A diverse group of history teachers from across the Czech Republic put Historiana to test over the last month, in a workshop organised by the Department of Education at the Institute for the Study of Totalitarian Regimes. The results are in: the teachers, regardless of their age and previous experience with digital teaching materials, all agreed that Historiana is a valuable pedagogical resource.
The teachers met online and worked independently to learn about Historiana, to acquaint themselves with what the platform offered, and to build their own lessons using Historiana materials. They then received feedback from the workshop leaders, revised their lesson plans, and finally came to an online meeting to share their finished works and reflect on their experiences in the workshop.
Example of an activity built with Historiana materials from a lesson plan called “There has already been enough silence” (Mlcění už bylo dost) by workshop participant Jana Sacherová, available here: https://historiana.eu/ea/view/1fc64be1-2b33-4fb1-bc49-326169493f13/analysing/bb_4.
Example of an activity built with Historiana materials from a lesson plan called “Why was this written?” (Proč to bylo zapsáno?) by workshop participant Pavel Votruba, available here: https://historiana.eu/ea/view/159d87fc-2406-48e3-8f98-5783418a0fac/text/bb_5.
Example of an activity built with Historiana materials from a lesson plan called “It’s not an advertisement like an advertisement” (Není reklama jako reklama) by workshop participant Jana Kindlová, available here: https://historiana.eu/ea/view/d43ec3e8-abfa-48c5-9858-165a35c74f86/text/bb_7.
Although some of the teachers arrived without having previously used online sources, the workshop leaders commented that the final works did not appear as though they came from first-time users. However, as the teachers reported, the technological learning curve did not operate entirely smoothly. It could be either due to obstacles they ran into when using the program, or merely because it took them longer than expected to find the sources they needed and build the lessons in an online space. Still, the end result was a rich collection of lesson plans aimed at Czech history students of all levels.
Overall, the workshop leaders were impressed by the creativity, commitment, and willingness to experiment of the teachers, many of whom have even tested out their lesson plans in the classroom. In the end, the teachers all said that they would use Historiana as a teaching resource in the future, on a monthly basis or even more regularly.
Do you want to host a training workshop on Historiana in your country or your language? Reach us at secretariat@euroclio.eu!
