Caterina Gasparini (Italy): My name's Caterina Gasparini and I am not a History teacher. John asked me if I would like to become an associate member of the E-HELP project and I find the aims of the Project, which attempts to “shape and redefine school history for a new generation”, extremely challenging, also because not many projects are concerned about our students as the future citizens of the world.
I'm a teacher of English in an Upper Secondary School in Italy: it is an Industrial Technical Institute which, by the way, decided many years ago that English should be the only foreign language to be taught (no more than one can be taught by the Italian Curriculum, anyway!). I teach ESP (English for Special Purposes), that is English for Aeronautics, Electrotechnics, etc. in a highly “technical-technological” environment, from every point of view. I have been an ENIS (European Network of Innovative Schools) project coordinator for a few years and I have been on the editorial staff of the new Italian ENIS web site, which was launched last May.
I started working with computers about twenty years ago: it was just some Basic at the beginning, but I soon went on searching the Web for educational material. I came across some very good sites and materials and then I got involved in the rush of ICT for education. I’m interested in how ICT and the Web can be best used to improve our teaching. I think the tools we have at disposal are powerful but we only use a small amount of their potential, maybe because we don’t always know how to exploit them adequately. I have tried different e-Learning platforms or environments, experiencing their strengths and weaknesses. I don’t think distant teaching will ever replace traditional teaching but all our students are using a blended approach to information which has already forced most teachers to change their methodology.
At present I am working with my students on producing educational resources on the topics they are studying: it cannot be considered educational material because many aspects are still missing but we hope to improve it in the future.
I'm looking forward to working with you.
http://www.malignani.ud.it/WebEnis/aeronautica.htm
http://www.malignani.ud.it/WebEnis/enis.htm

Dan Lyndon (UK): My name is Dan Lyndon and I have been teaching History in both outer and inner London for the last 12 years, four of which have been as Head of History. Over the last six months I have been writing a website to showcase the work that I and my students have been doing at my school in their History lessons but also in the other 'jobs' that I do - the 'Gifted and Talented' program for higher ability students and the 'Aimhigher' program to encourage students with no parental experience of Further or Higher Education to stay on after 16. You can see the results here: http://www.comptonhistory.com/
I am therefore, what I would describe as, an 'enthusiastic amateur' when it comes to ICT and History and am very keen to develop my skills in this area. I have written a few webquests which have been an exciting way of getting my pupils engaged in the topics (Black Britons, Olaudah Equiano and the European Dictators) and will, time permitting, get round to writing a few more very soon. I hope that I can contribute some good ideas to this project as I like to think that I am quite a creative person / teacher and really enjoy bouncing ideas off other people. John Simkin and I have some plans to work together on a Black History online project and this would be an excellent forum to bounce ideas off.
blackhistory4schools.com

János Blasszauer (Hungary): My name is Janos Blasszauer, I am currently the head of English department at Batthyany Lajos Academic Grammar School. I am also a pedagogical advisor for the Zala County Pedagogical Institute and the Hungarian pedagogical advisor on the international advisory board of two European Schoolnet projects. One is the Myeurope project and the other one is the Spring Day in Europe 2005 project.
I am a certified teacher trainer who can run accredited courses for teachers on the modern matura exam. I have been an active member of British Council ELT in-service teacher training project.
I have run several trainings here in Hungary and abroad as well and have given several presentations on ICT-related issues at various conferences.
During the last couple of years I have learned many skills while I have been heavily involved in many international projects.
I hope these skills will help me to become a useful member of E-help project.
I constantly take part in online professional development trainings and am member of several educational communities like Tappedin, Learning Times etc. I have written several articles on ICT issues. I have recently launched at the IATEFL-H conference the ICT SIG with some of my colleagues.
I firmly believe that my ICT expertise can be exploited in the E-help project.
Let me just cite an example showing that I am up-to-date with new developments not only in the field of ELT and ICT but history teaching as well.
I know for instance that these days the The Teaching History with Technology Newsletter made its way online at:
http://thwt.org/newsletter.htm
Well, that's all for the time being.
Later I may specify in detail how I concretely envision my contribution to this great project.
I am looking forward to working with you.
http://www.geocities.com/bjohnnyus/

