Mid Sweden University

History education today emphasizes competencies like critical thinking andcultivating awareness of individuals as historical entities with responsibilitiestoward the future. This goes beyond the mere memorization of dates, events,and the glorification of characters and nations. A shift that also entailspromoting increased acceptance and unity among diverse cultures, aligninghistory education with the global framework of universal human rights anddemocratic citizenship (Council of Europe, 2018). Moving away fromconventional objectives, history education today poses a challenge to methodsthat previously exposed students to predetermined narratives, therebyrestricting opportunities for criticism or self-reflection, and calls for innovativeapproaches that encourage open discussion, active engagement andtolerance for diversity (Arias-Ferrer and Egea-Vivancos, 2022).

In the fast development of information and communication technologies in the21st century, the concept of enhancing learning through technology hasreached new areas. One of them is history education, where the use ofinformation and communication technologies offer, among other things, a wayto recreate environments that no longer exist. At the same time as researchstudies report on more advanced technological concepts such as virtual realityand artificial intelligence, the daily learning and teaching aim to be adapted tothe existing digital competencies and curricula in contemporary schools (Erstadet al., 2021). New methods can be inspired by the work of digital historians andmuseums, where the digitalisation of heritage could be seen as a cultural democratisation, making art and history available for a larger audience. Havinga substantial part of our digital heritage available online, teachers are givenmany opportunities to bring it to the classroom and try new methods to engage,motivate, and work with competencies and active learning.