What's a Historian to do

We're working on a new website for Canada's History and I've spent the afternoon working on our New Research section. Academic research - understanding it, writing it, finding it - needs to be a part of high school history classes. It' s just not acceptable that young students should graduate from high school with no real sense of what historians do at the academic level.

But here in lies my frustration. I've been reading the Canadian Historical Review and a great article about Gender and Class in early Montreal by historian Elise Chenier. It's a really interesting piece that I think would be even more interesting given the emphasis on volunteering for high school students. It examines how young elite women moved from debutant balls and high society to more engagement in "volunteering" as economic times deteriorated.

Of course, I've been reading it through my account as a former student at the University of Western Ontario. I also am on campus at the University of Winnipeg so I could read it here in the library. But for the average high school teacher, where are you supposed to go to download a copy of this article. Worst of all, the University of Toronto Press charges $13 to get a PDF of the article. An annual subscription only costs $60 and it is just not reasonable to expect the general public to pay at that level for individual articles.

It's a frustrating experience for those who believe that academic history had an important place in high schools, in particular challenging students and encouraging them to study history at the university level. What's a historian or teacher to do?

Teaching Canada's History

Tomorrow Canada's History Society is launching Teaching Canada's History, a special publication of The Beaver: Canada's History Magazine. The magazine explores how Canada's best teachers and educators are sharing the history of our country with young people.

We have terrific features including Peter Seixas discussing historical thinking, Catherine Duquette looking at controversies in the classroom, Eric Langhorst using technology to spark learning, Anne Tenning on the importance of teaching about residential schools, Rose Fine-Meyer on Local History, and Blake Seward on Remembrance in Canada. We also had wonderful contributions from Joe Stafford, Helen Raptis, Charles Hou, and Vicky Lapointe.

What I'm most excited about is the inclusion of links within the print version of the magazine. Many people have put print publications online, but they always lack the interactivity of a website. We jumped ahead by bolding words in the text and tagging images in the print version, letting readers know what else can be accessed through the print version.

Teachers are a really difficult group to crack and we've tried to create an extremely high value product that is uniquely shareable. Selling a lot of teachers magazines is always going to be a challenge, but we hope that by reaching the largest audience possible, this will also support sales on newstands and through our website. It's got the portability of print with the interactivity of a digital magazine.

For the last six months this project has been my main focus. It has been an extreme pleasure and honour to work with these talented educators and the editorial staff at the Beaver magazine to make this project work. A special note of thank you as well to James Gillespie, who has put together an incredible magazine with a terrific look and feel.

Please take a look through the issue and let us know what you think! I'll have lots more to say about the magazine in the coming days and weeks ahead.

Thinking in Mind

Any day you find a new blogger focusing on history and digital media is a great day. So yesterday was a lot of fun unpacking Thinking in Mind, a history and digital media blog from Neil Stephenson. Neil is a grade 6 and 7 teacher in Calgary, Alberta.

It's wonderful to have a Canadian example of the great work that can be done with History and new media. Please take a look at the Cigar Box Project his students are working on which sounds like lots of fun. I also really liked this program Glogster. You can find Neil's assignment for using it to create historical timelines.

Really fun work and enjoyed learning about these projects a lot. I've added Thinking in Mind to my blog roll and the famous history teachers who blog section.

Finally discovering Twitter

I tried to twitter a few months ago. I really did and it just didn't work out and I let it go. But I find I'm running into it more and more often and so this week I went back and tried it again. Just a quick note that we all struggle at times with picking up a new tech.

Twitter is a micro-blog - everything you can say in only 140 words (see the common craft video for the full explanation). For all those things that you want to ask but aren't worth creating an email for. My second go around has been a bit more successful and I'm not following a handful of educators that I also follow through blogs. The main reason for my success if downloading and installing Twhirl so that I can get updates from people I follow right as they come in.

