Introduction to Digital Methods for the Humanities
Table of Contents
Course Overview
Introduction to Digital Methods for the Humanities will orient and train you in a wide variety of software tools and techniques that allow humanists and social scientists to ask new research and teaching questions and make new claims using data.
The course will:
- Provide an orientation to digital humanities and what that means in different disciplines.
- Introduce a variety of digital humanities projects and tools.
- Teach skills related to command line functions and text analysis.
Audiences for this course include scholars, librarians and archivists, museum curators, and other professionals who want to showcase a body of work for academic or public purposes using digital tools of analysis.
Grading & Certification
This course has two types of assignments: practice and homework.
Practice questions are worth 70% of the final grade: These questions appear in lessons 1, 2, and 3 and are indicated in the course outline as practice. These questions are visible to everyone.
Homework questions are worth 30% of the final grade: These questions appear in lessons 4 and 5 and are indicated in the course outline as homework. These questions are only visible to learners who are pursuing a certificate of completion.
A Note about Grading
The edX platform will count your score on all graded assignments as a 0 until you work through each one within each lesson in the course. For example, a perfect score on Lesson 1 will still leave you with a very low score in the course because all of the other graded assignments are registered as a 0. Keep working through the assignments and you will see your score improve.
Passing the course, and certification
The passing grade for this course is 60% (using the weights above).
If you register for a Verified Certificate, and your score is 60% or above, you will receive a certificate in electronic form. Certificates are not mailed to you. Instead, you can generate them on your Progress page.
Guidelines For Collaboration
We encourage class participants to collaborate on assignments! And in fact, that's one of the main goals of this course: to show you that digital humanities work is collaborative! But be sure you learn how to do the assignments yourself, and please do not post solutions to discussion forums.
- It is OK to discuss or work jointly to develop a general approach to an assignment.
- It is OK to get a hint from peers or course staff if you get stuck on an assignment.
- You should work out the details of assignments yourself.
- It is not OK to copy someone else's solution.
- It is not OK to post answers to a problem.
- It is not OK to look at a full step-by-step solution for the purpose of submitting an answer.
Honor Code
HarvardX requires individuals who enroll in its courses on edX to abide by the terms of the edX honor code. HarvardX will take appropriate corrective action in response to violations of the edX honor code, which may include dismissal from the HarvardX course; revocation of any certificates received for the HarvardX course; or other remedies as circumstances warrant. No refunds will be issued in the case of corrective action for such violations. Enrollees who are taking HarvardX courses as part of another program will also be governed by the academic policies of those programs.
Discussion Forums
We encourage you to use the course Discussion Forum! It has many uses, and we'll prompt you to participate throughout the course.
Some good uses of the Discussion Forum:
- Asking questions about course content and assignments.
- Collaborating appropriately on assignments.
- Contacting course staff.
- Starting discussions related to course content.
- Commenting on course content, including giving the instructors feedback, disagreeing with us, or suggesting improvements.
Our discussion forum guidelines
- Be polite and encouraging.
- Work together and work independently.
- Post hints rather than answers. If you're not sure where to draw the line, follow the collaboration guidelines.
- You can and should discuss questions, consider possibilities, and ask for hints.
- You should not request or give out answers, even answers that you know are wrong.
- Use your vote. If you agree with what someone says, don't write a post. Just click the plus button!
- Tag your posts. If there is an issue that absolutely needs staff attention, put the word [STAFF] in brackets in your subject line. Course staff will be in the forums every day, but it may take up to two days to get a response sometimes, especially around holidays.
Nondiscrimination/Anti-harassment statement
Harvard University and HarvardX are committed to maintaining a safe and healthy educational and work environment in which no member of the community is excluded from participation in, denied the benefits of, or subjected to discrimination or harassment in our program. All members of the HarvardX community are expected to abide by Harvard policies on nondiscrimination, including sexual harassment, and the edX Terms of Service. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact harvardx@harvard.edu and/or report your experience through the edX contact form.
Research
By registering as an online learner in our open online courses, you are also participating in research intended to enhance HarvardX's instructional offerings as well as the quality of learning and related sciences worldwide. In the interest of research, you may be exposed to some variations in the course materials. HarvardX does not use learner data for any purpose beyond the University's stated missions of education and research. For purposes of research, we may share information we collect from online learning activities, including Personally Identifiable Information, with researchers beyond Harvard. However, your Personally Identifiable Information will only be shared as permitted by applicable law, will be limited to what is necessary to perform the research, and will be subject to an agreement to protect the data. We may also share with the public or third parties aggregated information that does not personally identify you. Similarly, any research findings will be reported at the aggregate level and will not expose your personal identity.
Please read the edX Privacy Policy for more information regarding the processing, transmission, and use of data collected through the edX platform. You can find out more about our research at the HarvardX Research center.