ARTICLES
THE IMPACT OF THE
DIGITAL REVOLUTION
ON THE SECONDARY
SCHOOL HISTORY
CLASSROOM
Joshua Kiehne, Australian International School, Singapore
Within the professional sphere of History, the transfor-
mative impact of the digital revolution has been widely
recognised. The instrumental changes within this revo-
lution have been twofold. First, the digitisation of mate-
rials onto technological platforms allowing historians to
preserve, discover, use and share information and second,
the democratisation of those materials, making them freely
available for everyone.1
Consequently, History has undergone a paradigm
shift from a culture of scarcity to one of abundance.2
In conjunction with evolution in the discipline, History
teachers have been spurred to reform due to the rise of
teacher accountability, namely AITSL and OFSTED
standards, which have led to a reassessment of the tradi-
tional position of the History teacher as the storyteller.3
Alongside criticisms of didactic lecturing, History teachers
have also been targeted for their reliance on textbooks, as
it exemplifies ‘static, one size-fits-all learning’.4 Teach-
er-centred, textbook based education has formed a
dichotomy to student-centred constructivist approaches,
achieved through adoption of new technology. As educa-
tors continue to characterise the twenty-first century
learner, many have sought to harness technology to tailor,
Journal of the History Teachers’ Association of NSW – 2022
engage and prepare students for future workplaces.5 The
rise of conceptual, authentic, inquiry-based learning is
in response to a growing focus on meeting the needs of
contemporary learners. This focus has been evident in
History teaching, as technology has been conceived as a
tool to position students as independent and purposeful
users to boost agency and engagement.6
The significance of technology is aptly summarised by
Kelly who declared that the future of History teaching is
contingent upon teachers adjusting to the ‘rapidly accel-
erating, technology-driven cycle of change that is trans-
forming the teaching, learning, research and production of
historical knowledge’.7 Due to the juxtaposition between
archaic lecturing and technologically innovative History
teaching, this article will adopt a domain-specific view
in order to examine the transformative impacts of the
digital revolution on the secondary school History class-
room. Assessing the complexities of digital technology on
teachers, students, and the classroom environment, I will
discuss the affordances and constraints associated with
the use of technology by drawing upon current academic
literature and personal experience.
Page 11
ARTICLES

