Institutes
We have completed our funding of these projects in the Digital Bridges grant. This page is still available for informational purposes, but we are no longer seeking applications for these partnerships.
Digital Bridges Summer Institutes
During each of the four summers of the grant, we convened a Summer Institute for faculty, staff, and graduate students from Grinnell College and The University of Iowa to explore a major theme, beginning with a focus on digital pedagogy. In the context of the Institutes, participants had the opportunity to explore technologies and to build teams and projects from the connections they made with colleagues. These Institutes laid the foundation for future collaborations by engaging faculty and students in the shared work of learning new technologies and ways of working together. Each Institute was co-planned by a pair of faculty members from Grinnell and UI and involved faculty participants from both institutions, with graduate students, undergraduate students, and staff also welcome to participate.
The Summer Institutes took place following the end of the spring academic semester and lasted one week. The Institutes generally alternated between the two campuses. The 2018 Institute was at the University of Iowa. In spring 2018, a formal call for participation was sent to all eligible faculty at both campuses. A total of twenty participants were selected. The Summer Institute was designed to allow participants to focus for a week on developing skills and concepts that underlie the digital liberal arts and humanities. The Institutes were co-led by the Principal Investigators on the two campuses.
The Summer Institutes allowed participants from Grinnell College and The University of Iowa to build a shared understanding of current theories, practices and technologies that comprise the diverse field of digital humanities.
Summer Institute participants were expected to:
- be willing and able to attend the entire week of the Institute
- come to the Institute with a particular course and project in mind
- apply the ideas and technologies presented during the Institute to their project
- plan to attend a reunion in the fall to present their progress on the project
- anticipate receiving support from the grant as they continue to develop the project
Note: Faculty may attend more than one Summer Institute, though preference may be given to new applicants.
2015 Summer Institute
Digital Tools for Undergraduate Pedagogy
To learn more about the topics covered during this first Institute as well as the presenters and participants, please click here.
2016 Summer Institute
Making Meaning with Data in the Humanities and Social Sciences
To learn more about the topics covered during this Institute as well as the presenters and participants, please click here.
2017 Summer Institute
The Power of Digital Storytelling: Lights, Camera, Image, Sound, Scripts
In 2017, we partnered with StoryCenter for a workshop on digital storytelling. StoryCenter staff brought their expertise to Iowa City May 30-June 3, 2017. The organization has an impressive history of working with colleges, universities, and public partners, especially organizations where the work focuses on equity and social justice. To describe StoryCenter’s work using their own language: “We create spaces for transforming lives and communities, through the acts of listening to and sharing stories. Since 1993, we have partnered with organizations around the world on projects in StoryWork, digital storytelling, and other forms of digital media production. Our selection of public workshops supports individuals in creating and sharing stories.”
The Institute included a two-day “Snapshot Workshop” designed for digital story-telling in higher education and public-facing humanities scholarship and teaching. Through the week, participants learned to transform scholarship into stories as they experimented with script writing, the use of image, voiceover recording, and editing. The goal was for everyone to leave with a digital story developed from beginning through online publication.
To learn more about the topics covered during this Institute as well as the presenters and participants, please click here.
2018 Summer Institute
The Power of Digital Storytelling: Lights, Camera, Image, Sound, Scripts
Building on the success of 2017’s DBSI, Digital Bridges again partnered with StoryCenter for a workshop on multimedia storytelling. The Institute was held May 29-June 2, 2018 on the University of Iowa campus. As in 2017, the institute included a two-day “Snapshot Workshop” and guided participants through the process of transforming scholarship into digital stories.
To learn more about the topics covered during this Institute as well as the presenters and participants, please click here.