Opportunities, constraints, and challenges of digital pedagogy: The case of Digital History, AUCA

This presentation shares the experiences of Aijamal Sarybaeva, Assistant Professor of History, and Daniyar Karabaev, Assistant Professor of Linguistics, AUCA, about teaching Digital History at American University of Central Asia. This course was an excellent opportunity for instructors to assess their philosophy and practices of meaningful teaching and learning of Central Asian history in the digital era. This is significant for scholarship and pedagogy in Kyrgyzstan, as Digital History, as a discipline, is still in its infancy in Central Asia. It has been an attempt to rethink the ways history can be taught, researched, presented, and examined.

The presentation also explains what digital tools were used and rationale for their use. It was a project based course during which students initiated many interesting projects. Students became the active agents of the learning and research processes. It also allowed them to become the creators of digital and historical content.

The presentation contains the following information:

• Goals of the course and its outcomes
• Examples of successful and original student projects
• Challenges of incorporating DH courses and DH assignments at the curricular level
• Collaboration with the AUCA Library and Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology in course implementation
• Long-term plans to establish Digital Humanities Lab on the basis of the Digital Cultures concentration of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Department, AUCA