Curriculum for Digital Humanities

Champlain College's Digital Humanities curriculum blends technology and the humanities, offering hands-on learning and adaptability for a dynamic future.

Digital Humanities Curriculum

Our Upside-Down curriculum in Digital Humanities is designed to empower you to explore the exciting intersection of technology and the humanities. You’ll engage in a dynamic and hands-on learning experience that combines critical thinking, creativity, and technical skills such as programming and digital mapping. With a customizable program, you’ll have the freedom to choose from a wide range of courses, develop your own digital toolkit, and engage in project-based learning with faculty guidance. You’ll gain hands-on experience and build a strong foundation in areas such as data analysis, multimedia storytelling, and cultural preservation.

Learning Outcomes for Digital Humanities

First Year
Fall Semester
Spring Semester
- CSI 170 Introduction to Databases
- MTH 180 Statistics, Introduction to
- XXX General Elective
- COR 103 Navigating Your Information Landscape
- COR 104 First Year Inquiry: Making, Doing, &
Second Year
Fall Semester
- DHS 222 Digital Humanities Lab
- CSI 160 Python Programming
- XXX General Elective
- COR 201 Core Foundations: Making Meaning Through Science
- COR 202 Interdisciplinary Perspectives
Spring Semester
- ENP 280 Introduction to GIS & Spatial Analysis
- MTH 280 Applied Statistics —OR— DAT 210 Introduction to Data Analytics
- COR 203 Core Foundations: Making Meaning Through Culture
- COR 204 Theoretical Perspectives
- XXX Applied Focus Course 1
Third Year
Fall Semester
- XXX 6-Credit Internship, Practicum, Work Experience
- XXX General Elective
- COR 301 Core Foundations: Connecting Place and Identity
- COR 302 Field Methods
Spring Semester
- DAT 320 Data Visualization
- XXX Applied Focus Course 2
- XXX Applied Focus Course 3
- COR 303 Core Foundations: Connecting Past and Present
- COR 304 Digital Methods
Fourth Year
Fall Semester
- CCC 410 ITS Capstone Project Design
- SCI XXX Lab Science
- WRT 347 Transmedia Storytelling
- XXX General Elective
- XXX General Elective
Spring Semester
- CCC 4XX Digital Humanities Capstone (3-credits)
- XXX A Relevant Production/Technology Course
- XXX General Elective
- XXX General Elective
- XXX General Elective

Students gain a foundational understanding of the field of Digital Humanities by asking important questions, and experimenting with how to address those questions by drawing on different knowledge domains ranging from science and technology to philosophy, the arts, and communication. Students will apply critical perspectives from the humanities and social sciences with hands-on exploration of digital methods such as augmented reality, story mapping, and text scraping to name only a few possibilities.

Prerequisites
Credits	1

In this course students are introduced to the language of film. Through a combination of lectures, screenings, readings, discussions, and film exercises, students will investigate the fundamentals of screenwriting, producing, directing, composition, sound design, and editing. Students will be exposed to documentary, narrative feature, short and web series, and experimental films from around the world representing different perspectives and experiences. They will explore the evolving landscape of production and the social impact of filmmaking.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Students use basic data analysis to find meaning in data through data cleaning, analysis and visualization. Students will learn Excel and other contemporary tools, spreadsheet manipulation, data cleaning and other data analytic techniques. Students will produce the kind of visual, written and verbal information that helps communicate results of data analysis to evaluate and optimize decision making.

Prerequisites	Complete 15 credits
Credits	3

Why go to college? What does it mean to be educated? In this course you'll begin to answer these questions. We'll explore the academic expectations of higher education, college as a diverse community, and the significance of education around the world. By examining how these issues are negotiated and implemented at Champlain and elsewhere, you'll gain perspective on your own education and a deeper understanding of the ways that the college experience can be both liberating and transformative.