Does technology enable more effective teaching? unable to demonstrate high level technological use, as
they did not scaffold inquiry-based learning activities or
Technology has been deemed an ‘imperative’ for teachers,8 support students with historical information. As can be
as many advocates believe that not utilising technology seen, despite their differing technological competence,
is a lost opportunity to ‘make history more vivid and most History teachers conceive technology as providing
enticing’.9 However, critics such as Haydn have argued a gateway to constructivist approaches. However, the
that this technological fundamentalism is not conducive to successful implementation of these tools requires a much
effective teaching.10 The digital revolution has generated deeper acquaintance with them and must be accompanied
a range of complexities for History teachers with regards by willingness.
to their approach and implementation of technology. The
importance of technology has been perceived through Flipped classrooms, screen-casting and video
a social efficiency lens, since increasingly, secondary technologies
teachers are seen to be key economic drivers, preparing
students for lifetimes of work. As teachers reflect on their Contemporary History syllabuses have revised the
own experiences of education, this presents a key issue for previous fixed study of the past in favour of a focus on
those who are being required to implement technology, developing high order thinking skills, by encouraging
while never seeing it effectively modelled.11 As a result, students to interpret and interrogate evidence to analyse
distinctions have attempted to be drawn between ‘techie’ differing perspectives. As a result, teachers have sought
early adopters and hesitant teachers.12 This misconception to implement technological tools to facilitate inquiry and
has led to younger early career teachers being perceived challenge students to engage critically with the past. The
as having an innate predisposition towards Information concept of the flipped classroom has become a popular
and Communication Technology (ICT), analogous to the method, in which students listen to the traditional teacher
oversimplification of students as digital natives. Haydn lecture at home, giving time in the classroom to facilitate
challenges these deductive arguments, contending that active learning.16 Using screen-casting software, such as
successful use of technology does not require advanced Screencast-O-Matic, content can be delivered outside
level of expertise or sophisticated tools, arguing that the classroom, allowing students to work at their own
instead, the focus should be shifted to the quality of pace using the digital features available such as pausing,
implementation. re-winding and resizing the teacher. Baker refers to these
teachers as the epitome of the digital educators, as they
This view is supported by Arancibia Herrera et al., who extend the ‘power of digital presence beyond the phys-
acknowledge the extrinsic factors such as availability and ical boundaries of the classroom’.17 In a three-year study,
knowledge of how to use technology, both instrumental David Besozzi, Global History teacher in upstate New
and pedagogical.13 However, they assert that intrinsic York, analysed students’ perceptions of the flipped class-
factors such as teachers’ conceptions of technology play room approach. Of the 209 students taught in the period,
more pivotal roles in determining the effectiveness of tech- ninety-four per cent chose to complete the survey, of which
nology. Their study, which involved ten History teachers the majority indicated that screencasts aided them in their
who varied in age, experience, educational background learning due to the digital features.18
and self-reported competence of technology, found
that both traditionalist and constructivist teachers had In my own experience of employing screencasts as a
a tendency to use technology with a student-centered method of instruction, I have found it an invaluable tool
approach.14 While some teachers still only employed tech- in an increasingly time-poor classroom, as it allows content
nology for providing subject content or supporting oral to be delivered prior to the lesson. Screencasts have made
presentations, teachers who facilitated student use were my History classes more dynamic spaces, as students arrive
able to empower learners as they developed collaborative with prior understanding and are therefore more able and
processes. Drawn through classroom observations and willing to participate in higher order activities, including
semi-structured interviews, their finding highlighted how source criticism, group jigsaws and debate. However, a
teachers’ conception of technology played a significant study by Snyder, Paska and Besozzi mirrors my experi-
role in impeding or fostering student learning. Corrobo- ence, finding that students struggled engaging due to the
rating the findings of Arancibia Herrera et al., Voet and length of screencasts, stating that the videos were too
De Wever describe high level use of technology in the long for exam revision. These challenges can be rectified
History classroom as being used ‘to facilitate student-cen- with classroom management strategies and cutting videos
tered inquiries into the past’, in their study of twenty-two into shorter, more manageable segments, as evidenced by
secondary schools in Belgium.15 The primary rationale Besozzi who developed twenty-minute summary videos
of teachers for adopting technological tools was in order for exam revision and used companion graphic organisers
to increase teaching effectiveness, as they believed that to track engagement.19
tools allowed them to switch activities, differentiate and
use a wider range of teaching methods. Despite their view These video technologies, such as iMovie, have been
on the benefits of technology, teachers in the study were harnessed by social constructivist teachers and used to
Page 12 Journal of the History Teachers’ Association of NSW – 2022
 ARTICLES

assist students in developing their own desktop docu-
mentaries. Schul proposes that desktop documentaries
enhance students’ understanding of historical themes,
develop critical thinking skills and enliven experience of
the subject for a wide array of learners.20 Despite the bene-
fits that Schul offers, I have found that more challenging
digital tools such as website development, podcasting and
video creation are time consuming processes since, while
students may be confident using these technologies in
personal situations, very few have used them within an
educational context. This is exemplified by my experi-
ence with Year 12 Ancient History students who were
tasked with developing a podcast regarding different inter-
pretations of Alexander the Great. The criteria focused
on students’ abilities to analyse, compare and evaluate
different sources. However, students spent most of their
time troubleshooting audio problems and learning how
to embed images to support their presentation.
Student responses to digital tools
Through careful analysis of students’ responses to digital
tools and assessment, this section will foreground the
complexities surrounding student engagement in History.
The digitisation and democratisation of source material, in
conjunction with the emphasis placed on historical literacy,
has led to the development of historical digital literacy.
This takes advantage of the explosion of digital sources
and artefacts and, by using the inquiry process, focuses on
students applying appropriate questions and methods to
construct history in the digital age.28 Students who develop
this facility are able to mirror the work of historians, as they
gain experience from ‘doing’ history through such tasks
as building digital archives, digitally transcribing sources,
and geotagging historical sites.29 Furthermore, technology
allows these tasks to be completed collaboratively as mate-
rials can be edited by multiple users simultaneously.

