The Digital Historian Project
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The Digital Historian Project is designed as an authentic experiential learning opportunity that brings students from three secondary schools in the Upper Grand District School Board each day to an entirely new learning environment – the Dufferin County Museum and Archives (DCMA).
The project vertically integrates the curriculum of four senior level courses: Grade 12 Data Management Math, Grade 12 Canadian History, Grade 11 Native Studies, and Grade 12 Interdisciplinary Studies) that allows students to do deep archival research, gathering data to develop statistical analysis of history patterns, with a focus on 20th century veterans in Canadian conflicts. There is a particular focus on digital literacy with all student course material and assignments completed using the D2L platform.
Designed as a “Math/History Hybrid”, the Digital Historian Project (DHP) creates an innovative “academic pathway” for senior students who desire an experiential learning opportunity that marries deep archival research/ critical inquiry with statistical analysis skills. Foremost in the design, is the emphasis on the student as an ‘active citizen’, who exemplifies the essential characteristics as defined in the 2015 Revised Canada & World Studies Senior Level document.
Unique in Canada, the DHP is taught “in situ” at the DCMA, utilizing teachers from both the Museum and School to create a partnership that promotes a blended learning environment between the ‘authentic & the virtual.’
Key Learning Opportunities at the DCMA
The DCMA is a rich learning environment which invites the DHP students into an authentic 19th Century Orange Lodge, outfitted with Fibre Optic Hubs and a dedicated wifi system. This sets the tone for robust learning opportunities, directed by teachers, but enhanced by daily contact with Museum & Archival experts. The DHP is designed entirely on the D2L Platform, utilizing the Cloud for daily tasks. Discrete summatives in Math introduce students to the essential skills of statistical analysis and probabilities, while summatives in History and Native Studies promote inferential mastery in the use of primary documents and artifacts.
Working with our external partners at the Archives of Ontario, Library & Canada (LAC) and the Juno Beach Centre, ‘hands-on’ demonstrations of student learning are presented using Google Docs/Spreadsheets & Slides to create entirely ‘virtual’ portfolios as summative work.
Students regularly complete formative work as well, which generally consist of Discussion Posts/ Blogs/ Twitter Posts and YouTube Lessons.
The DCMA also provides a robust variety of learning opportunities within the Museum community - creating digital displays / designing virtual exhibits, as well as assisting Museum Staff with weekly Museum tours/educational programs and community events.
Assessment & Evaluation of Student Learning
Assessment as/of & for learning is conducted by the teachers of the DHP. All assessment is completed by way of rich and detailed feedback utilizing the Cloud & the D2L Platform. Much effort is given to providing meaningful observations by the DCMA Staff, as well.
Students are provided with regular opportunities to post on a discussion ‘board’ and encouraged to respond to one-another in constructive and purposeful ways. In this way, intention is given to acquiring appropriate ‘student-voice’ for assessment. Students are also instructed on the importance of monitoring their own grades through the use of the “Grade-Book” function on the D2L, with an eye to ensuring that students become ‘self-advocates’ in the learning and responsible partners in their assessment.
All summative evaluation is conducted by the teachers of the DHP utilizing the D2L “Dropbox” feature. Summatives are designed to be ‘cross-curricular’ in nature, reflecting the ‘vertical integration’ design of the Digital Historian Project. Rich critical-inquiry tasks challenge students to draw inferential understandings from each of the programs in the DHP and demand both a rigorous written component as well as a presentation element - all done on the Cloud.
Discrete rubrics are used as evaluation instruments for each summative and contain ‘museum-based’ criteria among all the other essential ‘look-fors.’ Mastery targets have been developed and a healthy selection of exemplars to guide student learning.
An overview of the ‘virtual’ learning experience
Right from its inception, the DHP was designed to create a ‘virtual learning environment.’ Using the ‘flipped-classroom’ model, the DHP provides each student with their own Laptop, dedicated licenses for use of external links (ie. Ancestry.ca) and private access to the DCMA intranet and Database of thousands of primary documents. Students are presented with weekly “enduring understandings” and “essential questions” to both provoke and stimulate critical thought.
All course-work, learning tasks, mastery targets, exemplars, discussion posts, blogs & summative assignments are presented on the D2L Platform and permit the students to ‘create content’ of their own design. Consequently, students spend as much as 90% of their semester in the ‘virtual space’, and use class-time for collaboration and practice of their analytical skills.
Students utilize their teachers as resources and facilitators, as much as they do instructors. By emphasizing mastery targets, students are permitted many attempts to achieve ‘mastery’ and maximize student achievement.
Summative projects such as: The Canada Case / History Mystery / Veteran Biographies / Statistical Profiling are all completed as ‘virtual exhibits’ for both the Museum community and the DHP. While students must present all of their findings to both their peers and the Museum experts, they have (by that point) already received many opportunities for ‘academic nourishment’ along the way.
Suggested Resources:
VETERAN RESEARCH
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DuffStuff – When you are starting to collect information about a Veteran, this is the first place you should go. Sometimes there will be links to outside resources.
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Log-in: DCMA Reading Room
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Password: Reading2
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Library and Archives Canada - Our National Archives is in the process of digitalizing many of their collections. They have databases available for public viewing online including:
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MILITARY WWI Databases
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WWI courts-martial
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WWI Service Files, Royal Canadian Navy
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WWI Soldiers – CEF
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WWI War Diaries Service Files of the Second World War – War Dead 1939-1947 - You will have to fill in a request form and send it away. It could take several months to receive an answer. Locating and contacting a family member who is willing to share information the best way to get information and save yourself time and money.
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Second World War: 1939-1945
GENEAOLOGY AND FAMILY HISTORY
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Censuses (up to 1911)
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Immigration (includes Home Children databases)
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Commonwealth War Graves Commission - If you know that your Veteran died during the war, visit this site to locate information about their burial such as the name of the cemetery, plot, and row. Sometimes knowing where they are buried can help identify which battle in which they were killed.
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Ancestry.ca - Try signing up for a 14 days trial. That should be long enough to collect what you need. The museum has an account, but we have run into problems, so it is best to get your own. Ancestry has the 1921 census, plus so many other databases and a powerful search engine, so it is worth it!
OTHER RECOMMENDED SITES
For a DEMO of the DHP, click HERE. USERNAME: teacherdemoX PASSWORD: teacherX
LESSON RESOURCES: (Click on the link)
Rubric