South African History Online's Education Programme.
Abstract
This paper outlines South African History Online as a NGO that focuses on
the enhancement of history especially at school level. The advent of digital and
social media platforms has changed the way scholars learn and the way they
perceive their world. The book, paper and journals should no longer provide
the exclusive model for historical knowledge to be passed on. With this in
mind, SAHO has developed a comprehensive online programme that focuses
on the current curriculum as laid out by the Department of Education. The
development of this website into an online classroom will assist both teachers
and learners.
Learners should be exposed to the wonders of digitisation and have the
advantage of viewing primary source documents in their classrooms. This
turns a normal classroom into a virtual archive making the learners instant
historians who can now investigate their own case studies. Teachers have the
opportunity of telling stories in new ways and in different means, and can use
various materials from SAHO’s online media and library section to give the
learners the opportunity to relive the story.
SAHO has various projects such as the development of the online curriculum
material and aids for history from Grades 4 to 12. The aim is to build up
this project into a comprehensive online encyclopaedia. An Arts and Culture
classroom will soon be developed in a similar format. SAHO’s teacher outreach
programme, online support and e-learning focuses on the development of an
online forum for both teachers and learners. Other campaigns include the
‘history matters’ campaign which is aimed at increasing interest in history
at school and tertiary level. Monitoring and evaluating SAHO’s classroom
support will be done through counters on the web pages.