Suggestions on how to use Europeana for pedagogical purposes in order to promote Europe’s cultural heritage

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to examine how educators can use Europeana to promote Europe’s cultural heritage. At first we present Europeana and the basic elements regarding media literacy that teachers and students need to know to make a web based project. We then continue by presenting Europeana as an educational tool. Since it is difficult to introduce a new tool to teachers, we offer a general purpose scenario that can be utilized in any subject. This scenario has been tested in class and the students found it interesting. The idea is that the teacher selects the project area and this must involve European history, especially parts of cultural heritage that are included in the Europeana collection. A rough idea about the project is accomplished by students using the English version of Wikipedia. Those two are blended together to make a story using primary material. Students use other sources to support their case. In the process they learn to cite and to create the sources of the material they use, to respect the work of others, to appreciate primary sources and to share material with others.