Teaching Digital Literature within a “Research and Teaching Partnership” in a Transatlantic Blended Learning Environment

This paper outlines the practices of teaching digital literature at the University of Siegen in Germany where Peter Gendolla and Joergen Schaefer taught courses on literature in computer-based media for students of both Literary and Media Studies. This paper thus provides an historical synopsis of the didactical transformations the teaching practices have undergone as well as an overview of the University’s profile and its focus on research and teaching literary studies. In 2007, the classroom moved online and held a class transatlantically in cooperation with Roberto Simanowski (Brown University/Providence, RI, USA). The online course approached an experimental Blended Learning concept. The paper introduces the methodological concept of the class “Digital Aesthetics” and discusses using Online Communication Systems in the context of the course of studies: Net Literature.