create content.
An assignment that is found to have been plagiarized or to have used unauthorized tools will automatically receive a zero and you will not be given an opportunity to repeat the assignment for a passing grade. Depending on the severity of the case, academic misconduct may result in a failing grade in the course.
Central Connecticut State University’s policies on Academic Integrity can be found at https://www.ccsu.edu/academicintegrity/.
Resources
- Student Disability Services
- Central Connecticut State University provides reasonable accommodations in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act for students with documented disabilities on an individualized basis. If you are a student with a documented disability, and would like to request academic accommodations, you are encouraged to contact Student Disability Services (SDS) at 860-832-1952, or email disabilityservices@ccsu.edu. Please visit the SDS website at https://www.ccsu.edu/sds/ to download an Intake form and documentation requirements. Once approved, SDS suggests that students discuss their approved accommodations with their professors, as well as any other additional medical emergency needs. Temporary impairments may also qualify for accommodations. Please note that accommodations are not retroactive and must be requested each semester.
- Writing Center
- The CCSU Writing Center is an excellent resource for developing your writing. They can offer you expert one-on-one assistance at all stages of the writing process. Their contact information can be found at https://www.ccsu.edu/writingCenter/.
- Elihu Burritt Library
- The homepage for library’s website is here: https://library.ccsu.edu/. The reference librarians at the Elihu Burritt Library are there to help you with all aspects of the research process. Do not hesitate to ask them any questions you may have about finding, evaluating, organizing, or citing sources for your project. A reference librarian is available at all hours that the library is open. You can get in touch via chat or email. The library’s contact information can be found here: https://libanswers.ccsu.edu/.
- Student Wellness Center
- The Student Wellness Center provides integrated mental health, physical health, and wellness education services to assist all CCSU undergraduate and graduate students in the pursuit of academic success, a fulfilling college experience, and a healthy lifestyle. Information about student wellness services can be found at https://web.ccsu.edu/healthservices/index.asp.
Other university policies can be found here.
Grades
| Assignments (25 x 3%) | 75% |
| Final paper | 15% |
| Pop quizzes (12 x 1%, two lowest grades are dropped) | 10% |
| Total | 100% |
Grade Scale
| 94-100 | A |
| 90-93 | A- |
| 87-89 | B+ |
| 84-86 | B |
| 80-83 | B- |
| 77-79 | C+ |
| 74-76 | C |
| 70-73 | C- |
| 67-69 | D+ |
| 64-66 | D |
| 60-63 | D- |
| 0-59 | F |