Lately we have been witnessing a proliferation of studies on digital literature and art in general. These studies have mostly discussed the ways digital media influence human relations and create new genres of art (Landow 1994; Lunenfeld 1999; Hayles 2002) and novel forms of literature (Bolter 1991; Aarseth 1997; Douglas 2000; Ryan 2001; Simanowski 2002; Heibach 2003; Block, Heibach and Wenz 2004; Gendolla and Schäfer 2007; Funkhouser 2007; Hayles 2008). Although these books offer helpful insights into terminological and aesthetic queries in this field, they somewhat lack the discussion on “the educational and pedagogical impact of digital literature and the institutional aspects of its incorporation into existing curricula” (Simanowski, Schäfer and Gendolla, 2010: 9). Since the academic studies related to the close reading of specific works of digital literature and its teaching practice have been rather obscure, this presentation represents an attempt to offer a perspective on pedagogical concerns, institutional features and methods available to teach digital literature in the university setting. Thus the concrete theoretical aspect of this presentation is related to the selection of a particular methodological approach to digital literature to be used in university course teaching. Apart from other critical insights, this approach is mainly to be formed by the appreciation, discussion and application of ideas from Simanowski, Schäfer and Gendolla’s study Reading Moving Letters: Digital Literature in Research and Teaching. A Handbook (2010). These theoretical notions serve as a basis for the practical aspect of the research, which is to devise a detailed weekly syllabus for the new MA course “Digital Forms of Literature", with a concrete list of digital literature works to be studied in class, specific methodological framework to be applied in teaching and broad suggestions for further reading. Being completely aware of the complexity of this academic venture, it is my idea to offer in this talk a rather provisional outline of the mentioned course, which is to be developed through the future study. Thus, the second part of the presentation is to be understood as a beginner’s stage in this elaborate research. It mostly, but not solely, takes into consideration Jessica Pressman’s teaching practice and experience – in particular, her two-week seminar titled Global Digital Literature: Histories, Theories, Methods delivered at Harvard University’s Institute for World Literature in 2023.

Key words: digital literature, university course teaching, pedagogical concerns, institutional features, available methods, teaching practice, methodological framework.