Presentation given and History UK plenary, Institute of Historical Research, London, 16th November 2013

1. Developing student learning online
in History: research, approaches and
their broader implications
Dr Jamie Wood
University of Lincoln
History UK, 16th November 2013
Digital T&L at Lincoln: http://makingdigitalhistory.co.uk
Twitter: @woodjamie99

2. This talk
1. Survey of e-learning
in History HE: student
and staff opinions
2. Digital literacy, active
online learning and
disciplinary identity
A. Social bookmarking
and the questioning
historian
B. Making Digital History
@ Lincoln

3. Part 1: e-learning in History HE
• 2012-13: survey and desk research of
staff and student experiences and
perceptions of e-learning in History
teaching
• HEA report, co-authored with Dr
Antonella Liuzzo Scorpo, University of
Lincoln

4. E-learning and History teaching survey
• What are benefits of elearning for student
learning and staff teaching
in History HE?
• What are the challenges
and drawbacks of elearning?

5. METHODOLOGY
• Survey (http://tinyurl.com/8kkz524) administered to 1st and
2nd year students at 5 UK History departments
– 38 students responded (11 x 1st years/ 27 x 2nd years)
– Mainly History, but also joint degrees
• Interview with 1 member of teaching staff at 5 UK History
departments

6. RESULTS (from students)
TYPES OF TECHNOLOGY USED
Virtual learning environments
37
Discussion boards
24
Video (YouTube etc.)
19
Audio (podcasts etc.)
12
Social networking (Facebook etc.)
8
Blogs
5
Collaborative document creation (Google docs etc.)
5
Document sharing (Dropbox etc.)
3
Wikis
2
Twitter
1
Photos (Flickr etc.)
1
Other
2

7. HOW IMPORTANT ARE TECHNOLOGIES TO YOUR LEARNING?
(between 1 and 10, where 1=not at all; 10=essential)
Frequency
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Rating (1-10)
8
9
10

8. WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT TECHNOLOGY
FOR LEARNING?
• Virtual learning environments (31
responses); used as:
– repository (21 responses)
– site for assessment and
feedback (5)
– means of communication (5)
– site for enhancing learning (3)
• YouTube/ online library
resources/ databases/ university
portal (2 responses each)

9. Reported uses of technology
Uses
Percentage of students
using technology for this
purpose
Looking up lecture slides and handouts
100
Communication with other students
55.3
Discussion
36.8
Communication with lecturers
31.6
Sharing materials with fellow students
and teachers
31.6
Constructing resources for myself or with
other students
18.4

10. Virtual learning environments:
benefits and drawbacks
Discussion boards are useful because
they make visible ‘the skills of other
students’
‘they also helped develop my interest and
independent inquiry around the subject, as
certain side topics were highlighted in the
lecture notes in that they were more featured’
‘with some modules, all readings were
provided on blackboard so improved ease of
access, and decreased the amount of time
wasted looking for them.’
Repositories ‘helped me to become
more independent as the access to the
slides meant that I did not necessarily
need to attend all lectures.’

11. YouTube provides access to ‘better
lectures’ and enhanced learning
‘tremendously’
‘The ability to hear historical speeches by
the original speechmaker, or to see
original newsreel clips is an essential part
of research of contemporary history.’
‘YouTube was more beneficial than writing
reams of notes or revision prep and even
attending lectures. The resources available on
YouTube are vast and specific. I could easily
find a video that was more specific if I want to
delve into a particular area of study.’

12. EXTENT TO WHICH TECHNOLOGIES ENHANCED
LEARNING IN FOLLOWING AREAS...
(students provided rating from 1-5: 1=not at all; 5=a great deal)
• Preparing for class: 4.26
(staff: 8.3/10)
• Preparing for assessment: 4.26
(6.6/10)
• Working independently: 4.05
(6.9/10)
• Reflecting on learning: 4.03
(5.9/10)
• Subject knowledge: 3.79
(6.9/10)
• Skills development: 3.03
(5.2/10)
• Collaborative working: 2.45
(3.1/10)

