I wrote this a few months ago for our press office. I thought I would share it here. I also write a blog on this day for HistoryLab Plus, which you can read here.

Lucinda Matthews-Jones (History) co-organised ‘Teaching and Technology: Making Digital History’ with History Lab Plus, the Institute of Historical Research’s network for early-careers researcher, last Saturday. This day event saw scholars discuss how to use digital technologies in the classroom. Speakers included Melodee Beals (Sheffield Hallam), Bob Nicholson (Edge Hill), Jamie Wood (Lincoln), Allegra Hartley and Martin Hewitt (both University of Huddersfield). Representing LJMU was Elliot McGaffney, a third year student from Helen Rogers’s highly innovative module ‘Writing Lives’.

History Lab Plus provides a series of workshops through the year for ECRs and Independent Scholars. LJMU was the natural place to host this event. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences at LJMU is committed to creating digital-informed students. This is supported by the Library’s commitment to digital resources. The event was hosted at the Aldham Robarts Library on the Mount Pleasant campus.

Catherine Feely (Derby), co-chair of History Lab Plus, said of the event: ‘This was a fantastic event and it was great to have such a productive discussion of how best to embed technology into teaching to develop our students’ digital literacy. The facilities and administrative support that we received from LJMU made sure that the day ran extremely smoothly and I look forward to working with Lucinda Matthews-Jones to build on this success.’

This was supported by Lucinda Matthews-Jones, who reported: ‘It was great to co-run this event with History Lab Plus. As teachers we are increasingly being asked to train our students to become digital citizens. This symposium offered a chance to think about how we incorporate digital skills in our modules and train our students for the World of Work.’

Following this successful event Lucinda Matthews-Jones is now planning, with History Lab Plus, a practical workshop on the theme of digital technologies to be held at LJMU.