Navigating this Guide

This Instructor’s Guide is split into three sections: Theory, Practice, and Assignment Guides

In the Theory section, we’ve provided an introduction to DHSS in your classroom, a description of the project that contributed to this Guide, an outline of the pedagogical commitments that frame this work, and other resources and readings to support further study of DHSS.

In the Practice section, we’ve identified six steps for incorporating DHSS into your teaching practice: Choosing an  assignment, selecting appropriate materials, exploring examples with your students, providing clear expectations, engaging in the work, and assessing final products. In this section there is also a list of DHSS tools that may be helpful for your practice and an essay by historian Denise Challenger reflecting on using DHSS into non-DHSS course.

In our Assignment Guides section, we’ve provided nine unique Assignment Guides for different DHSS assignments. These written are in a narrative, rather than didactic style, to introduce assignments or activities, such as creating an archive, exhibit, oral history digital story, metadata, map of primary sources, proof of an argument, transcribed and visualized document, or a historical or public education-style image analysis. In this section we have also provided links to other DHSS assignments.

To navigate this Pressbook, you can read linearly by clicking the arrows to the right or you can click “Contents” on the top left of each page to skip around to the areas that best suit your needs.

Our expectation is that a reader will jump around to find bits and pieces to suit their thinking. As such, this Guide has many links amongst the different sections to help you read through different lines of thinking.