13. NEGATIVE IMPACTS
• Technical issues
• Too much reliance on repositories?
‘sort of dumbing down or levelling out
[...] these things might encourage a bit
more spoon-feeding’ (staff)
• Some skills not developed
‘hasn’t really developed skills that I
believe are essential part of uni
process. i.e. teamwork, discussion and
developing your own interest of study’
(student)

14. Staff perspectives: positive impacts?
• Enhancing communication due to (most) students’
familiarity with technology + expectations about use
• Improving engagement by (1) supporting students
intimidated by more conventional academic
environment; (2) enabling reticent students to
contribute outside class; (3) providing fora for
creating, sharing + commenting
• Increasing flexibility, independence + self-directed
learning as students can access materials away from
campus, aiding preparation, enabling students to
learn at their own pace
• Enriching the learning experience by providing access
to multimedia resources + reducing pressure on hardcopies

15. Staff perspectives: some warnings
• Students not necessarily ‘digital
natives’, esp. within discipline
• Researching using Internet is
challenging
• Over-reliance on e-learning can reduce
independence
• ‘Narrowing’ effect, esp. among L1 +
weaker students (VLE contains
‘everything’)
• Some resistance to learning +
interacting outside class

16. SUMMARY
• Virtual learning environments predominate and are
viewed positively by students and staff
• BUT danger of ‘miscommunication’
• Independent learning + research skills vs. access to resources
• Limiting features
• Consistency? ‘Getting all lecturers to embrace technology would be a step
forward’ (student)
• Staff AND students think that it doesn’t help much in certain areas (e.g. teamworking)
• Narrowing/ a closed body of knowledge? Esp. for weaker students perhaps
• Can promote transmission approaches (even when not intended)

17. Part 2: Digital literacy, active online
learning and disciplinary identity
• How to overcome some of shortcomings of
over-reliance on VLE?
– Use social media to facilitate engagement and
collaboration
– Design activities that require active work/ thinking
by students
= a constructivist approach, actually making stuff

18. Caveats
• Not about replacing classrooms with digital spaces
• Not about changing from developing historical
knowledge and skills to ‘generic’ skills and
knowledge
• Not about largely passive consumption of history
(so, no MOOCs)
• Is about considering how technology can enhance
student learning in/ about history as apprentice
historians
• Is about augmenting face-to-face time with online
work
• It is about doing and making history online

19. PART IIA: Social bookmarking and the
questioning historian

20. Social bookmarking
• Internet users manage
bookmarks of web pages online
(not an individual browser)
using tags/ descriptions, not
folders
• Active engagement – students
have to do something
• Online/ social element –
enables collaboration, sharing
and visibility
See Taha and Wood (2011) for more on this

21. •Diigo
education
edition
•Private, separ
ate logins
•Sharing
•Highlighting
•Sticky-noting

22. Basic weekly activity
• Students find online
resources relating to the
weekly topic
• Students ‘tag’, describe
and share resources
• Then post questions based
on reading to discussion
forum in diigo
• Resources + questions =
my seminar plan
• For some of resources see:
https://www.diigo.com/us
er/pagansxtians

23. Non-written sources
• Find and bookmark a nonwritten source (YouTube;
Flickr)
• In description, explain why
this source is relevant to the
seminar
But variety is key...
Locating and bookmarking source(s)
• Find and bookmark primary/
secondary source
• Add description and tags
Essay writing
• Respond to feedback on
essays by bookmarking a
relevant site
• Revise thesis statement
from first essay and post to
discussion forum
Highlighting
• Highlight and comment on relevant
sections of a pre-selected document
Questioning
• Post a (specific kind of) question based on
reading to the discussion forum
...otherwise it gets boring
See appendix to Wood, 2011, for more on this

24. What happened
• 19 students
• 147 posts to the forum
(over 11 seminars)
• 314 bookmarks, using
590 different tags

25. STUDENT FEEDBACK
1. Practical: for preparing
essays
2. Independence: enjoyed
opportunity to find
sources
3. Freedom: ‘There is
more freedom of
choice about what to
read’
4. Variety: ‘it is much
more interesting, and
because you are not
only reading, it is easier
to absorb information’.