Teachers’ approaches and the challenges of using The impact of liberating students from the constraints of
technology the History textbook and empowering them to take charge
of their learning through use of digital tools, can be seen
It is vital for teachers to recognise how their approach to in the yearlong study conducted by Jimenez and Moor-
technology, in addition to the way they implement digital head,30 in which they evaluated student authored e-text-
tools, plays a crucial role in the success of technology in books. Vital to this study were the scaffolding and resources
the classroom. It is worth noting that even despite the rise available to the ninety-six students involved, as they were
of the iGeneration, and teachers’ initial beliefs to implement provided with orientation to the iBook software, sessions
to encourage interest, if the tool replaces pen or paper, focusing on graphic design considerations and access to a
its impact will be negligible.21 Successful digital technol- plethora of digital materials. The project resulted in forty-
ogies ‘transform an activity, by modifying or redefining a seven student groups producing 321 digital pages, with
process’,22 and as a result, allow students the freedom to seventy-seven per cent of students stating that they had
explore History in a more sophisticated way. learnt ‘a great deal’. However, the researchers acknowl-
edged that, as students were assessed based on their partic-
Digital technology has often been perceived as the ipation, selective bias may have existed.
saviour for increasing student engagement. In a subject
such as History, which according to studies in America is The challenges of using digital tools
purported to be the ‘most textbook reliant core subject’,23
the dichotomy of students opening their textbooks reluc- Despite these perceived positive impacts, teachers must
tantly while eagerly curating content for their social remain aware of the challenges presented by the deluge of
media, sounded alarm bells for teachers.24 Furthermore, digitalised sources.31 In my own experience, some students
teachers have continually sought assistance when helping lack the ability to overcome the initial hurdle of locating
students to critically analyse source material. Due to fears relevant materials. I work in a one-to-one laptop school
of student disengagement and continued cognitive chal- that has a well-financed library, providing subscriptions to
lenges, teachers have turned to digital technologies to online databases such as Gale, Questia, and JSTOR, as well
pique student interest and aid them in developing histor- as national libraries. The availability of these resources
ical thinking. means that many students simply find it difficult to know
where to start. This cognitive overload experienced at
Historical thinking, as defined by Jimenez and Moor- the beginning of the inquiry process is common, and as
head is an ‘approach to learning and understanding the Goulding asserts, teachers need to prepare students to be
past through a set of skills, including analysing multiple more critical web consumers.32 Moorhead and Goulding
perspectives through primary sources’.25 Through this suggested that students should not be simply let loose onto
approach, students are empowered as they are re-en- the internet but need to be provided scaffolds to guide their
visioned as makers of history, as opposed to purely inquiries. Furthermore, print media source ‘checklists’,
consuming knowledge.26 However, students’ use of tech- need to be re-worked, as many websites adhere to these
nology is not without challenges as some may fall prey to criteria but provide information that lacks credibility.33
‘Encarta syndrome’,27 whereby they simply copy and paste Effective modelling of researching methods, scaffolding,
content from digital sources without thinking. and discussion about the features of digitised material can
assist students in overcoming these obstacles. However,
Journal of the History Teachers’ Association of NSW – 2022 Page 13
ARTICLES

broader barriers such as school infrastructure, resource infectivity and lethality of the epidemic. Despite their
availability and time may limit students’ abilities to explore detailed content knowledge, students struggled to reflect
the richness of historical perspectives. on their experiences and determine whether the game
was an accurate reflection of the past, as they became
As schools grapple with the challenges of replacing absorbed in simply wiping out humankind! Conversely,
computer labs with one-to-one laptops and print media Assassin’s Creed Odyssey has developed a separate education
with online databases, technology has generated issues specific game, Discovery Tour, which allows students to select
surrounding the shape of the classroom experience. The different chapters of Ancient Greece and gain insight into
threshold of the classroom can no longer be viewed as daily life. Using this game in my Year 11 Ancient History
the starting and finishing point of learning, as technol- class during their study of women, I was amazed to see
ogies have created borderless classrooms allowing for students’ eagerness to take notes on the different aspects of
student learning to take place anywhere. By revamping women’s lives. Furthermore, due to the limitations posed
the History classroom environment, through use of digital by ancient sources, the stunning visuals enabled them to
tools, teachers are attempting to fulfil the age-old belief of contextualise women within the political, economic, and
making ‘history come alive’.34 Both museums and mobile social spheres of Ancient Greece.
technologies, represent two ways in which History educa-
tion has been revolutionised by technology. Museums have Mobile learning
experienced the same pressure to stay relevant and aligned
with curriculum initiatives.35 The impact of games, and the rise of informal learning are
further evident through mobile learning which, in keeping
Digital history games with museums, expand students’ learning experiences
outside of the classroom. As most students already own
Undergoing their own paradigm shift, museums are now and intuitively use the features of mobile devices which
attempting to become spaces which enhance the physical have educational functionality, the infrastructural chal-
experience through incorporation of digital sources and lenges faced by schools are removed. Further supporting
games, mobilising students’ historical imaginations.36 the constructivist approach in History, mobile technologies
Extending students’ inquiries outside of the traditional enable students to access information anywhere, quickly
classroom, museums such as the Australian National Mari- create audio or video records, and creatively express their
time Museum have repackaged their experience to inte- learning.39 King et al. further expand the capabilities of
grate exhibitions, artefacts, dramatisations, role playing, mobile technologies, by studying students development
and student investigations into a single educational game of their historical applications.40 Analysing the changes
called The Voyage.37 A study, which involved three groups to student beliefs about History pre- and post-instruc-
of secondary school students aged fourteen and fifteen, tion, King et al. determined that through the creation of
found eighty per cent of student participants perceived apps, which highlighted African-American plantation life,
the game as good at teaching important ideas, solving students’ efficacy and enjoyment of History grew. King
problems and supporting learning through trial and error. et al. argue that, like other student studies, teachers need
These results are further supported by Worthington, whose to be ready to provide scaffolding such as storyboards,
study of the experiences of an eighth grade teacher in concept maps, and graphic organisers to help students
America found that free online roleplaying games such engage in historical thinking. However, teachers should
as The Underground Railroad, not only furthered student acknowledge that while students may be comfortable
engagement but also allowed students to build critical navigating mobile devices for their individual purposes,
reading and writing skills.38 Promoting History teachers they may be less confident in an educational sphere. As
to move beyond fact checking to adopt a broader view of technologies broaden the traditional classroom experience
historical thinking, Worthington concludes that teachers it is important that teachers recognise that these tools need
should balance traditional book driven methods and digi- to be effectively embedded into the existing physical space
tal-centric instruction. and cannot be the sole teaching strategy.