I actually think Twitter could be of real value in the classroom but it will take brave teachers to put it to good use. There are already some great posts about using Twitter in the Classroom. But one thing that I would be really interested to see is giving students the opportunity to run a discussion during a lecture. If you have ever attended an online workshop, there is usually a comments or questions bar at the side with running commentary.

Why not run a Twitter feed that students can watch. If you were really brave you could even project it at the front of the class so students could follow along. If you were less brave you could simply have one student or assistant monitor the feed for key questions and thoughts. It's another way to add participation which is always needed.

I can see why Twitter wouldn't necessarily function well for teachers - it's hard to follow a feed while you are teaching, but a great way to keep in touch with students and larger community of educators. I'm going to keep playing around and working on it here.

Forward Capture: A History with Value

Forward Capture is a project created by the Center for History and New Media and the National Council on Public History in the United States. Together they are soliciting thoughts from public historians on where the future of public history. It's a great example of creating opportunities to participate in a larger sharing of knowledge and the results will form the backbone of a larger presentation at the NCPH annual meeting in April 2009.

If you haven't yet done so please make your own contribution to the site. I've posted my own entry below that tries to tackle the issue of value and history which I think is really important. And fortunately if you read my blog, occasionally, you will know that I don't normally talk like I'm staring into the sky.

The Future of Public History:

Public Historians that embrace history, and history that embraces public historians.

The future of public history is a future where history has value and is valued. For history to be important in society is has to have some value – whether it tells someone about their own personal past, the society they live in, or the events that they face. Public Historians need to serve as gatherers and aggregators, using skill sets developed through sound research and analysis, to share the value of the work done by academic and local historians with an audience of informed and interested citizens.

A field that encourages high school students to study history, encourages graduates to take history programs in college and university, and encourages university and college graduates to continue working in the field – whether through academia, education, museums, archives or publications.

A modern inviting history that is urban and edgy in style and content. Content and presentation should be fresh and bold, that utilizes the style already relevant in other fields.

A participatory history that invites each citizen to provide their own story. Together these stories provide details and life while also illuminating the larger patterns that historians research each and every day. A public history that embraces the ability of new technology, life forward capture has, to include, invite, and reshape the role of the historian.

Meet the Teachers

Each year Canada's National History Society presents the Governor General's Awards for Excellence in Teaching Canadian History. Last year we piloted a new program to record interviews with our recipients and share them with a wider audience. 

The results were positive and this year we have improved the quality significantly. Meeting and sharing ideas seems so key to the online experience and it just shows how easy it has become to share the work of these tremendous teachers.

Rather than reading a bio, we now have the opportunity to step into the classroom and meet the teachers, to see their projects and personalities shine through. There are six video's in total, but I posted Mike Ward's below. Reading about his project of creating a table with a settler community is one thing, but seeing it in action is totally different. Each of the videos brings that life forward.

A special thanks to our videographer Jayson Go for his help with each of the videos.

Also a thank you to Philip Ling, Shephanie Ha, and Geoff Ives, in Ottawa who did a great job on a short timeline helping with the video interview of Jean-Pierre Frigon.

History of America Tour: The Mill City Museum

About a week ago I ventured down into the heart of America down to the great state of Kansas. Along the way I we stopped at a number of historic sites and museums. It was a fun chance not only to visit some new place and learn a bit of history, but to see some new and original projects.

One of the first stops along the way was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minneapolis is actually a terrific city with a surprising amount of things happening (sorry Minneapolis we had low expectations going in). It's got great art galleries, theaters, and of course, museums. We stopped at the Mill City Museum in the downtown.

Now the history of flour milling might not sound all that exciting, but there are definitely some great projects happening here. The Museum itself is built into the preserved ruins of the Washburn A Mill. Aside from being a great piece of architecture and preservation, they offer an excellent and smart little history of the city in 19 minutes that is quite well done.