Prerequisites	Take Cor-102 concurrently.
Credits	3

Inquiry is about learning how to ask the right kinds of questions, and figuring out how to answer those questions through discussion and reflection. This course introduces you to the types of inquiry necessary to succeed at Champlain and beyond. You will explore the intersections of reading, writing, and thinking by focusing on a specific topic or theme. You will approach that focus through the interrogation of relevant texts and analysis that draws upon multiple analytical frameworks. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take COR-101 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course will introduce students to database development, database design, Structured Query Language (SQL), and normalization. Students will learn how to collect and disseminate operational needs and translate those needs into a database design. Students will then transform their design into a physical database. They will insert, update, delete data. They will also transform data into useful organizational information.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Teaches a statistical approach to decision making under uncertainty. Topics are descriptive statistics, probability distributions, inferential statistics, confidence intervals, hypothesis testing, linear regression and correlation.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

What makes an argument good or bad? What counts as evidence in our post-truth world? How can you understand and assess the truth value of a claim when you're not an expert? In this course you'll learn rhetorical strategies about how to examine arguments and types of evidence in different disciplines and fields of study. To help learn these strategies, you will do close readings of texts from a variety of disciplines in the liberal arts and sciences, popular culture, and social media.

Prerequisites	Take COR-104 concurrently.
Credits	3

This course introduces you to interdisciplinary inquiry using applied, project-based, and/or experiential methods. Regardless of the specific course focus, you'll have opportunities for making and doing interdisciplinary knowledge creation through a variety of approaches and activities. You will collaborate with other students, iterate on ideas, and work to develop a project. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-one

Prerequisites	Take Cor-103 concurrently.
Credits	3

In the Digital Humanities Lab, students will learn how to research and tell stories about their lives, communities, and issues that matter to them by using combinations of data and digital tools. Students will engage in hands-on digital humanities projects that integrate their skills in design-thinking, deep inquiry, and cultural contexts with digital methods such as data visualization, digital mapping, archival curation, text mining, wearable computing, artificial intelligence, VR/AR, and digital media production.

Prerequisites	Take 30 credits
Credits	1

Students will learn the history and basics of computing as well as the fundamentals of Python programming. General topics include: the history of computing, number systems, Boolean logic, algorithm design and implementation, and modern computer organization. Programming topics include: memory and variables, data types, mathematical operations, basic file I/O, decision-making, repetitions, functions, and list basics.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Science holds an elevated place in society. The knowledge and meaning that science makes are seen as having a particular and special value. This course explores knowledge and meaning making in order to allow a thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, science as a way of knowing, and then engages with the methods and theories of the sciences themselves, to understand the analytical, creative, and generative possibilities of science.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

While each section of COR 202 addresses a different problem, issue, or topic, they all focus on interdisciplinary research. You will collect, analyze, and assess information from different disciplines in order to recognize patterns, contextualize arguments and synthesize ideas while collaborating on a project. Emphasis will be placed on helping you translate and apply what you learn about interdisciplinary research to other professional contexts. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Geospatial communication is a fundamental element of contemporary life. Students will explore the theory, method and application of spatial analysis and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for various applications, including environmental and social policy, public participation, cultural geography, education and public participation technology, and agent-space interaction. Through laboratory exercises and guided discussions, students will effectively ask and answer spatially-based social, environmental and technological questions to develop applied GIS and spatial analysis skills, critical geographic thinking and communication.

Prerequisites
Credits	3

Teaches the practical side of exploring, presenting, and analyzing data. Students will learn to effectively use a statistical software package to accomplish these tasks. After learning to graphically display data in meaningful ways, students will learn to analyze data, test claims, and make valid conclusions. These analyses will include hypothesis tests involving more than one sample, linear and multiple linear regressions, chi-squared tests of independence and goodness of fit, and ANOVA.

