On constructive bewilderment: Using special collections material for teaching digital practices

Abstract

This paper outlines an example of Special Collections materials being used to support master's-level students' data and digital skills development. It evidences positive student learning outcomes through an unconventional interdepartmental collaboration between a digital media teaching team and Special Collections staff, which combined digital practices and tangible Special Collections material. This paper outlines the readings used for the course under review, the assignments used to evaluate students, student experiences of those assignments, and staff observations of student success and the logistics of course delivery. Findings show that in completing their assignments students (a) negotiated uncertainty; (b) increased understandings of data and digital methods; (c) embraced the lifeworlds of data; and (d) blurred the boundaries of analog and digital. More generally, this work finds that Special Collections material can be effectively used to support data and digital skills development, as well as help students gain broader understandings of digital contexts and media. Value is, however, dependent upon embracing uncertainty: something that universities tend to avoid. But, as is shown, staff and students alike can thrive in states of bewilderment.