The Blended History Classroom

Keeping The Student Central

Abstract

     The use of educational technology to enhance the teaching of the humanities might seem a bit unnatural. However, even practitioners of a discipline that relies on examination of archives and artifacts can benefit from the use of modern tools in and outside the classroom. These tools include "clickers," podcasts, and web tools such as blogs and wikis. If any or all of these terms sound like a foreign language, rest assured that we will define each in turn. Whether used during class or study time, each of the above examples of educational technology has much to offer history teachers who seek to enhance student-centered learning. Clickers, podcasts, blogs, and wikis are all technologies that can be used to improve student preparation, to inspire critical discussion of historical evidence, and to capture student ideas for future reflection long after the completion of the class session.
     Before discussing these technologies further, a few definitions and examples are in order. Clickers, or remote control devices, are more often found in math and science classrooms as a means of measuring whether students correctly understand concepts. The most common version of a clicker is a numerical keypad that allows a student to select from a variety of answers to a multiple choice question, usually projected on a screen as a PowerPoint slide. Once students have "voted" on the answer, the percentage of votes for each answer appears graphically on the screen, providing the teacher with feedback on student comprehension and students with feedback about how their answers compared to those of classmates. This information, as we will see, helps the teacher direct subsequent discussions.