Maurice Savage had an idea, as school trips became increasingly difficult he thought he would allow students to see footage of visits he had made. He quickly set up http://www.videohistorytoday.com/ the first web site dedicated to providing schools with modern, adaptable video clips recorded at places of historical interest. The site contains video images recorded on the actual sites of major historical events, his aim was to provide students with the basic ingredients to produce video essays and mini-documentaries. I became involved when he looked to publicise his materials, unfortunately this was just as the Youtube hysteria set in, so we had to find another way to allow access. This is when Maurice had the idea of putting the clips into collections, there are now seven Video Collections, designed to be used by teachers and students to help in the study of four major events in World History, and as each collection is provided on a 4GB USB memory stick these can be accessed by students and teachers. There is also a new Download facility on the site.
There are numerous ways in why the clips can be used; from the simple presentation of material to more detailed analysis, thus they can be used for KS3, KS4, A Level and University students. For example a study of the White House pits at Auschwitz-Birkenau ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sgoNS0jTL4 ), can be enhanced by the use of Video History Today footage of the site, linked to a Google Earth Placemark, setting the information in context, as well as providing an interesting alternative presentation of the information. This site contains a virtual treasure trove of material, and fully deserves recognition

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Google Street View in Pompei

As you may be aware I am a fan of Google Street View, Google maps and Google Earth. I was therefore pleased to find Pompeii added to the list of locations. Now we can send our students on a short virtual educational visit, without the expense of hotels and flights. The ‘User Photos’ option will be useful, allowing students to take images from the site for annotation. I admit the tour does not get into the buildings, and as such is not really a virtual tour, but I do feel this is a wonderful addition, that can be used to compare and contrast. As a starter activity a search around Pompeii would motivate most teenagers. The theatre and amphitheatre are the most spectacular places to visit, but a simple stroll down some of the streets will add so much to a study of Pompeii. I even feel that the tourists and the building/restoration work, adds to the feel, giving students a greater context in which to study the site. I think this is a wonderful addition, and will enable Google maps to be used effectively in the classroom.

http://www.crimeandpunishmentthroughtime.co.uk/index.htm

Like its sister site on Medicine through time from Dan Moorhouse, this site is being developed to provide links to the best teaching and revision materials available for the SHP development study of Crime and Punishment through time. Initially this will consist of linking to materials elsewhere, with regular updates and additions. In time it is planned to develop pupil guides to the key elements of the course and interactive materials to support teaching and learning.Still in its early development this site will quickly become the first stop for teachers and students following this SHP development study.
The link to other sites has become a key aspect of very good sites, for teaching has become much more collaborative, this site highlights the best of this collaboration.

http://earth.google.co.uk/

I have used the Google Earth overlay a few times now, but usually with images of the past I have found, thus to find that Google has ‘stolen’ my idea, came as a suprise. In all seriousness, this World War Two overlay is a development of their overlay policy, and it certainly works, the image above of Dresden is particularly significant to me, as I used Google maps to do this some four years ago, and the resulting image had a positive impact on the students. The Warsaw Ghetto, the bombed centre of Berlin and Dresden will be the most popular images I feel, but it certainly shows what can be done. I feel sure many educators will find these overlays useful, I look forward to Google exploring other Historical events in this way. 

http://blog.prezi.com/2010/01/24/new-release-features-educational-license-reuse-learn-center/

Just after Christmas I received a message (via Twitter) asking me to write to the CEO of Prezi, to ask, nicely, if they would consider reducing the cost for educational use. I had heard about the power of Twitter, but this was the first time I took an active part - within hours there was a reply, and within days Prezi announced an Educational Licence.
As mentioned in a previous review, I have moved from Powerpoint’s linear presentation to using Prezi for my presentations, and have a few times used it in the classroom, but only as ones and twos, as I signed in for them, giving them an opportunity to play. The Educational licence, at just $59 for the EduPro, will allow schools use Prezi to its highest potential.
The educational licence has three main aspects: upgrade - EduEnjoy (500MB) had the added feature of allowing students and teachers to Choose if a prezi is private, published, or shared with selected individuals, making it useful within a school network; EduPro (2,000MB) has the extra feature of offline production.
Prezi Reuse is the second new feature, this allows a prezi to be edited by multiple users, allowing for collaboration, but also allows for updated prezis, effectively we can load a prezi, alter it and save it as a new Prezi, allowing teachers to see student progress.
Lastly the Learn Centre allows for the sharing of ideas, and information, which should allow even greater use of this tool. Overall I have been impressed by the Prezi, not just the wonderful tool, but also their response to educationalist, giving us a resource we can make use of in the classroom. My thanks go to Peter Arvail, CEO of Prezi for showing us what can be achieved with 2.0 technology. 

http://www.learningscore.org/

Learning Score is an amazing multimedia lesson-planning and delivery tool. My Twitter network highlighted this to me, and although it is not a History resources, I thought it was worthwhile highlighting it. I, like many begrudge writing out lesson plans for observed lessons, interview lessons and (rarely) general lessons, I see the lesson plan as a plan of what I will do in the lesson, not as seems to be the view of SMT as a rigid blow by blow prediction of what is going to happen. I therefore think this tool will be of great benefit, after just 10 minutes on the trial version I was confident I could use it to plan and deliver lessons using it, in fact I think it would improve my lesson planning, getting me to think about the aspect of the lesson, rather than get bogged down in the aims, objectives and outcomes. I think this would be ideal for teacher training, and at just £35 it is not outside most departmental budgets. This has the feel of a tool produced by someone who knows what teaching is about, and for that reason alone I think John Davitt (the inventor) should be applauded, well done John, I am sure you will find many appreciative teachers out there.

http://www.medicinethroughtime.co.uk/

Again I must confess my interests in this site, Dan Moorehouse is a friend and Colleague, thus I have been following the production of this site for some time. He states:

This site has been established to offer support to pupils following a GCSE course that incorporates the SHP development study in medicine through time.

The David Rumsey Map Collection was started over 25 years ago and contains more than 150,000 maps. The collection focuses on rare 18th and 19th century maps of North and South America, although it also has maps of the World, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. The collection includes atlases, wall maps, globes, school geographies, pocket maps, books of exploration, maritime charts, and a variety of cartographic materials including pocket, wall, children’s, and manuscript maps. Items range in date from about 1700 to 1950s.
What we have here is genius, this is something I have done on a local level, and found it to be very useful in getting students to see and explain changes and continuity. The opacity function on the maps works excellently, enabling use of the site for presentations and student research. To be honest this feels like an early Christmas present, a new toy I can spend hours playing with, the drawback is that I feel over use would diminish its impact and it certainly has an impact.

The main site is full of interesting information and primary sources, especially documents on the cold war, including recently declassified Soviet material.

Here is a specific selection of Tudor History books and here is a guide from tudorhistory.org to useful authors.

It can be found at: http://smartleydoesit.co.uk/illustrated-holocaust-glossary/