Content area
[...]despite the prominence of periodical studies over the past twenty years, few teaching texts emphasize the periodical origins of the selections they anthologize.5 One way that we have addressed the absence of pedagogical resources for the study of periodical literature is through class trips to archives and assignments that require students to develop a familiarity with both the digital collections of periodical literature (such as the Database of Victorian Periodical Poetry) and the periodicals housed in special collections. [...]we have designed assignments that push our third- and fourth-year Victorian literature students (some English majors and some not) even further, asking them to create supplementary resources for the Database of Victorian Periodical Poetry through wiki entries (Ehnes) and requiring students to produce digital resources that highlight the relationship between the periodical press and the novels and nonfiction essays included on the syllabus (Hingston). "14 These numbers indicate that we must teach periodical verse in order to give students a complete and complex understanding of Victorian poetry. [...]when I taught a Victorian poetry course in 2012, I made a concerted effort to include periodical literature on my syllabus. [...]students felt comfortable bringing their own interests and backgrounds to their research and occasionally sought sources and topics beyond those suggested by the assignment outline. Students would receive my assistance and help each other troubleshoot immediate problems, thus reinforcing the sense of a collaborative learning environment. [...]I would describe the digital learning outcomes explicitly in the assignment description, for as Beetham suggests, "if such capabilities do not appear in the intended- and assessed-outcomes, learners may not see digital technology as an integral part of their experience.