The format of these unconferences makes it almost impossible to come away from them not energized, but I was especially glad to see that the discussion of pedagogy and DH ran throughout THATCamp LAC; it’s a conversation that I think still hasn’t happened enough.  As practitioners in a continually burgeoning field, we’ve spent a lot of time trying to define what DH is – from innumerable blog posts (this older one has a good conversation in the comments) to “The Past and Future of Digital Humanities” at MLA.  Though there’s very little across the board agreement on what DH essentially is, the dictum of “doing” almost universally rears its head.

The “Less Yack, More Hack” paradigm makes good sense to make the field more robust, but I always thought that slogan ran the danger of being a disservice to DH.  It’s understandable to spend some time avoiding high theory (which may have run its course anyway), but the danger was that we wouldn’t talk theoretically at all – about where the field should go, what issues may arise in the near future, and most importantly – to me – how we would communicate and use the field and its products in the classroom.

No doubt we’ve driven towards the pedagogy discussion; Katherine Harris has largely summed up efforts in a post-MLA 2011 piece, and surely conversations of various sizes are taking place all around the community (and please post in the comments if you have some good specific examples).  But the conversation seems to be really gaining steam from within major DH channels.  THATCamp LAC ended its run with two great sessions on teaching with tech, and DH pedagogy will be well-represented at MLA 2012.

I’m glad to see the fervor of DH in general being whipped into pedagogy as well; communicating our field to administrators and institutions is important, of course, but reaching the next generation effectively will keep this whole crazy train rolling in years to come.  It seems, then, that THATCamp Pedagogy couldn’t be better timed, well-positioned between THATCamp LAC and MLA.  I’ll be there will bells on, and presenting a Bootcamp on novice learners, cognition, and best practices when teaching with technology in general.  It will be great if we have a wide variety of  attendees who can spread the energy to our students.