But most impressive is the Flour Tower. Rather than producing a regular exhibit with displays set in place, they moved the exhibit into the former grain elevator. You step on and ride the elevator between floors, where the doors open into each display area. The story follows all parts of the milling process and is narrated with first hand accounts of what it was like to work in the factory as you travel between floors.

It's a terrific way to take an otherwise quite static exhibit and make it engaging and interesting.

If you do only one project next year....

I know the summer is kicking in but if you happen to drift into thinking about next year here is the one project you should do in your classroom - Google SketchUp.

I'm not an expert on the program, but essentially Google SketchUp allows you to create 3d buildings which can then be placed on the map in Google Earth. Imagine in your classroom creating 3d models of your historic community.

The actual technical work of Google Sketch Up is pretty straightforward and the historical research required to recreate and measure a building would bring in lots of interesting primary sources. Imagine a well documented building with first hand accounts, letters, and documents detailing every part of the building. And best of the program to do that project is already fully functional.

Google has also posted selections from it's recent Google Sketch Up basecamp (sadly I was not drawn to participate). Spend the summer getting used to the program and then clean up at the local Heritage Fair when your students present 3d models instead of outdated power point presentations.

Regina Public Library goes Web 2.0

There are not a lot of organizations in Canada really pushing the edge of what you can do with web 2.0. So that's why I was so excited to find that a hot bed of work is being done at the Regina Public Library.

Not only are they on Facebook with a pretty sharp looking page, but they are also on Flickr with great sets of images available for use in the classroom. They even have a nice little RSS feed and Blog on Prairie History with updates on new books and events.

If your in Regina stay close to these guys, they are setting the bar and moving some great fun projects forward. Well done!

Ciclovia

The June/July issue of The Beaver features a story on the origins of Oil development in Petrolia, Ontario. Between this article and the first two hours of There will be Blood that I managed to catch on a flight, I've been thinking a lot lately about how much society has changed in the last 100 years and home much a culture of oil has been a part of that.

That's why I find Ciclovia and the work of StreetFilms so interesting. They have hundreds of videos online about the wonderful transformation that has taken place in Bogota, Columbia. Millions of people of each week cycle, walk, and enjoy thousands of miles of roads. It's a bit like looking into the future at what a world without oil might look like.

Certainly it's the type of community that I would like to live in. It's not really a digital history project but a great online video collection for social science teachers, especially those teaching World Issues.

A Healthy Learning Environment

A major study in Canada was released this week documenting rates of child obesity and the amount of time Canadian kids are spending in front of televisions and computers. Kids today are bombarded with so many types of online media that I think it raises some really important questions if we are going to go down the digital history road.

Integrating technology into the classroom to better engage with students is a great way to encourage learning. But this should not come at the expense of health, creativity, and imagination.

I think the challenge for educators using technology in the classroom, whether it be for history or any other subject, is to be as precise as possible. Precision requires educators to only pull out technology when it clearly has an impact and makes a difference to students ability to learn. Building a house takes many tools and computers are just one of them.

At times I'm sure on this blog I sound as though I would be using technology all the time in a classroom. But I really believe that any classroom needs a balanced approach. It may come as a shock but I don't think that technology is the be and end all of teaching.

What we want to do if shift students away from technology time that is not helpful to learning - power point I'm looking in your direction. Students spending less time on poor online learning practices, means more face time in the real world and more time doing creative digital history projects. And for everyone that is a healthy learning environment - both real and digital.

Sad chapter of Canadian history

TheStar.com | columnists | Sad chapter of Canadian history

When I first heard about the Out from Under exhibit last spring I was really excited. Here is an interesting and engaging exhibit about an emotional and real issue.

The team at the Ryerson School of Disability Studies has done a fantastic job putting the exhibit together. It displayed last year at an abilities art festival and was so well received they were offered the opportunity to display this spring (April-July) at the Royal Ontario Museum.

It's a huge success and I think a really significant moment for historians in Canada. I think it demonstrates a real need for further research and study into the unique field of early abilities activists.

