Digital media and digital tools can be used to engage 8th grade students with historical content. Digital media can increase student engagement in history and historical thinking by serving as a Universal Design for Learning. Universal Designs for Learning refer to teaching tools that provide students with multiple means for engagement, content representation, as well as action and expression.  

This is what is included in Universal Designs for Learning:

Middle schoolers are much more receptive to activities that are more interactive and visually stimulating. Carl Becker noted the influence of popular media of the 1930s transforming traditional history and popular media continues to do so in the contemporary setting. Students groan at the sight of textbooks as opposed to digital media that provide diverse opportunities for interacting with and learning content. These opportunities can include things like video games, podcasts, videos, films, music, discussion boards and so on. Students with special needs and English Language Learners can especially benefit from the UDLs digital media provides. 

My proposed learning activity revolves around an Omeka site I built related to retro lunchboxes. My goal is to create a historical thinking introductory activity that students can complete to review historical concepts shown throughout the site. The digital component of the activity will potentially rely on the creation of tutorial pages that will guide students on how to conduct a historical investigation of the lunchboxes. As this will be the first time students are interacting with a site like this, students will have to follow the instructor through guided practice in the examination of photos and annotations. I may also need to provide video tutorials for students who need extra practice with the act of historical investigation. With these changes and realizations, I have to consider in what ways I can blend/embed an Omeka site into the students’ traditional learning management system of Schoology to make the site easily accessible. Students are used to using Schoology and it is the primary platform I use to give instruction materials and assignments. I will have to experiment to see if there is a way in which I can connect the two platforms.