Making the Old New Again: History and the Millennium Learner Dr Paul Sendziuk School of History and Politics The University of Adelaide

Workshop Overview High school history reflected in university students student attributes and deficiencies Digital Natives vs. Digital Immigrants History on film Threshold concepts Avoiding repetition - making the ‘old’ new again

Student Attributes and Deficiencies Good: analysis of images; images as ‘text’’

Student Attributes and Deficiencies Good: analysis of images; image as ‘text’ Not-so-good: chronology and context Good: recognition of historians’ biases Not-so-good: understanding or articulating how/why bias occurs Good: understanding value of ‘primary sources’ of evidence Not-so-good: finding and using primary sources Not-so-good: political history... ‘it’s boring!’

Political History http://www.urvoting.com/index.php?title=History+and+the+Millennium+Learner

Digital Natives? ‘Digital Natives’ - born after 1980 computers an extension of self Wikipedia replaces library; screen replaces paper double clicks and flash animations replace attention spans... ‘Digital Immigrants’ – the rest of us!  brains ‘wired differently’ (Prensky, 2001)

T&L Formats: Student Perceptions Students rank 4 different tutorial styles against each other, 1 to 4 large (entire) class discussions small group discussions role-play online threaded discussions (i.e. discussion board) 2008 evaluation n = 75 students

NB: remember that over 20% of students rated ‘role-play’ as the most enjoyable format

History on Film Use of film to teach and learn about history remains more influential than other ICT-based methods (ICT = information & computer technology) Is film an effective medium to convey history? Can the roles of film-maker and historian be effectively combined? Are there characteristics of the film-making process (such as the need to attract a wide audience to justify the production costs), which compromise the integrity of the story (i.e. history)?

Threshold Concepts The past as a foreign country... History is relevant... History as guide for solving present-day dilemmas: Asian and Muslim migrants saying ‘sorry’ and making appropriate reparations treaty asylum-seeker policy nuclear past, nuclear future

Avoiding Repetition by Making the Old New Again Students bored and discouraged by repetition of topics – new National History Curriculum designed to limit (if not eliminate) Need to find new ways to tell old stories; or find deeper significance of stories long overlooked... Revel in the quirky and not-so-trivial