26. Setting questions – 3 conceptions
By tutor: reassuring; makes sure what you are doing is
relevant + useful; student questions might not be
challenging enough; more likely to lead to a ‘good’
answer; helps with new areas of study
Mixture:
“A mixture is best to make sure key themes are not
overlooked by setting your own questions gets yourself
and others thinking more.”
By students:
“I like the fact that we've got to set our own questions as it
means that we focus on areas that I or other members of
the group are unsure about. I think I've learnt more from
it.”

27. LEARNING FROM OTHERS
• ‘it has been good to see what
other people have put and there
was probably more variation in
the questions than if the tutor
was to set them.’
• ‘it allows you to see a wider
range of issues that come up
from sources - some that you
may not even have thought
about.’
+ 12 out of 15 students felt that their research
skills had improved

28. POSING QUESTIONS AND SOURCES
• ‘it forces you to think
about the source material
and be analytical in
response to it’
• ‘it *…+ opens up the area
of reading to different
paths of thought.’
‘I used to prefer having the questions set for me but I think
it has been more useful setting them myself as it has made
me think about the reading more.’

29. • Models disciplinary
processes (= what
historians do)
– *+ it’s realistic and honest+
• Develops
– Disciplinary skills:
summarising; using
sources
– Knowledge: students have
to read AND think
– ‘Generic’ skills:
technology; information
literacy; research
For more on this see Wood, 2011 and Wood and Ryan, 2010

30. PART IIB: ‘MAKING DIGITAL HISTORY’
AT LINCOLN
• Enable students to make digital resources
using the Xerte online toolkit
– Online learning design tools have been
around for a while
– But they have generally been used to
present information to students in a linear
fashion
– Interactive elements are limited
– And not much room for ‘open’, student-led
activities

31. Generative learning objects
http://makingdigitalhistory.co.uk/resources/learning-design/generative-learningobjects-glos/

32. Xerte
• Online editor (not based on specific PC/ laptop) in which
users manipulate content
–
–
–
–
–
Text
Images
Video, audio
Questions and activities
From other online sources (e.g. YouTube, GoogleMaps)
• Many different page types, levels of activity and
presentation
• Possibility of collaborating (sharing, reviewing)
• Publishes online and generates code to enable embedding
– More information: http://www.xerte.org.uk/index.php?lang=en

33. Context
• Student as Producer
– Underpins T&L strategy at Lincoln
• http://studentasproducer.lincoln.ac.uk/
• Digital Literacies in the Disciplines
– Higher Education Academy
– Student as Partner approach
– Mandatory use of Xerte toolkit
• http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/resources/detail/learnin
gandtech/ELT-DLinD-SP

34. Making Digital History: students
as partners in online
learning, teaching and research
• Students learn by making Xerte learning objects that instruct
others about historical topics
• Based on independent research (group and individual)
• Replaces ‘traditional’ element of assessment
• Assessment criteria stress historical skills/ knowledge, not
‘bells and whistles’
• Adds variety + develops skills, esp. digital literacy
• Thinking about form of presentation/ audience/ register
• Summarising and explaining learning
For more see: http://makingdigitalhistory.co.uk

35. 5 modules
• Y1, Y2, MA
– East meets West: primary source report
– Representing the Past: student research questions
inform museum visit or analysis of a film
– Urban Life in Middle Ages: student defined
topic/question on a primary source
– Gender in 19th century Britain: primary source
analysis
– MA Research Methods (Medieval Studies):
reflection on previous research project

36. An example
• Friendship: Medieval Perspectives
• For more examples (student work coming
soon…!), see:
• http://makingdigitalhistory.co.uk/resources/learningdesign/xerte-gallery/

37. Concluding thoughts
• VLEs support learning and are viewed positively
• But remaining gaps may be addressed by
thinking more about online pedagogies and
technologies
– Active online learning and user-generated content
• Not about replacing the classroom, but about
augmenting it
– Also, develops useful skills and knowledge that are
NOT necessarily opposed to developing historical
skills and understanding
– …and it’s fun…

38. More about me
• http://staff.lincoln.ac.uk/jwood (homepage at Lincoln)
• http://ulincoln.academia.edu/JamieWood (L&T and
other presentations/ papers)
• jwood@lincoln.ac.uk (email)