Learning Materials
Scran Learning Materials
Case Study
1. Author details
| Name: | Dr Colin Martin |
| Job title: | Honorary Reader, School of History |
| Institution: | University of St Andrews |
About the author:
I have taught in a university at under and post-graduate levels for thirty years. My teaching and research specialisations include underwater archaeology (particularly the investigation of post-medieval shipwrecks), historic landscapes (including Roman frontier studies), and early industry in Scotland. I am particularly interested in the interfaces between history and archaeology. Much of my research has involved photography, including underwater and aerial work, and I have developed this resource for teaching purposes. My IT skills are basic, but more computer-literate colleagues have been kind enough to provide me with technical and other support.
2. The materials
This is a basic PowerPoint presentation structured on my investigation of a Cromwellian warship wrecked off Mull in 1653. For this I have drawn on images already on Scran under the heading ‘Scotland’s Historic Shipwrecks’, with additional material from my own collection.
The materials are aimed at university and further education levels. They are designed to function both as introductory packages and as springboards for exploring the subjects further. The concepts of question-posing and the nature and use of evidence are emphasised.
Why did you want to create these materials?
To emphasise that there are few ‘right’ answers in history, and that the past can only be viewed through modern perceptions informed by the rigorous interrogation of surviving evidence.
How will your materials benefit learners?
By exposing them to substantial bodies of primary visual evidence within a structured context I hope to give them a fuller understanding of the nature of research and to stimulate them to develop their own investigative projects.
How will they improve on previous methods of teaching this topic?
By introducing the concept of research as an open-ended process of exploration through the visual resources provided by Scran and elsewhere this method reduces the emphasis on textbooks and class handouts (the ‘teacher says so’ approach) and empowers students to engage in much wider and interactive processes of learning by themselves of with their peers (including teachers).
3. Creating the materials
What tools did you use?
Word, Dreamweaver and Photoshop.
What additional support did you need in creating the materials?
Technical advice and encouragement from Paula and Edward Martin.
What are the main skills required in creating materials like this?
Long-standing familiarity with the topics and sources. An understanding of material culture and visual evidence. Competent and supportive relations!
Describe any difficulties you experienced and how you went about addressing them.
Lack of comprehensiveness (in terms of topics and my approach to them) of the Scran resource. This wasn’t a problem because my own collections could fill the gaps. This complementary ‘partnership’ worked, for me anyway, extremely well.
What would you do differently next time?
Start sooner.
What hints and tips would you offer to a colleague planning to create a similar resource?
Start with a clear plan, but be prepared to modify it as the project evolves. Using these kinds of media often suggests ideas and visual pathways which don’t occur to you until you see them happening on the screen.
Recommendations – please note any reading, software, websites, online courses etc that were useful to you.
Because this was an area within my primary research interest, I already had significant resources – books and images, as well as my own research notes – available in-house. Word, Photoshop and Dreamweaver provided the required software. In compiling the sections on further study I made a wide search of websites and found some really good ones, though these did not materially influence my own productions.
