Ed's Personas

Representation of Helen

Helen studied for a BA (Hons) degree in History and French at Bristol University, where she achieved a 2:1. She lived and worked in France for several years and is a fluent French speaker. On her return to the UK, Helen went back to University to complete a PGCE at the University of the West of England, with the aim of becoming a teacher. Despite a break from teaching to have her children, Helen continues to develop her current teaching role and has organised several school trips over the years, both historical visits and trips to France. She is a well-read historian.

Helen is Head of History and French at an independent preparatory school on the outskirts of Bristol. She teaches pupils from Years 4-8, preparing the Year 8s for their Common Entrance or Scholarship exams, for entry into their senior schools at Year 9. As Head of the two Departments, Helen is also responsible for organising French and History trips for each year group.

Helen has a wide range of technical skills and is a regular user of desktop and laptop computers for work, and an iPad and smartphone for personal use. Her school also makes use of class sets of iPads and Helen has taken sets out for year groups to use on school trips before, with varying degrees of success. Helen is a regular user of social media, particularly Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, all of which she uses on a daily basis in a variety of ways.

Helen is a knowledgeable historian who likes to read books on a wide range of historical topics. She has previously organised school trips to London visiting typical tourist sites such as the Tower of London, the London Dungeons, the Houses of Parliament etc. Helen has also visited London on a number of times herself and with her family, and has been to Covent Garden a few times, basically in tourist mode.

This year, the school has decided to organise a joint Music, Drama and History trip to London for the Year 8s, where the pupils will take in some historical sites before heading to see a musical at a West End theatre. The Music and Drama departments have organised the tickets for the theatre, but Helen has to organise the historical section of the trip. Helen would like the children to experience a historical tour, but really wants to indulge in a more modern, interactive experience, which the pupils may find more stimulating, rather than a traditional tour guide approach. Helen has also been asked to post images of the trip on social media on behalf of the school, which she is keen to do.

Helen aims to utilise an interactive tour of an area of London that will provide a stimulating learning experience for the Year 8 pupils.

She would like the pupils to be able to access information on a class set of iPads either via wifi at the location or via a hotspot. She would like the interactive tour to include a wide range of information and a range of interactive activities that her pupils will be keen to complete.

She would prefer to find a historical location that offers the opportunity for the pupils and staff to have lunch once the tour is complete, prior to heading off to the theatre.

Availability of wifi in the location will be the deciding factor as to whether the class set of iPads can be used - the alternative is setting up a hotspot from staff mobile devices, which could cause data issues.

Availability of locations to eat nearby.

Timing of the tour is vital; fitting in the tour. followed by lunch and the walk to the theatre, in the time available before the matinee performance at the theatre (2.30pm)

Helen has very good organisational and technical skills and is very keen to utilise apps and/or online tools to provide an exciting educational experience. She is also keen to provide the school with images/videos of the learning experience for social media and marketing purposes.

Representation of Richard

Richard is a Graduate of Worcester University, a lecturer in Medieval and Tudor Studies and a Castle Specialist of wide experience. His studies led to experiences in jousting, fighting on foot in armour, falconry, longbow archery and castles. He was a teacher of History for forty years, fourteen of those as a Headmaster. Twelve years in Gloucestershire and two years in Leeds before retiring from teaching to concentrate on his writing.

Richard is retired but now writes historical novels, six of which he has had published and sells online and via his market stall at Wells Market. He is currently working on a seventh book, but is always on the look out for ideas for the next one.

Richard can use a computer and has a smartphone, but isn't really keen to use it for anything more adventurous than making calls, sending texts, taking photos and viewing websites. He has an account on Facebook, but rarely goes on it.

Richard is an enthusiastic historian and very knowledgeable, although his specialist area is medieval history. Richard doesn't have much experience of online educational resources as his approach to teaching was more traditional back in the day, although he is interested in what might be available.

Richard loves his days out on historical trips but has not visited London since his divorce. Although he has visited Covent Garden in the past, he hasn't been on a historical tour there before.

Richard is hoping that visiting the area might provide ideas for a new book. He will be making notes.

Richard is keen to expand his knowledge of this area of London and find out what it was like in different periods of history. He is wondering whether he could use it as one of the settings for a future book. All of his novels are based around accurate historical information, so Richard expects detailed, accurate information to be available to him from any tour resource.

Although Richard isn't a technophobe, he can only really manage the basics, and anything that isn't straightforward to use may cause him a problem. He hates cluttered interfaces on any device, as he likes things to be obvious.

Richard has an exceptional knowledge of British history.