e-help Seminar 29 Beyond the History Classroom
Toulouse 8-10 June 2006
The
web
is
changing
The
web
is
changing;
we
are
now
in
the
age
of
the
‘read
write’
web
or
‘web
2.0’.
There
is
a
shift
in
emphasis
towards
the
web
being
an
interactive
space
where
knowledge
is
shared,
argued
over,
and
added
to
dialectically.
Unlike
the
“information
silos”
of
the
past,
the
latest
generation
of
web
services,
such
as
blogs,
podcasts,
and
wikis,
are
built
through
collaboration
and
information
sharing.
In
my
presentation
I
tried
to
explain
how
my
colleagues
and
I
have
been
using
these
services
to
extend
and
improve
their
students’
learning
of
history.
What is ICT in the history
classroom for?
Christine Counsell in the editorial to Teaching History 101 suggested
that teachers must ask “what is ICT in the history classroom for?”.
As a number of contributors to that edition stressed, the use of ICT
needs to be driven by history: ‘ICT is the tool, and not the master’
as Atkin put it. Counsell suggested that the benefit of ICT is not just
in motivation, or ‘speeding up’ of tasks. Rather, she suggested that
ICT should be used to clear the way (reducing some effort) for students
to engage in higher level thinking (increasing effort).
For some time, history teachers have been using the internet to
encourage students to engage in discussions about history. Wilson and
Scott wrote in 2003 about a role play looking at appeasement which had
been conducted through e-mails between two classes at different schools.
This, they suggested, was primarily “a speaking and listening
activity” with the technology providing “spontaneity” and a
“sense of reality”. At the same time, Thomas and Cole were using
online message boards as a place to encourage their sixth form students
to engage in historical debates. For a broad range of students their
work allowed “real engagement, and…genuine pleasure in learning’
to develop.
What is ICT beyond the history classroom for?
I suggested that the question that we needed to ask had now changed: we
should be thinking about what ICT can offer beyond the history
classroom. I warned the associates and members that as soon as a teacher
thinks about this question, there is an explosion of buzz words from
senior management as they see the opportunity for distance learning and
franchises. Neither my seminar, nor this article really considered the
wider debate about this. Indeed, I suggested that there was no need to
as there was a strong history rationale for using these new
technologies. ICT, I argued, now offers a great opportunity to engage
students in meaningful dialogue about history in, and beyond, the
history classroom.
What is podcasting and how can I do it?
In this section of my presentation I explained what a podcast was: an
audio file on the web, that can be subscribed to so that it downloads
automatically onto computers, portable music players and phones. I
hopefully showed that it was relatively straight forward to record and
edit these files using a free program such as ‘audacity’.
These files could be placed on the web as a useful resource. I explained
that to enable people to subscribe it was necessary to have a blog (with
rss feed). I explained thtat at www.ilovehistory.co.uk
I used a wordpress blog with the podcast feed being created by a website
called www.feedburner.com
I also recommended reading Doug Belshaw’s detailed guide at http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/index.php/...dcasting-part1/
Problems and possibilities
Finally, I suggested that although I was proud of what I had achieved in
a short space of time at www.ilovehistory.co.uk, it was ultimately very
limited. Having argued for this new technology as a means for engaging
students in dialogue I had produced a very didactic, teacher expert,
pupil passive resource. I recognized this problem, and linked it to
similar problems with the use of teacher led class blogs, which
frequently just reinforce this traditional model. I suggested that the
solution lay in:
Student created podcasts which are
then published as the students prepare for their final exams;
Student created podcasts which are
then published as the students prepare for their final exams;
Student created podcasts which are
then published as the students prepare for their final exams;
The use of comment functions to allow
students to comment on and assess each others work;
Class wikis, to involve the students
in independent research, shared work, and possibly awareness of
interpretations.
One thing I didn’t mention, as it was very
much preaching to the converted, was the use of these new technologies
by teachers. It has been suggested that “interactions are perhaps the
single most important element” in informing professional practice.
Away from the knockabout banter of the TES forums, there are real
opportunities for European teachers to engage in meaningful dialogue
with a global network of educators. The wonderful discussions that I had
at Toulouse, and on the forums before and after it are a testament to
that. In this way, for both pupils and teachers, these technologies are
offering new opportunities for discussion in, and beyond, the history
classroom.
______________________
1 Taken from ‘Wikipedia’ at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0
on 6/04/06
2 Ibid.
3 Christine Counsell Editorial Teaching History 101 (2000) Historical
Association, London p2
4 Alf Wilkinson ‘Computer’s don’t bite! Your first tentative steps
in using ICT in the history classroom’ Teaching History 101 (2000)
Historical Association, London p.17 – 23; Dave Atkin ‘How do I
improve my use of ICT? Put history first!’ Teaching History 99 (2000)
Historical Association, London 42 – 49; Jayne Prior and Peter D. John
‘From anecdote to argument: using the word processor to connect
knowledge and opinion through revelatory writing’ Teaching History 101
(2000) Historical Association, London p.31-34
5 Op cit.
6 Maggie Wilson and Heather Scott “’You be Britain and I’ll be
Germany…’ Inter-school e-mailing in Year 9” Teaching History 110
(2003) Historical Association, London p32-35
7 Denise Thompson and Nathan J. S. Cole ‘Keeping the kids on
message… one school’s attempt at helping sixth form students to
engage in historical debate using ICT’ Teaching History 113 (2003)
Historical Association, London 38 - 43
8 Simon Letman ‘Engaging with each other: how interactions between
teachers inform professional practice’ Teaching History 118 (2005)
Historical Association, London 13 – 16
9 Excellent examples of this include www.schoolhistory.co.uk/forum
and the http://educationforum.ipbhost.com
education forum.
