Presentation given at the CALRG 2012 conference, Milton Keynes, UK - 19/20 June 2012. Book of abstracts available at http://tinyurl.com/calrg2012

1. Assessing informal learning:
a case study using
historical audio guides
Elizabeth FitzGerald, IET
(Nottingham castle on fire, courtesy of
www.picturethepast.org.uk)

2. Overview of the project
• Developed existing interest between local community
history group and academics in School of History at
University of Nottingham
• Investigated how located audio can be used to provide
opportunities for historical learning in public history
• Case study of the 1831 Reform Riot in
Nottingham, content initiated by the community group
• Conducted 2 types of guided walk:
– People-led
– Technology-led

3. What were we trying to find out?
• Can mobile technology be used to convey historical
empathy and learning of contested perspectives from
different historical sources, in an history walk format?
• Main questions to the participants in the walk:
– Who were the rioters?
– What motivated them to engage in their direct action?
• Academic research questions
– Historical focus
– Educational focus
– User experience

4. Historical research areas
1. Historical literacy concerning the Reform Riots in
Nottingham, asking: What happened in the period of the riots?
2. Historical empathy with the
people involved: What were
this period and these events Attaining historical literacy
like for different people?
3. Historical Experiencing ‘empathy’
with historical subjects
interpretation: how were
these events and their causes
Responding to
viewed from differing & evaluating
accounts from
and/or conflicting perspectives? a variety of
perspectives

5. Stages in the project
• Planning meeting [Sept/Oct 2010]
• People-led guided walk [Oct 2010]
• Recording of audio files [Jan 2011]
• Technology-led guided walk [Feb 2011]

6. Stage 1 – Planning meeting
• Route, narrative, source materials and handouts were
organised by members of People’s Histreh
• Emphasis on experiences and aspirations of ‘ordinary
people’ of Nottingham as starting point for understanding
the riots
• Self-directed ‘active learning’ – carried out intuitively
• ‘Learning by doing’
• Use the walk as a way of disseminating what they have
learned

9. Stage 2 – To the Castle! ‘people-led’ walk
(Images above courtesy of Indymedia
http://nottingham.indymedia.org/articles/510)

11. Stage 3 – Audio: recording and playback
• New audio files recorded by People’s Histreh
• Researcher acted as navigator/guide where needed
• Used ‘7scenes’ mobile app/website for playback of
geolocated audio when entering a ‘trigger’ region:
http://7scenes.com/scene/776506
• Failsafe – use mp3 files stored on the handheld device
with paper map

12. Stage 4 – To the Castle! ‘technology-led’ walk

13. Historical research areas
1. Historical literacy concerning the Reform Riots in
Nottingham, asking: What happened in the period of the riots?
2. Historical empathy with the
people involved: What were
this period and these events Attaining historical literacy
like for different people?
3. Historical Experiencing ‘empathy’
with historical subjects
interpretation: how were
these events and their causes
Responding to
viewed from differing & evaluating
accounts from
and/or conflicting perspectives? a variety of
perspectives

14. Main findings
• Difficult to draw comparisons between the two walks –
too many variables that could not be predicted or
controlled
• However, from analysis of the questionnaires, interviews
and researcher observations:
Showed evidence Showed evidence of Showed evidence of
of historical literacy historical empathy historical interpretation
People-led 70% 50% clear evidence, 10% clear evidence,
walk 20% partial evidence 30% partial evidence
(n=10)
Technology- 100% 67% clear evidence, 67% clear evidence,
led walk 33% partial evidence 33% partial evidence
(n=6)

15. What does this tell us? How is it useful?
• This framework can be used as explicit guidelines when
designing future walks (feedback to People’s Histreh)
• Can be used as questions to guide public engagement
with historical reference sources and data
• A way in which participants can reflect on what they’ve
heard on the tour and ask them to frame the content
with respect to particular themes
• Could be used more widely when considering informal
history learning – e.g. when engaging with other media
that teaches us about history
… but this IS work in progress so feedback / comments
are very welcome!

16. Thanks for listening…
Elizabeth FitzGerald, IET
e.j.fitzgerald@open.ac.uk
http://iet.open.ac.uk/e.j.fitzgerald
Other members of the project team:
Claire Taylor, School of History, University of Nottingham
Mike Craven, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham
People’s Histreh
http://peopleshistreh.wordpress.com
A massive thanks to all those who participated in the walks
and who gave us valuable feedback on this project, also to
Faye Taylor and Robert Jones who assisted in the research.