They have also done a great job putting together some podcasts which are available on the ROM's website and through iTunes. I've always considered podcasts as a great way to reach the visually impaired - in particular many aging Beaver magazine readers.

What they have done for this exhibit is provide a full podcast describing the exhibit (which is really worth the full listen) and a full video podcast that provides sign language for with hearing impediments. They have also provided large print pdf editions and written transcripts.

Not just in research, but in action, this exhibit is coming out from under.

Quebec 400 goes digital

The Beaver magazine is launching it's special double issue celebrating the 400th anniversary of Quebec. As a special feature it also marks the first podcasts that we have noted in the magazine and suggested visiting our Website.

If you visit thebeaver.ca you can listen to two interviews. Marianna O'Gallagher is the author of Children of the Famine and Denys Delâge is the author of Allies Malgre Eux, both articles in the special edition. The magazine is also being published in both French and English.

Check out the previous post for all the info on creating podcasts.

Podcasting for the Beaver

This week the Beaver launches it's first podcast interview. The interview was conducted with Joyce Glasner about her story on the Halifax Explosion.

We started with our trusty USB microphone that we had purchased previously (about $40). To conduct the interview we downloaded Skype, an online phone that works through your Internet connection. Phoning from one computer to the another with Skype is actually free, and you can order minutes to phone out to regular land lines. We ordered $15 worth of minutes which works out to several hours of phoning time.

Once we downloaded Skype, we downloaded Hot Recorder (for those of us on PCs) and Call Recorder (for the Mac users in our editorial department). Both programs run about $15 to download and will record the calls as they come in. Now that you have a record, you just need to edit it using Audacity, your free audio editing software mentioned here before.

Instant podcasting that within one morning had us downloaded, set up, and ready to go. Special thanks to several websites that help us find the programs we needed as well like Hot Recorder and Call Recorder.

To post our podcast online we used Podbean, and online podcast host that will help you get started for free and if you really get going you can upgrade to professional accounts afterwards.





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And you can now hear the first ever Beaver podcast interview conducted by Kristen Fry with Joyce Glasner. Keep an eye out for more podcasts as these interviews become a regular feature with The Beaver magazine.

*** Special thanks to Joyce Glasner who is an incredibly passionate historian and whose moving stories made our first Podcast extremely easy.

PB Presentation WIKI

The History Society has been on the road for the last few weeks presenting at the Nova Scotia SSTA, OHASSTA and the Teachers Institute on Canadian Parliamentary Democracy in Ottawa. It has been great to have an opportunity to meet teachers face to face and talk about Canada's National History Society and the fun digital projects that we are trying to get started.

To try and make things more exciting, we are experimenting with using a Wiki this year for our presentation. You can find our presentation Wiki at digitalhistory.pbwiki.com. If we are going to encourage teachers to use digital programs in their classroom, then the least we should do it use them ourselves in our presentations and projects.

I want to also stress the non-linear nature of the Wiki and what that means for historians. Critical thinking is about moving away from a linear view of the past towards something far greater and engaging. A Wiki gives students the opportunity to see how things are interconnected by linking material through different pages. You can also easily integrate other online programs to make your presentation more engaging.

I admit using a Wiki for a presentation is a bit unorthodox, but everyone has to start somewhere. As more teachers hopefully start their own classroom Wiki's we will have more examples to share with educators.

Paul Keery's Podcast Presentation

At OHASSTA this year I had the opportunity to attend Paul Keery's presentation on Podcasting in the classroom. Paul has been at it a while now and has put together an impressive package of results. He has also generously provided a copy of his powerpoint presentation and examples of student work on his website.

I would strongly suggest taking a moment to check out his website and his material. He also has a fun classroom website going as well. One of the real benefits to these conferences is the opportunity to meet fellow educators working on digital history projects. It's great to have a real example of classroom success. I'm also adding a link to all of Paul's material on the sidebar.

Keep up the great work Paul!