History in the 21st Century Classroom

On Thursday July 22nd, I presented at the HTAV (History Teachers Association of Victoria annual conference) Here are some tools that were discussed for potential use in the History classroom. All these are free, except where otherwise stated. A backchannel will be opened so click on this link to chatzy, and you can discuss, ask questions, share further information etc and I shall answer the questions here, if not at the conference. Here is the link to my actual ppt presentation.

1. Twitter – Establish a fantastic personal learning network. You can than follow and be followed, share, discuss, learn from, etc with many others. Make sure you view the twitterfall below, which was the result of me asking my twittersphere to respond to my request to “say where they were from and to name the nearest historical feature to them.”
2. Flickr First need to register for a yahoo mail account. There is a free version which will let you have three sets or categories for photos but for small annual fee can have unlimited photos. Flickr allows you to upload photos, add a blog, notes and join groups
3. Wordle – create wonderful wordclouds
4. Voicethread –  a great example Talk to Boston Grade 2 – questions asked by year 2, Boston  USA to year 7 Australia students
5. Blog – ultranet, globalstudent/globalteacher/edublogs/blogger Some history teacher blogs Coachgorman and historytech
6. Wiki – wikispaces/wetpaint/pbwiki A good eg of a history class wiki
7. Skype – voice over internet protocol. Connect your class to the world. Enables txt chat/audio/file sharing/videoconferencing
8. Wallwisher:- Sticky notes on a wall for brainstorming, idea gathering, sharing resources etc
9. Slideshare: uploading ppt presentations on line, grab resultant code and can embed in blog/wiki/online spaces
10. iEtherpad:- Online public working space for groups up to 15 in number

Further notes:

Ideas for people to follow on twitter or tweets that gave ideas for history teachers:-

• @idocente Museum Box: provides the tools for you to build up an argument or description of an event, person or historical pe…
• From @Smadsenau suggests @MisterHistory
• From @buckinsand How about following @barackobama + @historychannel + http://bit.ly/cwmNMm +http://historicaltweets.com/
• @annabel_a
• @immigration_mv

Use a search engine to find any references that have not been linked. Try common craft for great tutorial videos on blogs, wikis, social networking.

If you are a history teacher, what else would you recommend to fellow teachers?

Twitterfall

rubyjeansmith @murcha Hi history teachers from Brisbane. The GABBA (‘historic’ if ur in to cricket!) 1:56 PM Jul 22nd

fishermclean @murcha Hello! Nearest landmark is Southland shopping centre! 1:52 PM Jul 22nd

LynetteBarr @murcha hello from skilled stadium Geelong! Surely a historical landmark Anne 🙂 1:51 PM Jul 22nd

soingirl @murcha Hi from Sointula, British Columbia, Canada. Barkerville, British Columbia – Main town of the Cariboo Gold Rush 1:45 PM Jul 22nd

ictev @murcha – check out historypin – http://bit.ly/bO31Ps via @czaxx 1:40 PM Jul 22nd

mbarrow @murcha hi from England. Nearest historical landmark is Hever Castle, family home of Anne Boleyn, one of Henry VIII’s wives 1:37 PM Jul 22nd

MmeVeilleux @murcha Hello from Richmond, proud host of the Olympic Oval (and an airport, blueberry fields and an A+ school district)! 1:33 PM Jul 22nd

kattekrab @murcha hello from Melbourne! The 8hr movement memorial statue stands at the corner of Swanston & Victoria sts. Exhibition bldg nearby too. 1:33 PM Jul 22nd

taniatorikova @murcha I’m assuming you don’t want to hear from someone in Melbourne

Imagine if you did this whilst you had your history class. So many triggers, so much learning could take place by researching the tweets.