Fostering Educative Experiences in Virtual High School History

Abstract

This position paper on virtual learning in high school history argues for situating integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in an ethically defensible vision of education. Our main purpose is to establish a broad theoretical platform to enable critique of new technologies in history classrooms. However, we also argue in favor of embracing ICT integration within a theoretical framework that places teaching and learning as the driving force behind adopting new technologies. First, we remind history teachers in computer-supported classrooms that their teaching is grounded in educational aims and in well-formulated ideas about what constitutes educative experiences. We place the development of the historical mindedness of the student at the core of educational aims in history teaching. Further, it is our contention that high school history modules should become steeped in a vision of education that recognizes its cultural-psychological dimensions. This means dovetailing the construction of content knowledge with teaching the cultural practices of historians and the functions of history. Key words: technologies of information and communication, history teaching and learning, historical mindedness, cultural psychology, educative experiences