My name is Erica Fleming, and I am new to incorporating digital methods into my teaching.

I am also a Lecturer in English here at Penn State teaching in the Program in Writing and Rhetoric.

I teach students how to write effectively and persuasively in their various fields, and I love my job. In addition, I am a member of the team creating a set of workshops that will (hopefully) lead to a Digital Liberal Arts (DLA) minor here at Penn State.

I know what you’re thinking: why is a rookie helping create DLA workshops? That’s a great question.

Last year, I participated in a series of workshops with Teaching and Learning with Technology called BlendLT. It was an incredible learning experience that resulted in a complete overhaul of my Business Writing class, incorporating online components to my traditionally residential class. If you are interested in more specifics about this program, you can read about it in this article I wrote for the English Department lecturer’s blog.

The BlendLT program was an amazing professional development opportunity, but also sparked my interest in new and varied ways to incorporate technology into my writing classroom. Incorporating digital pedagogy is so important to me (not to mention relevant to my students), so when the team at the Office of Digital Pedagogy and Scholarship asked if I would help teach other faculty about blended learning, I jumped at the chance. These workshops will serve multiple purposes: to train faculty in blended learning strategies, but also to teach them about the Digital Liberal Arts, and hopefully incorporate a DLA assignment into their classes.

While redesigning my course allowed me to explore new ways to incorporate technology into my teaching, it also inspired me to continue researching and learning the many ways that digital tools can aid both my teaching and my students’ learning. As I learn about digital methods available to liberal arts faculty, I will share my experiences and how these tools are relevant to my work.

If you already incorporate digital tools into your courses, these posts will offer insight into how a novice approaches them; if you are a rookie like me, maybe these posts will inspire you to experiment with DLA tools in your classrooms as well.

I spoke with Aaron Mauro (director of the Digital Humanities Lab at Penn State Behrend, as well as co-chair of the Digital Liberal Arts minor at PSU main campus) about where I should start on this exploration. His suggestions included:

  • Voyant: a web-based reading and analysis environment for digital texts
  • Juxta Commons: compares and collates versions of the same textual work
  • Palladio: visualizes complex historical data
  • RAWGraphs: makes visual representations of complex data

He suggested Voyant as a good starting place. In my next “Erica Learns…” post, I plan to explore its uses and applications to my own field.

If you currently use any of these tools – or have a favorite DLA tool that you use in your classrooms or research – please let us know! We’d love to hear from experienced Liberal Arts faculty, and I am excited to explore other options.