Despite activism by digitally inclined teachers, I share Conclusion

many teachers’ misgivings around educational games.
My own experience of integrating mobile games such as
Plague Inc. and video games such as Assassin’s Creed Odyssey
Discovery Tour, have been mixed. These games draw upon
the concept of edutainment, aiming at disguising learning
through entertaining activities, and therefore many
students approach these tasks with a more casual approach.
Utilising Plague Inc. in Year 8 History at the conclusion
of their investigation of the Black Plague, students took
the role of the plague in determining the starting point,
Page 14 Journal of the History Teachers’ Association of NSW – 2022
The digital revolution has provided an opportunity for
History teachers to innovate their practices, rejuvenate
student engagement and revitalise classroom experiences.
Teachers who are willing and have a positive attitude
towards ICT can adopt a more progressive approach
and empower their students to take ownership of their
learning. While they may face challenges such as infra-
structure limitations and the need to maintain knowledge
of the rapidly changing digital landscape, teachers can
 ARTICLES

assist learners in grasping the complexity of the historical
process, through effective use of technology. While the
importance of scaffolding and explicit instruction on how
to use technology in an educational context cannot be
understated, digital tools allow learners to be transformed
from consumers to producers of History. When facing a
tsunami of material, students need to be equipped with
the historical literacy skills which are not only vital for a
more sophisticated understanding of the subject but also
prepare them for the world outside school. The digital
technologies discussed in this article have reshaped the
boundaries of the traditional classroom, even allowing
students to partake in museum experiences online in class
or elsewhere, on mobile devices. While the historical accu-
racy and value of educational games remain questionable,
they provide novel learning experiences for students and
can be a central component of a balanced curriculum.
The dichotomy of the teacher-centred, traditional model
and the innovative, student-centred, progressive History
classroom will persist; however technology may provide
the bridge between these two views and lead to a richer,
more vivid and powerful History curriculum which revo-
lutionises teachers, students and the classroom experience.

