Web app for education and travel planning to the Holocaust memorial sites

Web app for education and travel planning to the Holocaust memorial sites

Background
Antisemitism and racism are growing in several European countries and there is an acute need to find methods and strategies to counteract anti-democratic ideas, Xenophobia and prejudices. By learning about European history and the effects of World War II in our age, young people can become more vigilant on contemporary trends in our society that can overturn democratic societies. By participating in well-prepared educational programs that include training and study trips to Holocaust memorial sites pupils can understand what lead to the murder of six million Jews, hundreds of thousands of Roma and the persecution of thousands of others. We, the partners in the project, have through our vast experience within this field both as educators and researchers, seen the tremendous impact well organised educational visits to Holocaust memorial sites have on pupils. However, we have also established that there is big lack of cohesive easily accessible pedagogical information in digital form for European teachers that want to organise study trips to Holocaust memorial sites for their pupils for this very purpose because of the extensive needs analysis we have done. Therefore, to meet these needs the partners in this project want to create a web app that facilitates how study trips to Holocaust memorial sites in Poland can be organised. The aim is to ensure that study trips will be carried out in the best possible pedagogical way and to create optimal conditions for teachers’ work with their pupils.

Objectives
There is a lot of information about Holocaust memorial sites in Poland on many different web pages, but there is no platform where you can find cohesive information for teaching and learning about Holocaust-related historical sites in the way that this project idea is created (se the attached appendix; needs analysis). The idea is to achieve creating a web app the partners in this project will produce that will be a unique information base, fact-checked by historians, in an easily accessible tool focusing on the five most visited areas – Gdansk, Krakow, Lodz, Lublin and Warsaw. This web app will contribute to quality assurance for teachers who want to plan, prepare and carry out study trips to Holocaust memorial sites in Poland. The web app will be a so-called web app that is accessible through a computer on a web site, downloadable on a phone or a tablet. This creates a flexibility for the teachers working with the pupils in different stages when they are planning an excursion trip. One important thing is the possibility of having the information base accessible wherever you are, on the device that is the most user friendly at a specific time and place. A computer might be the most useful device when teachers are planning the excursion trip or preparing lessons before the study tour, but also for planning workshops during the study trips and for the work afterwards. When you are well on your way to the Holocaust memorial site, or when you arrive at the site and start to move out in the field, the best device might be a phone. There you might need to remind yourself of certain aspects and have access to the pedagogical work at this specific site. You might also need a testimony or a document for the students to work with.

The technical ability to provide this information through various units gives the teacher the opportunity to work without any restrictions on accessibility.The content and usability of the web app will be a result of the combined experience of the partners in the consortium and the unique combined perspectives and needs that teachers in the evaluation groups from the different partner countries will formulate during the project process and the evaluations of the web app during the project. Since pupils are also the target group for the web app, it is the same feedback that they will be able to do from their personal experience and perspective at the evaluations.The idea is to catch the different needs and approaches that Spanish, Dutch, Swedish and Polish teachers have and can formulate for the creation of the web app.

Activities
The consortium has created an overall planning of all activities within the framework of its project plan and timeline - web app. Below is a summary of what these look like.

1 We will work to produce pedagogical material by creating a pedagogical production group. The partners who have a responsibility to produce and write the material will do so based on the jointly developed pedagogical concept that now exists for this project.
2 We will have evaluations of this pedagogical material as well as its construction and usability in the upcoming web app. There are those partners who specifically have a responsibility to facilitate its evaluations at their respective schools. Both teachers and pupils are included in the evaluation because both are the target group for the future web app, which is why their perspective is important.
3 We also have within our consortium partners who are specifically responsible for developing this web app and an evaluation structure that will enable teachers and pupils to give their feedback on the material at a stage to improve, adjust and finally develop a web app that meets the needs that exist for these target groups.
4 We also have an ambition, despite the great experience that exists within our consortium, to form an external expert group that will be consolidated in terms of the pedagogical material in this context and based on the ambitions that exist for the project.

All in all, there is a clear implementation line in how production, development and reflection should enable the project's results to be produced through a careful calibration that meets the needs of the target groups but also highlights what we have good knowledge is proven experience

Impact
While working together with the production of the pedagogical material, that will be included in the web app, the partners will share and increase their overall knowledge on the subject on how teaching and learning about Holocaust-related historical sites on location can be made by working from the outset of the educational concept created for this project by the consortium. Teachers participating in the evaluation groups will come from different schools and will also share thoughts and experiences between them on Holocaust Education. As all partners, from the different countries, participating in the project experience anti-democratic movements within their societies, the discussions between the participants can be an interesting exchange of ideas on how to make students aware of how fast a society can move away from democracy and how antisemitism and prejudices can permeate society.

The main project result will be the web app and it will be based on a open access platform. The teachers in the evaluation process will evaluate the different steps in the creation of the web app, from the content all the way to the usability – we should be able to create a web app that focuses on the need of the teachers, so that study trips to Holocaust-related historical sites can be carried out in the best possible pedagogical way and create optimal conditions for teachers’ work with their pupils.

The Partners:

Göteborgs universitet, Sweden - Coordinator

Centro Sefarad-Israel, Spain
II Liceum Ogólnokształcące im. Marii Konopnickiej w Zamościu, Poland
Maserskolan, Sweden
Ornäs skola, Sweden
Osrodek "Brama Grodzka-Teatr NN", Poland
Panstwowe Muzeum Auschwitz-Birkenau w Oswiecimiu, Poland
STICHTING HOGESCHOOL VAN ARNHEM EN NIJMEGEN HAN, Netherlands
The living history forum, Sweden
YAD VASHEM THE HOLOCAUST MARTYRS AND HEROES REMEMBRANCE AUTHORITY, Israel
Zespol Szkol Zawodowych Nr 1 im. 2 Warszawskiej Brygady Saperow i II Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace im. A. Frycza-Modrzewskiego we Wlodawie, Poland