Using Online Primary Sources to Foster Historical Thinking

Orna Farrell & James Brunton

orna.farrell@dcu.ie @orna_farrelljames.brunton@dcu.ie @DrJamesBrunton

• Background• Primary sources & history• Digital primary sources• Learning outcome etc….• “The History Lab” initiative

Outline

Background

•Open Education, NIDL, DCU•BA (Hons) Humanities, BA (Hons) Humanities (Psychology major), BA (Hons) English & History

•Flexible/off-campus learners •Six BA in Humanities history modules

Primary sources & history•History is the study and interpretation of the past, and engaging with primary sources is central to the development of authentic critical historical thinking. (Wineburg, 1999)

Digital primary sources• Last 30 years millions of primary sources have been digitized sheer

scale of sources material• Questions about source quality -challenging research environment for

learners• In Ireland commemoration of revolutionary period = large amount of

digitisation• National Library’s “1916 Digitisation Project” 90,000 images &

personal papers • Googles’ Dublin Rising 1916-2016

virtual tour https://dublinrising.withgoogle.com/welcome

Learning Outcomes

Thinking like a historian

Reismans (2012) study found that instruction with multiple documents increased students’ content retention and skills with sourcing

Wineburg (2008)”“How do we use new digital technologies not only to make sources more available, but also to cultivate skills that teach students to read and think about these sources in meaningful ways?”

Tally & Goldenberg (2005) found that “ using primary documents gives students a sense of the reality and complexity of the past”

Wineburg (1999) engaging with primary sources is central to the development of authentic critical historical thinking

The “The History Lab: Digital Research Skills” Initiative

• Modelled on Wineburg’s approach• Aim: support flexible/off-campus learners and

their development of research skills in the six BA in Humanities (Open Education) history modules

The History Lab:1. An interactive guide to online primary

sources2. An accompanying social bookmarking web

page3. An online tutorial to practise finding,

evaluating and using online primary sources

Interactive guide

•An interactive guide to online primary sources- a selection of 40 relevant resources in different topic areas/countries/time periods

•Made using Atavist- www.atavist.com

•Embedded videos, links, interactive tables, mobile ready

Online tutorial

• A series of online tutorials to practise finding, evaluating and using online primary sources

• Which incorporates supporting videos explaining how to use those resources

• which will encourage student visualisation of key concepts (Henderson et al, 2015)

• Produced usingcombination of Articulate Studio Camtasia and Youtube and

Social bookmarking- Diigo

•Encourage group collaboration

•making organizing and saving web resources faster and easier for students

•Can comment on other students' bookmarks, annotate and highlight interesting sections

•Create a learning community

What next?

•Try out the resources on students!•Collect feedback and improve/change

Thank You!

References

• http://www.storiesfrom1916.com/1916-easter-rising/home/• http://mountstreet1916.ie/• http://letters1916.maynoothuniversity.ie/• Reisman, Avishag. (2012). Reading Like a Historian: A Document-Based History Curriculum

Intervention in Urban High Schools. Cognition and Instruction, 30(1), 86–112.• Tally, Bill, & Goldenberg, Lauren. (2005). Fostering Historical Thinking With Digitized Primary

Sources. Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 38(1), 1–21.• Wineburg, Sam, & Martin, Daisy. (2008). Seeing Thinking on the Web. The History Teacher,

41(3), 305–319.• Henderson, M., Selwyn, N. & Aston, R. (2015) ‘What works and why? Student perceptions of

“useful” digital technology in university teaching and learning’, Studies in Higher Education.