In a recent report, “the edgeless university: why higher education must embrace technology” author Peter Bradwell compares universities to Robert Lang’s study of sprawling urban areas that produce “cities in function . . . but not in form.” Bradwell locates technology at the heart of the edgeless sprawl of higher education:

The internet, social networks, collaborative online tools that allow people to work together more easily and open access to content are both the cause of change for universities, and a tool with which they can respond.

Digital tools and resources enhance collaborative networks and partnerships, break down disciplinary boundaries, link institutions, connect universities with the public, and create new possibilities for both learning and research. However, the recent John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation report on digital media and “The Future of Learning” suggests that change is slow in coming:

Modes of learning have changed dramatically over the past two decades—our sources of information, the ways we exchange and interact with information, how information informs and shapes us. But our schools—how we teach, where we teach, who we teach, who teaches, who administers, and who services—have changed mostly around the edges.

At the same time, the Kettering Foundation here in Ohio has joined with others to call for new ways to imagine the relationship between higher education and public practice. Consider the potential for digital humanities in regards to the goals for public scholarship laid out in theImagining America initiative:

Scholarly and creative work jointly planned and carried out by university and community partners;

Intellectual work that produces a public good;

Artistic, critical, and historical work that contributes to public debates;

Efforts to expand the place of public scholarship in higher education itself, including the development of new programs and research on the successes of such efforts.

How do digital humanities enhance opportunities for public scholarship? What promising new pedagogies integrate civic engagement with learning? How can we expand on opportunities for both collaborative and self-directed learning that engages these goals? How can we assess these learning experiences? What new qualities or values regarding learning emerge from the practice of digital humanities? Should we take advantage of digital resources and tools to offer collaborative humanities learning opportunities across institutions?

I look forward to exploring ways to understand the significance of digital humanities for both public scholarship and learning.