It seems tedious to discuss all the classes I’ve taught over the last twenty years; instead, this page briefly describes a few of the courses that best represent my idiosyncratic teaching style.
Core Digital History Courses (History Dept, University of Toronto)
These two courses have been my most consistent pedagogical focus for the past decade; they are the best examples of my idiosyncratic approach to teaching digital methods and programmings kills to humanities students.
An introduction to methods and problems in digital history with an emphasis on hands-on coding experiences and practical projects. Students learn basic web development skills alongside critical perspectives on digital media and historiography; in the last portion of the course, they apply these new skills to a series of historical projects.
Intended primarily for graduates of HIS393, this course offers students the opportunity to work together on a substantial web project, usually in collaboration with a community partner. Topics for 2021 have not yet been determined.
“Immersive” Experiential Education (Various Programs, University of Toronto)
Over the last half-decade I have explored a pedagogical interest in immersive experiences and their relationship to humanities learning, especially critical awareness. Often in collaboration with Frances Garrett,
Approaches to the study of river cultures, ranging from archaeology to sociology. The course is organized around a weekend excursion to the Madawaska River in the unceded Algonquin territory. where students participate in a canoe trip down the moderate (Class II+) whitewater section of the Lower Madawaska.
Each year from 2016-2019, Frances Garrett and I co-led a trip to the Indian Himalayan state of Sikkim, usually involving a long hike in the vicinity of Khangchendzonga, the third-highest mountain in the world. Students participated in teaching projects in local schools & collaborations with local NGO’s, while also learning about local ecological and cultural systems.
Full list of courses taught (some without links)
Unless otherwise noted, courses have been taught at the University of Toronto St. George Campus. With the exceptions of WDW235/6 and HIS241, all courses were developed by myself, or in a few cases with a collaborator.
- “Senior Thesis Seminar” (2020) History Department. Methods class for senior thesis students in the History Department.
- “The Current Plague” (2020) Woodsworth College. Capstone class in Digital Humanities with a focus on pandemic disease in history.
- “Maps and History” (2020). History Department. A social and cultural history of cartographic ideas/practice; final project is a born-digital map-based research paper.
- “Introduction to Digital Humanities” and “Virtual Worlds”. (2018-2021). Woodsworth College. Core courses in the Digital humanities minor on the St. George campus.
- “Hacking History” (2010-2021) and “Digital History” (2012-20). Woodsworth College. 2-course sequence teaching digital humanities methods to history students (“Digital History”) and applying them to a public-facing history project in collaboration with a community partner (“Hacking History”).
- “Wild Waters” (2017-18). Department for the Study of Religion (2017) and New College (2018). Two-part sequence on the history and culture of rivers, with a strong emphasis on outdoor education, including a 2-day canoe trip on the Madawaska River.
- “Himalayan Borderlands” (2017). Department for the Study of Religion. Study Abroad course focused on the history and culture of Sikkim, India, with outdoor and community service components.
- “Religion and Science” (2015-2017). Department for the Study of Religion. Greatest hits in religion and science, with efforts to decentre Christianity from the usual narrative.
- “Science, Technology and Modernity”, later “Becoming Modern” ( 2003-2007, 2019). History Department. A cultural history of science and technology from the French Revolution to the early Twentieth Century.
- “Encounters with Sikkim” (2016) student trip to Sikkim, India. History Department. Experiential learning initiative in Himalayan India.
- “Culture and Technology I & II” (2013-16). Faculty of Information. Core courses in the “Culture and Technology” stream of the Masters of Information programme.
- “Learning Without Borders: Digital Technology and Society” (2012-17). New College. Key issues in technology and society, in a course format organized around building writing and research skills.
- “Europe in the Nineteenth Century” (2001-2006). Department of History. Large survey class in modern European History.
- “Foucault, History and the Pursuit of Truth” (Graduate Seminar, 2004-2005). History Department. Historiographic introduction to the work and influence of Michel Foucault.
- “The Globalization of Science” (Spring 2004-07). Institute for History and Philosophy of Science. Introduction to the history of globalization as seen through the history of science and technology.
- “Science, Environment, and Crisis” (Fall 2002). Institute for History and Philosophy of Science. A history of environmental science organized around ideas of ecological crisis from the early nineteenth to the late twentieth century.
- “Natural Science and Social Issues” (Spring 2002). Institute for History and Philosophy of Science. “Science and society” greatest hits.
- “Science, Technology and the Body” (Spring 1999). Graduate Seminar, Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University. Theoretical seminar with a focus on theories of corporeality.
- “Computers and Information from Babbage to the Present” (Fall 1998). Science and Technology Studies, Cornell University. History of Computing.
