The document discusses how to better utilize digital heritage resources in education. There is a large amount of digitized cultural artifacts but they are underused in classrooms. Ensuring resources are well-licensed, contextualized, high-quality, and discoverable can help educators incorporate them. Developing good educational tools and providing teacher training on digital skills and resources is also important to unlocking the potential of digital heritage in the classroom. The goal is to create an enabling environment where open content can be easily used to help students develop competencies through learning with digital cultural materials.

1. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
Making it visible within cultural
education
Steven Stegers, Programme Director
EUROCLIO – European Association of History Educators

2. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
There is a wealth of digital heritage
available
Artefacts, Maps,
Monuments,
Newspapers, Posters,
Photographs, Videos
National Library of France,
Public Domain
Stadtgeschichtlich
es Museum
Leipzig PL
52/187a, CC BY-
NC-SA
Tekniska Museet, CC
BY-NC-ND 2.5

3. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
So far, this access has not lead to the change
in education that you would expect
“Impact of technology on educational delivery remains
sub-optimal”,
Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education
and Skills OECD, September 2015
There is excellent educational use of digitised heritage,
but this is mainly done by committed and confident
educators who don’t mind taking risks and investing
extra time and this use is not mainstreamed.http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/9789264239555-en

4. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
Why is this the case? And what can be done to
unlock this potential?
These were central questions of a European-wide stakeholder
consultation done in 2014/2015 and the taskforce created in response
to the Europeana for Education and Learning policy
recommendations that resulted from this consultation.
pro.europeana.eu/publication/europeana-for-
education-policy-recommendations
The Europeana Taskforce for Education meets in
Warsaw in 2015 (CC-BY-SA, EUROCLIO)

5. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
Ensure that the collection are “fit for purpose”
in terms of education
This means that sources should
• Be licensed in a way that allows for educational use.
• Have enough contextual information to make sense
of the source.
• Be of sufficient quality to be able to look at those
details that matter.
• Have the potential for achieving certain learning
outcomes.
The last three criteria are subjective and need the
judgment of educators
A 1922 advertisement for Freed-Eisemann radios in Radio
World magazine. Each of the family members is wearing
its own earphone because the signal (received via a
Crystal receiver) is not strong enough to power
loudspeakers. All are exited to use this new technology.
(Public Domain, Radio World magazine, 1922)

6. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
Help educators find the resources that they
can use
This can be done by:
• Ensuring that the sources are relevant and of
high quality.
• Giving an idea to educators what resources are
available.
• Offering ways to explore parts of the collection
based on areas of interest.
If it takes too long for educators to find resources
they can use, they will opt out.
A rather disappointing top 10
search result for “Industrial
Revolution” in one portal with
open educational resources
Subject specific filters can help educators to find what
they are looking for more easily

7. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
Address the need for high quality educational
tools
“Low quality educational software and courseware” was
one of the obstacles identified in the OECD study (2015)
This means investing in digital tools that:
• Are free to use and easy to learn (by doing).
• Help students to acquire competences (instead of only
knowledge).
• Can be used in the language of instruction.
• Fit in the flow of teachers and students.
• Are reliable and remain available beyond the duration
of a project.
euroclio.eu/projects/innovating-history-education-for-all
Educators and web developers are working together on
the design of tools specific for history education in the
project “Innovating History Education for All”

8. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
Need for continued professional development on digital
tools and resources
The changing nature of both technology and education means that
it is need to invest in continued professional development
(including teacher trainers) to make best use of new technologies.
A classroom in 2007
CC0, Sandra Schoen
Steve Jobs introducing the iPad in 2010
Educators should be
supported with time and
resources to participate in
trainings.

9. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
An enabling environment for the educational re-use of
digital heritage
Open and relevant content
that is discoverable Easy to use tools to
acquire competences
European Data
Infrastructure as a platform
for cooperation
Competent and
confident educators
Quality learning by
students with digital
heritage

10. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu

11. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu

12. European Association of History Educators
www.euroclio.eu
How to make more and better use of digital heritage in
education?
Russel Tarr (International School of Toulouse)
[through teleconference]
Andrew Payne (UK National Archives)
Frida Starck Lindfors (Stockholmskallan)
Milena Popova (Europeana)
Alain Thillay (French Ministry of Education)