You may still submit Papers & Proposals using the submission form. As we approach the Millennium we can, as history educators, reflect upon the way in which we encourage our students to interact with the past. In the last decades of the twentieth century information and communication technologies have offered new and powerful tools which can radically transform the teaching and learning of history.
Web projects, for example, offer opportunities for students to employ a broad range of skills, including academic skills of research, writing and presentation, problem-solving and thinking skills, interpersonal and teamwork abilities, and technical awareness necessary in an information-rich society. Such projects can be easily shared with others, or built upon by future students. Empowering the history student and history instructor Education at all levels is increasingly focused on the needs of the learner. Both student and teacher need to be empowered to seize the opportunities which this offers. Powerful and transparent IT tools allow learners to focus on learning, and teachers on teaching. The IT-rich history classroom The IT-rich history classroom becomes a history-rich classroom. Resources can be real or virtual, accessed near or far, available for scrutiny again and again. Interaction may be in the classroom, or across far distances, read, heard or seen. Learning history, any place, and any time: distance learning Lifelong learning and distance learning are two aspects of the way in which learning has spilled out of the traditional classroom and made available in packages suitable to each student's requirements or through new modes of delivery. IT is a crucial contributor to these developments. Encouraging collaborative international web projects Web projects offer opportunities for students to employ a broad range of skills, including academic skills of research, writing and presentation, problem-solving and thinking skills, interpersonal and teamwork abilities, and technical awareness necessary in an information-rich society. Such projects can be shared with others or built upon by future students. Surmounting barriers to learning Obstacles of distance, of wealth, of ethnicity or culture, of disability or circumstance may be seen as challenges to the educator. IT is one of the means by which they can be faced up to, and diminished. History and the Rights of Man (special theme for CHC 99) The special theme for CHC 99 recalls the ideals which drove the Americans to throw off colonial rule, and which later influenced the French revolution and the struggles for liberation in Latin America. These concepts, of political freedom and the value of the individual, have not been lost, but are often found wanting. Can IT assist educators in drawing attention to the challenge offered by the events of the past and the present? Skidmore College is an independent, residential college of 2,200 men and women students and 180 full-time faculty. Skidmore's modern campus is a pleasant summer place for recreation and contemplation as well as for work. The College's special summer programs include a variety of events: a film festival, art exhibits, theater productions, and lecture/demonstrations in modern dance. The 850-acre wooded campus is less than a mile from downtown Saratoga Springs and its many unique shops and fine restaurants.
Site last updated: 3/4/99 |
The CHC conference serves as a unique forum for the sharing of ideas and experiences with and the presentation of new developments and projects to the international community of teachers and scholars. CHC 99 is devoted to the exploration of crucial pedagogical questions raised by the use of IT in the teaching and learning of history, and the articulation of new visions for the history classroom of the 2lst century. The possibilities offered by the evolution of the personal computer as a teaching and research tool have been vastly enhanced by the creation and elaboration of the Internet, and present a challenge to history educators. The challenge faces all levels of education, from elementary schools to graduate and professional studies. The response to it may suggest new roles for teachers, students and course administrators within a student-focused and resource-based pedagogical model that encourages collaborative knowledge-building and student creativity.
A small, lively and historical city, Saratoga Springs sets a tone for Skidmore. The city has evolved into a unique mixture of year-round resort, college town, and convention site. Saratoga Springs has long been famous for its many attractions, such as its mineral waters, Victorian charm, the country's oldest thoroughbred race track, and the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. New York's scenic Adirondacks, the Berkshires in Massachusetts, and Vermont's Green Mountains are within easy driving distance, as are Boston, New York City, and Montreal, which are within 180 miles of the campus
