Introduction:
In general, many educationists are of
the opinion that the most fundamental issue in the process of teaching and
learning is the question of effective delivery and reception of
information. The provision of
information – which can lead to an “overload” at times – via books or other tools of teaching is
inadequate in ensuring that the delivery of knowledge is effective if the
process of retrieval is not user-friendly, slow and inconvenient.
In addition, the effectiveness of the
process of reception is also obstructed when information that has been delivered
is regarded as unexciting, dull and undemonstrative
in terms of listening and seeing. Starting from this perspective, therefore,
the basic goal of this project is to promote the process of teaching and
learning history at the Form Five level to be more innovative with the hope
that this will promote a perception of history as interesting. In view of
history as a critical tool of nation-building and to instil a patriotic spirit,
hence the digitalisation of history as a standard subject is considered a
product capable of precipitating a significant impact. Furthermore, the importance of history is in
line with the decision of the government to make this core subject a must pass
for SPM students by 2013.
Digital
Humanities combines computing technology with research,
teaching and learning of humanities including history. Digital history, according to the Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media,
one of the earliest proponents that showcases several digital history
projects, is ‘an approach to examining and representing the past
that takes advantage of new communication technologies such as computers and
the Web. It draws on essential features of the digital realm, such as
databases, hypertextualization, and networks, to create and share historical
knowledge.’ In
Europe and the US, such an approach or methodology is very popular and provides
for effective mechanism.
Thus ,
the method employed by this research project will be based on the use of
digital technologies i.e an educational website together with popular social
networking tools such as Facebook, Twitter, blogspots and Pinterest. The use of
these applications enables the channeling of information in a more interactive,
quicker, interesting and easier manner as well as opening space for flexibility
in the provision of empirical and first-hand evidence.
According to European Digital Agenda
report, Italy by 2012 is expected to supply 3 million digital objects for the
viewing of the European and international community. In Malaysia, the Digital Humanities approach is expected to be relevant in view of
the high bandwith usage. According to the research of the International Data Corporation (IDC), the use of the internet in Malaysia in 2011 exceeded 16 million people and this
figure is anticipated to leap forward 20.4 million by 2012. As such, in
consonance with this devleopment, the use of social networking also offers
encouraging indicators. In 2011 as an example, the number of Malaysians accessing
Facebook 11, 816, 200 million people (17th in the world), blog: 2.65 million,
Pinterest: 3.3 million and Twitter has more than a million.
In summary, the Digital Humanities approach has the capability to significantly
impact the delivery of information pertaining to the subject of history and at
the same time inculcate deep interest based on innovative, interactive and attractive
teaching and learning methods. If such an approach is given the best
opportunity to be employed as a teaching and learning tool, history as a boring
subject will only be a myth believed by those who are technology illiterate.
Objectives:
To ensure that this project is conducted
in a systematic and controlled manner, its direction is focussed on a few
objectives:
1. To instil awareness amongst teachers
and students on the use of the new media in the process of teaching and
learning;
2. to provide a sample module that
integrates the new media in the teaching and learning of history at the
secondary level (Form 5);
3. to identify and evaluate the response
of users (teachers and students) towards the project outcomes;.and
4. to analyse the problems and
challenges faced by teachers and students in the teaching and learning of
history.
Research
Methodology
To achieve the goal and objectives of
this research, the following methods will be employed which includes the
following:
- A heuristic
method will be used in the effort to search and gather materials relevant
to the Form 5 history syllabus. The sourcing of materials include primary
documents such as treatises, articles, examination questions, and other
types of documentation (legal and non-legal), pictures and films. These
materials can be obtained from the archives, libraries and private
collection. As such, the Form 5 syllabus and text book will be used as a
basic guide in the collection of relevant materials. The various themes in
the Form Five syllabus will be explored and further insights will be
provided to teachers and students on those themes.
- Furthermore,
the utilisation of social media tools will also be encouraged. In order to
download these materials, a blog will be set up to facilitate the efforts
of teachers and students in obtainng materials on the themes in the Form 5 history syllabus. Pinterest will
be employed in the downloading of pictures and documents. The role of
Twitter is to enable the fast and easy communication amnogst students,
teachers and webmasters.
- To attract
the interest of teachers and students, an information session will be
conducted at 30 schools in and around Kuala Lumpur and Petaling Jaya. In conducting this information session,
visits will be made to both high performing schools (HPS) and other normal
schools. Teachers and students will be briefed about the project, and they
will be encouraged to take part and be involved. The visits to the schools
will be divided into two phases. The first phase shall be on the
introduction to the project, whilst the second phase aims to receive
feedback from teachers and students who partiicpated in the programme.
This latter phase is critically important to ascertain the effectiveness
and weaknesses of the Digital
Humanities project.
Expected
Outcomes
At the end of this research project, it
is expected that certain specific outcomes that are useful and important to
connect or link the human aspect (“human touch”) with computer technology will
emerge. Amongst some of the expected outputs are:
- The
provision of an updated, more contemporary and relevant teaching and
learning module. This module will enable students to gather and retrieve
quick-to-use, interesting and current information from the website, blog,
Pinterest and Twitter accounts.
- Providing a
resource and reference centre for teachers requiring additional
information on Malaysian history. Much of the information provided in the
text books can be limited or confusing.
- For the
purpose of publication, this project will produce articles for both ISI
and non-ISI journals. These articles will help in the development of the
field of Digital Humanities
which is becoming quite popular amongst western scholars. It is hoped that
in Malaysia, the publication of these research project will provide an
impetus to the popularisation of Digital
Humanities.