Dave Martin (UK): My interest in the use of ICT has always been how will it improve the teaching of history and there is no doubt that it can achieve that. I have pioneered database materials and written materials and run training courses for teachers, as have other contributors to this area for over 20 years. To me ICT brings new resources into the classroom, just today I have visited the excellent new education site of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission where I saw some new (for me) materials on the use of poison gas.
ICT also deepens and enriches the classroom experience as anyone who is good with Smartboard technology will know, the heady mix of sound and video, words and pictures.
ICT also serves to supplement students' short and long term memory, whether in the word processing activities produced by BECTa or with the whiteboards ability to pull up some brainstorm work from a previous lesson. ICT can also help teachers more clearly explain and demonstrate tasks and model text types for historical communication.
On my travels around schools in England I see many good examples of these sorts of things. When history teachers are given access and time they can be very imaginative. I also see others struggling to get the necessary access and there are some clear steps they can take to try and improve things. For them it is even more important to be aware of what ICT can do for their history teaching to help them try and influence those who control the resources in school.
http://www.dorset-lea.org.uk/projects/each/each1.htm

Doug Belshaw (UK): My name is Doug Belshaw and I feel severely underqualified to have been asked by John to be an associate member of the E-HELP team!
I'm an NQT in History at a school in Nottinghamshire, England and try my very best to use ICT both to assist in my teaching and general organization, and to aid my pupils' learning. I'm greatly inspired by examples of great teaching and teachers as demonstrated on the Schoolhistory website and its forum, of which I know many here are members!
For what it's worth, my initial degree was in Philosophy, my MA in Modern History, and I'm currently studying towards an MA in Education.
Doug
http://www.mrbelshaw.co.uk
http://www.historyshareforum.com/
http://teaching.mrbelshaw.co.uk/

Isabelle Voegeli (Luxembourg): From 1994 to 1996, I worked as teacher and at the same time as independent journalist. I have joined to the European Navigator project since its foundation in 1996. In 2000, I have contributed to establish the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe and have joined the board of coordinators and since 2003, I’m mainly in charge of the relations with the teachers.
European NAvigator (ENA), a multimedia database on the history and institutions of post-war Europe, is the flagship service of the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE). Accessible on www.ena.lu., the database provides students, researchers and anyone who is interested with all that is necessary to form their own opinions about the process of European integration. ENA brings together more than 7000 rigorously selected documents. The material is structured chronologically and by subject, each section featuring original historical documents – photos, sound clips, film recordings, treaties, press articles, cartoons and so on – alongside documents created by the CVCE, such as interviews, and interactive maps and diagrams.
For two years we have worked with some pilote sites to see how such a database can be used in class. Among our pilote sites at university level are the European University Institute in Florence and the Universities of Cergy-Pontoise and Luxemburg. Concerning the secondary schools we’ve worked mainly in Luxembourg until now where we have direct contacts with the schools and also work within the framework of teacher’s life-long learning.
http://www.ena.lu
http://educationforum.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=3040

José Luis de la Torre Diaz (Spain): 45 years old, he is a graduate in Modern History at Universidad Autónoma of Barcelona (1982). He is a History and Philosophy teacher at IES Escola Municipal de Treball de Granollers (Barcelona), where he is the head of the Social Sciences Department. Executive director from 1992 to 2000 of Nexus Publicitat, an advertising and graphic design agency. He is a member of DIGHES (Didáctica de la Historia y la Geografía en la Enseñanza Secundaria), an investigation group of the Barcelona University about Didactics of the History and Geography. He has been the director of EDUCAHISTORIA.COM for two years. EDUCAHISTORIA is a History website with a didactic focus.
http://www.educahistoria.com/