I worked with Imperial War Museums (IWM) to support the development of a Teacher’s Hub for their Lives of the First World War website. This digital platform brings together the life stories of the eight million people who contributed in the First World War.

Sapper William E Smith – one of the people remembered on Lives of the First World War

The team wanted to explore how the platform could be used by teachers and students in schools.  I was initially engaged to observe and evaluate a project with KS3 pupils at The Mount School in York. The pupils used Lives of the First World War to research women from a memorial in York Minster. I compiled a report, which brought together my observations and recommendations for future developments. Feedback from Melanie Donnelly, Project Manager of Lives of the First World War was positive:

‘The report is very clear. It raises some really interesting points and things we hadn’t considered. It is really helpful to see what support we might need to provide.’

Based on the success of the report, I was invited to contribute to the next phase of development for the site. The team developed a test website, and I carried out user testing with Key Stage 3 History and English teachers. The feedback from these sessions was fed back to the development team to shape the Teacher’s Hub.