Anders MacGregor-Thunell

The NOF programme to which I referred in my previous posting was supposed to bring about change, but in spite of the large amount of money that was spent (230 million pounds of National Lottery money) it was not as effective as expected. It's interesting (but at the same time discouraging) to see that we (Sweden) are not the only country who spends millions (billions) on computer related projects that does not work. Between 1999-2002 the Swedish Government invested 1.7 billion SEK (US $150 million) on a National Action Programme for ICT in Schools, ITiS (the Action Programme covered the pre-school class, compulsory school, special school, sami school, upper secondary school, municipal adult education and, during 2002, folk highs schools). This Action Program put a computer in the hands of each participating teacher (about 70 000 teachers were offered a computer - that they got to keep after the project was done) and the teachers were instructed to form groups where ICT related tasks were supposed to be done. I know that a few schools and districts learned and produced good material, but the vaste majority took the computer, went to the obligatoric meetings and produced a report - with no more obligation! This was an expensive and very discouraging experience. One of the weakest part of this experiment was the fact that many of the co-ordinators responsible did not have basic ICT skills!!! Graham brings up part of the answer to my previous question - we need to relate it to our subject - ICT training has to be subject-specific in order to be effective, and it has to include a substantial portion of time devoted to pedagogy and methodology and the training of teachers has to be done by individuals that are professional in the subject and "ICT-literate" - One of the subject-specific training providers, the Centre for Information on Language Teaching (CILT), reported a far higher success rate than the average, with very positive feedback from trainees. Let's face it: Who do you ask for advice about ICT and graphic design? An ICT-literate graphic designer, of course. Who do you ask for advice about ICT and Modern Foreign Languages? An ICT-literate modern linguist, of course - which is my specialism. Ask me about sound recording and playback, speech synthesis, automatic speech recognition, etc, and I'll give you an informed opinion of their possibilities and constraints and their pedagogical value in MFL teaching and learning. Ask an ICT specialist the same questions, and you may well be overwhelmed with irrelevant technological advice. Another important factor that Graham points out is the individual technical (and subject) support - "It was also found that face-to-face training was essential at some stage in a training course - preferably early on and at the end of a course. - - - The NOF training is most successful where senior managers in schools take an active interest in teachers’ progress, where there is effective peer support, and where groups of teachers meet for part of their training. Teachers left to their own devices to use distance-learning materials in their own time rarely make the same headway." Marco also points out the importance of individual support but he writes about one big problem - Time! At the moment increasing skills of my colleagues is low priority for me, other things have to take priority first. But in between I help them on an individual basis. That is very time consuming but it really pays of. Graham writes that online support was not very popular - Many teachers who undertook NOF training were negative about unreliable online systems, lack of technical support and lack of online tutor support - it was found, for example, that a single tutor could not handle more than 30 trainees at one time. It was also found that face-to-face training was essential at some stage in a training course - preferably early on and at the end of a course. Providing everything online was unpopular among trainees. The conclusion for me is that ICT in school should be subject related. The training should be done by professionals within the subject who has the necessary ICT skills. To be able to make this work it has to be done on an individual basis... Will this not take a lot of time? Can it be done in a different way?

I wouldn't like to see History based on Nationalism, but I can see a problem when the nations history it's not dealt with very much. A few months ago I posted the following lines about Nationalism and History Teaching... I can understand the problem with nationalistic history, but not with knowing more about your contries past. I have for several years felt that Sweden and Swedish schools is neglecting our own history. I wouldn´t like to bring in a nationalistic view, but I wish that the schools could focus a bit more on its own history. My experience when I do discuss these matters with other teachers of history is that in an 80 hour course maybe 15-20 hours is spent on Swedish history (Vikings, something about the establishment of the nation in the 16th century, the Great Nordic War... and maybe some short notices about the 19th/20th century). The short time spent on the development of modern Sweden gives the result that most students, even if they study history has very little historical comprehension on Sweden of today... That's also a problem!

It's just the very last years that I started to work with e-learning. In Virtual School I have participated in the development of international web-pages within different history topics and during the last years I have also built up the History Department site on our school’s intranet. Since I'm responsible for the History Department I'm quite concerned about developing a local curricula for History that tries to establish e-learning within the History subject. Our senior management understands the need but we have other problems; the general lack of skills. When computers first were introduced to schools in Sweden it seemed like every school wanted to be part of the new technical development. The schools spent a lot of money on computers, printers and programs but the vaste majority of the teachers did not get any training on how to use the computers. Many of the teachers in the schools today does not have basic ICT skills and there is no sign of any drastic change in the nearest future. Even a bigger problem - The Universities with Teachers Education has nothing about the web, web design and how to use computers as a pedagogic tool in the classroom. I have ideas about why it's like this, but the question of more importance today is - how can we change this?

