Stuart Fewster

[Stuart Fewster]

My name is Stuart Fewster. I have been teaching for thirty years and for most of that time have been a Head of Humanities in a Cornish Secondary School. For a while I was also ICT co-ordinator and also had a couple of years seconded as an advisory teacher for ICT.

I once owned a ZX81 and have been using computers with my pupils since the days of the BBC B. I got started using simulation software, and I think it is a shame that there are few decent computer based historical simulations available today. I have made some simple attempts to fill this gap using Visual Basic and Flash. But these are way behind the current complex adventure games available on the PC or the online virtual gaming worlds. It seems to me that these approaches could/should be readily adapted to give pupils an immersive historical experience.

Over recent years I have been interested in applying ‘new learning’ approaches in the classroom. These have included the usual mix of visualisation, memory techniques and mind mapping etc. I am presently interested in how interactive whiteboards fit into this mix and the big impact they seem to have on learning and knowledge retention.

As well as a few textbooks I’ve written CPD materials related to ICT in the history classroom. My interest in history is very broad in terms of topics and periods, but if I can claim any particular expertise it is with the American West, Medicine and the Western Front.

Edited October 10, 2004 by Stuart Fewster