Thanks for starting the discussion David:) I agree with all of you, everyone has made such valid points.
I teach in the USA.

One thing that in the past couple of years that I see that is troubling is that it seems my school district and those in my state (and this may also be a national trend) - seem to be moving to a belief that it is better to cover the entire history book, than to make sure students LEARNED and can apply skills and knowledge gained. Also, history texts here for high school are VERY "Eurocentric". Leaving out large chunks of history and regions.(usually Asia and Africa).

(and I do agree that geography, which has been cut from mandatory requirements, is NEEDED. The majority of my students can't even pick out ITALY on a map! It's the freaking boot shape!!!! Who doesn't know that by the end of elementary school! - ok, enough of my rant:) )

I will say that teaching a "survey course" like World History in high school is difficult, as you do have SO MUCH content to cover in one class. So I understand and agree that we often don't get to go into the detail that we'd like to. On the other hand a university course can be entirely about one event or time period. That allows the University level to delve much deeper into things. Which was hard for me when I first started teaching to make the return from super detail of university, to massive covering of content at the high school level.

I try to meld the two. Obviously I have standards that I'm required to teach by my district and state. But within that framework, I try to bring in the detail and perspective about events and things that the provided curriculum may overlook or leave out. I do this not only in class, but through my online courses that my students complete as "homework" to my course they take. using online learning systems (like Moodle - which is what I use), I'm able to extend my classroom quite a bit, which is helpful.

I am BIG into educational technology. I think using technology in class is not something we can ignore. It is the world our students live in and will be working in. So at some level, I think we have an added responsibility of teaching the appropriate ways to use the online world. Plus, I have found that the use of technology (to create meaningful learning, not just using tech to use it) does increase student engagement and involvement. AND I think of all the primary resources and documents that my students and myself have access to via online sources that we NEVER had access to previously. (many which I find thanks to this community:) )

LOL, I think I went a bit off topic, but I will say I've enjoyed hearing opinions of all those involved in this discussion and have loved benefiting from all the bookmarks created by all of you!
Best wishes for the new year!

Very interesting to hear Nicole - apparently it's a state thing then;) I think the move from Eurocentric must depend on the state you are in and the textbooks your school buys (cuz my textbooks are pretty Eurocentric).

My University courses varied depending on the course (of course this too could be University and time specific - colleges may not be teaching now how they were 10 years ago). I had courses in Western Civ (which did tend to be more Euro based), but then I had courses on Modern Africa, for example - which were totally focused on Africa as one might guess:) . That's what I always loved about History in College. That courses were so specific and narrow that you could take such a variety and really gain scope and detail in a variety of areas.

cool possibilities for interactive learning!!!

Great to initiate discussion with students. I gave mine the "TIME" criteria for the award and we battled it out over if it was a deserved award or not...best used after they have some info and background on Hitler.

Find the cheaters!!! 5 sites to help you detect plagiarism!