James Baker outlines his approach to integrating digital skills into history curriculum at the University of Sussex. He proposes a two-part course for first year history students, with the autumn term focusing on basic digital history skills like searching, organizing, and archiving sources. The spring term would build on this with more advanced topics such as data modeling, visualization, and making digital historical datasets. Baker emphasizes learning through practical peer activities focused on primary sources. His experience shows this hands-on approach helps manage large classes and engages students by relating digital skills to historical practice.

1. Digital History in the student
learning experience
James Baker
Senior Lecturer in Digital History and
Archives
@j_w_baker
james.baker@sussex.ac.uk
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2. @j_w_baker james.baker@sussex.ac.uk
Scenario
Because you are new and fresh and young(ish), you've been
given the (vague) task “making the curriculum 'digital’”
You aren't making a new module rather adapting what exists
(so the learning outcomes remain historical)
There is no commitment to changing assessments or
assessment patterns
The person asking for 'digital' skills doesn't know what they
are but has a sense of their relevance/importance

3. @j_w_baker james.baker@sussex.ac.uk
Scenario
Working in on your table (6 minutes)
•Reorganise a list on things to teach into the order you think
they should be taught
•Justify your ordering
•Make additions: things you think the students also need.
Working in pairs of tables (8 minutes)
•Discuss you orderings, justifications, and new items
•Reorder, add new things
Working all together (10 minutes)
•Review our work

4. @j_w_baker james.baker@sussex.ac.uk
Sussex History 2018/19
Autumn – Doing History in the Digital Age
1. What is History
2. Reading History
3. Writing History
4. Referencing History
6. Library
7. Searching for History
8. Interfaces to History
9. Archiving History
10. Organising History
11. Sources of History
12. Review
- 1 hour per week
- Part of Y1 Module 'Early Modern World'
- Module is core for all History students
- Timetabled in lecture slot
- Skills assessed in ‘normal’ history essays
- Get into digital through history skills
- Primary sources as point of focus
- Tie to Early Modern lectures/seminars
- 'Lectures' super practical
- Peer learning exercises
- Combination of laptop and paper work
- Students work together, share laptops
- Bring their own but don't have to

5. @j_w_baker james.baker@sussex.ac.uk
Sussex History 2018/19
Spring – Doing Digital History
1. Data Modelling
2. Making historical data I (theory)
3. Making historical data II (practice: getting)
4. Digitising historical data I (theory)
5. Digitising historical data II (practice)
6. Critiquing historical data
7. Visualising historical data I (theory)
8. Visualising historical data II (practice: graphs)
9. Visualising historical data III (practice: maps)
10. Storing and preserving historical data
11. What is Digital History?
- 1 hour per week
- Part of Y1 Module
'Making of the Modern
World'
- Core module
- Lecture slot
- Skills assessed in
‘normal’ history essays
- Primary sources
- Modern World focus
- 'Lectures' practical
- Peer learning
- Laptops
- Multi-week themes
- Build dataset in Weeks
3 and 6 that they use
throughout

6. @j_w_baker james.baker@sussex.ac.uk
Headline findings after 3 years!
Students like practical
Peer learning helps manage mass practicals
Students like learning about history
Primary sources are a perfect hook
Students like learning about historical practice
Students dislike titles that look like maths/stats
Students have hugely varying skill levels
Paper is your friend
You learn a huge amount about the assumptions
students (and colleagues) make about ‘digital’
and ‘skills’.

7. @j_w_baker james.baker@sussex.ac.uk
Headline findings after 3 years!
Just like everything else (perhaps even more
so) digital/skills tasks need to be based on
strong pedagogical practice:
Huston, Therese. Teaching What You Don’t
Know. Harvard University Press, 2012.
Tasks like clarity grid, three-way interview,
survey says, sequence construction..

8. Digital History in the student
learning experience
James Baker
Senior Lecturer in Digital History and
Archives
@j_w_baker
james.baker@sussex.ac.uk
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Exceptions: quotations, embeds from external sources, logos, and marked images.