Prerequisites	MTH-180
Credits	3

Students will analyze data using Python programming language to obtain insights from real-world data sets. Students will access data files containing both numerical and categorical data, which they will prepare for analysis by data preprocessing, data wrangling, and data aggregation. Students will conduct statistical analysis, text analysis, and date/time series analysis, summarize their findings in a meaningful manner, and use visualization to illustrate patterns and trends in the data.

Prerequisites	Complete MTH-180 and any CSI introductory programming course
Credits	3

Culture impacts everything we do, experience, and learn, but what is culture? Where does it come from, how does it form, and why does it have such a wide and deep impact on people's lives? This course explores culture as a system of meaning and meaning-making in order to allow for a more thoughtful analysis of, and then engagement with, cultural texts and media using different methodological approaches.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

In this course, you will go in depth about a theoretical perspective that asks you to interrogate systems of power and power relationships. You will learn about the history of that perspective, including how it too was shaped by multiple contexts and compares with other viewpoints. You will use that perspective to analyze a specific topic, collection of texts, or cultural phenomena. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-two

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104.
Credits	3

Where we are shapes how we understand ourselves and each other. In this course, we will dig into the relationship between place and identity. We will learn how to think spatially, recognizing how one's identity is situated within and constructed through movement through different spaces--be they natural and built environments, rural and urban, or actual and virtual. COR 301 will help us understand the complex meanings of identity in a world defined by movement and change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Field methods are a collection of practices used in the sciences, arts, and humanities to understand phenomena in situ or as it is happening in a specific time and place. In this course, we will apply one or more field methods to research a topic, theme, or question that varies by section. We will learn practices associated with research in the field including but not limited to participant observation, data collection, and experimentation in order to navigate an uncontrolled environment. We will also examine the power dynamics between the researcher, informant, and subject matter to help us understand how, if not practiced ethically, field methods can create or reinforce biases rather than helping us learn with and make sense of the world around us. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

By learning from the past, we can make sense of the present and prepare for the future. In this course, we will learn how the 21st century has been and continues to be shaped by past social practices, ethical frameworks, power relations, and discourses. COR 303 is a course about how we know what we know about the past, and the ways different narratives about the past shape the present. Making connections between past and present will help us better understand how to live and make decisions in a globalized world defined by constant change.

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

Digital methods are widely used forms of inquiry that employ technological tools to interrogate research questions important to the humanities and sciences (including the social sciences). Some examples include digital archiving, data mining, and story mapping. In this course, we will use one or more digital methods or tools to research a topic, theme or question that varies by section, with the express purpose of critiquing and reflecting on its application. This includes an examination of the values, flaws, and impacts of the methods or tools we are using, paying particular attention to their ethical implications and power dynamics. For detailed descriptions of the individual sections of this course, cut and paste the following link into your browser: bit.ly/core-year-three

Prerequisites	Take COR-101, COR-102, COR-103, COR-104, COR-201, COR-202, COR-203, COR-204
Credits	3

The college capstone is an opportunity for students to pursue a self-directed experience in their professional program that intentionally integrates their liberal learning in the Core curriculum with their program learning. In addition to the substantive professional-based hands-on project in this class, the capstone will include a professional ethics component and a self-evaluation/self-reflection component.

Prerequisites	Must complete COR-310, COR-320, and two sections of COR-330 All Game majors (EGPR.BS, GDES.BS, GART.BS must also complete EGD-320 with a minimum grade of C.
Credits	5

Students will learn to conceive and create stories-fictional and non-fictional-for distribution through a network of media platforms, an approach known as transmedia storytelling. Drawing on the theoretical work of influential media scholars and on the applied work of leading transmedia storytellers, students will gain an understanding of transmedia storytelling as an emergent phenomenon that illuminates profound shifts in how contemporary audiences gather, consume, and even co-create content-and the implications for content producers working in myriad communications disciplines.

Prerequisites	Complete either COM-120, WRT-200 or WRT-220
Credits	3

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Curriculum for Digital Humanities

Digital Humanities Curriculum