Endnotes
1
James Goulding, ‘Using websites to develop historical thinking’, in Tim Allender, Anna Clark and
Robert Parkes (eds), Historical Thinking for History Teachers : A New Approach to Engaging Students and Developing
Historical Consciousness (Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2019), 232-44; Paul Kiem, ‘The digital revolution and
history’, Teaching History 49, no. 4 (2015): 26-34; James Schul, ‘Film Pedagogy in the History Classroom:
Desktop Documentary-Making Skills for History Teachers and Students’, The Social Studies 105 (2013):
15-22.
2
Tona Hangen, ‘Historical Digital Literacy, One Classroom at a Time’, Journal of American History 101,
no. 4 (2015): 1192-1203; Kiem, 2015.
3
D. Antonio Cantu and Wilson J. Warren, ‘Cooperative Learning’, in D. Antonio Cantu and Wilson J.
Warren (eds), Teaching History in the Digital Classroom (New York: Routledge, 2002), 148-59
4
Laura Moorhead, ‘What War Looks Like: Students Present Moments of Historical Crisis Using Primary
Sources and Digital Textbooks: Be Careful What You Ask For’, Interdisciplinary Humanities 31, no. 1 (2014): 54.
5
Hangen, 2015; Kathy Jordan, ‘Framing ICT, teachers and learners in Australian school education ICT
policy’, The Australian Educational Researcher 38, no. 4 (2011): 417-31.
6
Neal Watkin, ‘The history utility belt: getting learners to express themselves digitally ‘, in Terry Haydn
(ed.), Using New Technologies to Enhance Teaching and Learning in History (London: Taylor & Francis, 2013),
29-38.
7
T. Mills Kelly, Teaching History in the Digital Age (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2016), 3.
8
Hangen, 1192.
9
Jeremy D. Jimenez and Laura Moorhead, ‘Recasting the History Textbook as an e-Book: The
Collaborative Creation of Student-Authored Interactive Texts’, The History Teacher 50, no. 4 (2017): 570.
10
Terry Haydn, Using New Technologies to Enhance Teaching and Learning in History (London: Taylor & Francis,
2013).
11
D. Antonio Cantu and William J. Warren, Teaching History in the Digital Classroom (New York: Routledge,
2015).
12
Haydn, 2013.
13
Marcelo Arancibia Herrera, Antonio Badia Garganté, Carmen Paz Soto Caro, and Andrew Lee Sigerson,
‘The impact of secondary history teachers’ teaching conceptions on the classroom use of computers’,
Technology, Pedagogy and Education 27, no. 1 (2018): 101-14.
14
Arancibia Herrera, 2018.
15
Michiel Voet and Bram De Wever, ‘Towards a differentiated and domain-specific view of educational
technology: An exploratory study of history teachers’ technology use’, British Journal of Educational
Technology 48, no. 6 (2017): 1409.
16
Catherine Snyder, Lawrence M. Paska and David Besozzi, ‘Cast from the Past: Using Screencasting in the
Social Studies Classroom’, The Social Studies 105, no. 6 (2014): 310-4.
17
Simon Baker, ‘Equipping the digital history student, teacher and classroom of today and tomorrow’,
Agora 53, no. 1 (2018): 7.
18
Snyder, Paska & Besozzi, 2014.
19
Snyder, Paska & Besozzi, 2014.
20
Schul, 2013.
21
Haydn, 2013.
22
Haydn, 2013, 30.
23
Cantu, 2002.
Journal of the History Teachers’ Association of NSW – 2022 Page 15
ARTICLES

24
Jimenez and Moorhead, 2017.
25
Jimenez and Moorhead, 2017, 568.
26
Hangen, 2015.
27
Jimenez and Moorhead, 2017, 568.
28
Hangen, 2015.
29
Hangen, 2015.
30
Jimenez and Moorhead, 2017.
31
Moorhead, 2014.
32
Goulding, 2019.
33
Goulding, 2019.
34
Tracy Worthington, ‘Letting Students Control Their Own Learning: Using Games, Role-Plays, and
Simulations in Middle School U.S. History Classrooms’, Social Studies 109, no. 2 (2018): 138.
35
Emily Donders, ‘Virtual Museums: Making Meaning of History in the Modern World’, Agora 54, no. 1
(2019): 58-63; Leonie Rowan, Geraldine Townend, Catherine Beavis, Lynda Kelly and Jeff Fletcher,
‘Museums, games, and historical imagination: student responses to a games-based experience at the
Australian National Maritime Museum’, Digital Culture & Education 8, no. 3 (2016) (published online).
36
Donders, 2019; Rowan, 2016.
37
Rowan, 2016.
38
Worthington, 2018.
39
Alexander König and Daniel Bernsen, ‘Mobile Learning in History Education’, Journal of Educational
Media, Memory & Society 6, no. 1 (2014), 107-23.
40
LaGarrett King, Christina Gardner-McCune, Penelope Vargas and Yerika Jimenez, ‘Re-discovering and
re-creating African American historical accounts through mobile apps: The role of mobile technology
in history education’, The Journal of Social Studies Research (2014), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.
jssr.2013.12.005

A BREATHTAKING JOURNEY INTO THE

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Page 16 Journal of the History Teachers’ Association of NSW – 2022

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