Barn under Andra Världskriget - ett muntligt historieprojekt Bakgrund: Huvudidéen med detta Europeiska projekt är att uppmuntra våra elever att intervjua människor, gärna deras egen släkt (kanske mormor, morfar, farfar, farmor etc...), som upplevde Andra Världskriget. Det skulle vara mycket bra om den som intervjuas också presenteras med namn, ålder och andra biografiska detaljer. Ett foto från hur de såg ut under Andra Världskriget och ett från idag skulle vara mycket bra, men det är ändå själva intervjun som är det viktiga. Vår förhoppning är att kunna bygga upp en rejäl resurs för olika studier om Andra Världskriget. Det kommer att bli möjligt att söka i en databas bland de olika bidragen i framtiden. Från början så kommer det mesta presenteras på engelska, men med tiden så kommer samtliga publicerade intervjuer översättas. Idéen med denna sida är att du skall kunna välja om du vill presentera ditt bidrag på svenska eller engelska. Detta projekt är redan igång - John Simkins och Andrew Moore har publicerat några engelska exempel under rubriken "Resources" på detta Education Forum. Det är också möjligt att se Johns artikel Article on Oral History: Voices From the Past; http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/2WWprojectarticle.htm Om du har några frågor eller kommentarer så gå in här och skriv. Du kan också när som helst skicka in dina bidrag...

In Sweden the first living creature in the air was a cat! At the 17th of September 1784 a baloon (run by hydrogen gas) lifted from the "Observatory Hill" - Observatoriekullen in Stockholm. The baloon was found three weeks later on the ground outside Stockholm, without the cat. Not exactly a claim of fame - is it... When it comes to the construction of airplanes the Swedish scientist (philosopher and theologian) Emanuel Swedenborg (1688-1772) was very interested in this topic. In 1714, at the age of 26, Emanuel Swedenborg developed an interest in building a flying machine, which was documented in an article, "Sketch of a Machine for Flying in the Air," published two years later. Swedenborg's design looked like a classical flying saucer with flapping wings. It was never built... In the beginning of the 20th century Carl Rickard Nyberg experimented with a steam-engine driven aircraft, but none of his designs proved flight-worthy. Other Swedish pioneers included Bror Berger, Oscar Gustavsson, and Tor Ångström. The experimental aircraft produced by these men during the early 20th century also were unsuccessful. The first successful flight in Sweden didn't occur until 19 July 1909, and it was achieved by a French aviator. Then, in 1910, Carl Cederström became the first licensed pilot in Sweden (and the 74th in the world) when he completed training at the Blériot flying school in France. Also in 1910, the first Swedish-built aircraft, the Grasshopper, took flight. The plane was a modified Blériot XI built in Landskrona in southern Sweden by Hjalmar Nyrop and Oscar Ask. That's how the Swedish exploitation of the air started...

In Sweden a discussion forum for those interested in History exists http://forum.skalman.nu/ I have contacted the person responsible for this forum and asked him to establish a topic with reference (links) to our project (you can´t establish your own topics in this forum - just reply on the ones existing which has been approved by the discussion board). This discussion forum has 2635 members and I hope that some of them will participate in our discussions. Anders

Det finns numera en mängd historiska sidor på nätet. Skriv och berätta om vilka sidor du eller dina elever använder och försök tala om vad det är som du tycker är så bra med just dessa sidor - alltså ett slags "mina favoritsidor i historia på svenska". Själv så tycker jag att Marcus Wendels sidor "skalman.nu" kan vara mycket informativa; http://www.skalman.nu/ww1/ Sidorna är lätta att leta på, de innehåller en hel del fakta och det finns många olika områden... Så vilka sidor tycker du är bra och varför?

My name is Anders MacGregor-Thunell. I’m currently a full-time teacher of History at Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet, an Upper Secondary School with 1800 students, in the centre of the city of Gothenburg, Sweden. Most of the time I teach IB (International Baccalaureate) History, both Standard and Higher Level, but I also teach History within the ordinary Swedish system. Since 1998 I’ve been the Head of the History Department at Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet. I started my teaching career in the middle of the 1970’s. Just a few years ago I became a member of the Virtual School. Through VS I participate in the development of international web-pages within different history topics. During the last years I have also built up the History Department site on our school’s intranet.

Detta är ett försök att skapa ett svenskt historiskt forum för alla intresserade, speciellt om du har daglig kontakt med ämnet, antingen genom ett eget stort intresse eller som pedagog (eller både och). Marcus Wendel har på sin site skalman.nu http://forum.skalman.nu/ ett diskussionsforum för alla historieintresserade. Även denna site vänder sig till samma grupp men här finns också en idé om att tillsammans försöka se hur IT kan utvecklas för att bli ett kraftfullt pedagogiskt instrument för lärare. Detta är en eftersatt del i det svenska skolväsendet och många lärare har idag ett stort behov av att utbyta idéer om hur man skall kunna anpassa tekniken till undervisningen i klassrummet- Så anmäl dig som medlem och hjälp till att skapa ett bra underlag för den framtida datoranvändningen, både i och utanför klassrummet. Ämnen som Historiska teman, pedagogik, IT i undervisningen, historieämnets utveckling etc... kan ventileras - diskussionsmöjligheterna är många. Bli medlem och starta upp det ämne som du har behov av att diskutera. Välkommen! Anders MacGregor-Thunell Hvitfeldtska Gymnasiet

Very nice! Once I get the hang of this I like to manage a Swedish section. Anders