Seek to learn on earth those truths which will remain ever valid in Heaven

Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus

Death by PowerPoint or Prezi? We have all sat through numerous mind-numbingly monotonous lectures on these platforms that where developed by persons with the artistic flare of a postmodernism artist. However, these platforms offers the teacher a powerful tool to aid the student in distilling the key points of a lecture for those who have not yet developed the skill of deciphering what information is pertinent enough to place in their notes. Additionally, a teacher can make the material on the slides as engaging as they wish by incorporating works of art, historical pictures, videos, animations, and old recordings. For those teachers who are bold enough to break the shackles of bondage to biased textbooks, these platforms offer a useful tool that serves as medium to convey the essential points of a lesson in an accessible and appealing manner.

Seterra is an excellent tool to help students discover and find their way around the world. The site is grand for fun days where groups of students get to demonstrate their geographical and environmental knowledge in a heated contest to win the coveted prize. The reward for the winning team is rare relic; the mystical homework pass. Students can also use the program to practice at home in preparation for exams. Within three weeks 7th graders who could not identify their own state on a map could locate all the nations of Europe prior to 1914 with many urban centres and a few major geographical features. When learning occurs in an engaging manner the lessons are retained for life, Seterra is a powerful tool in pursuit of that aim.

YouTube or Dailymotion’s History/Political channels are a great source for high quality history lectures by practicing historians. With that said, the trend towards censorship of politically incorrect content is most distressing and many of these channels have been targeted by these illiberal policies.

Despite the real threat to the free exchange of ideas, many of these channels like The Great War are professional productions that intertwine lecture with archival footage and are filled with personal stories of the people who lived through such extraordinary times. Making history tangible for students’ sets a blaze within them an unquenchable flame of curiosity that will burn for a lifetime.

Interactive historical websites like the Battlefield Trust offers concise historiography and detailed battle maps that make the history accessible. In that same thread sites like The National Archives, Founders’ Online, and Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello are also grand resources for student to read a historical actor’s voice in their own words that is not filtered through a secondary source. When assisting students in their thinking about the reasons behind a historical actor’s actions, one must understand what they intend, in their own words, then contrast that to their effects. Such notions are then flushed out through articulate discourse by asking the students to support or oppose the arguments made by historical actors.

Neatline is a plugin for Omeka that allows students to visually see what the surroundings of historical event as it would have appeared at the time it occurred. Neatline offers students a window into the past and often sets the atmosphere for a lecture. Of course, excellent story telling skills do not come with the plugin. The limits of technology…

---

Early impressions are hard to eradicate from the mind. When once wool has been dyed purple, who can restore it to its previous whiteness?

Eusebius Sophronius Hieronymus