Digital Approaches to the History of Education (2026 – 2031)

Digital Humanities; Digital Methods; Digital Archives; Digital Methodology; OCR; Computational Text Analysis; Natural Language Processing; Topic Modeling; Network Analysis; Data Visualization; Database Management; Computational History; Digital Source Criticism; Online Databases; Historical GIS

Shana Crosson, University of Minnesota, United States of America
Daniel Erdmann, BBF | Research Library for the History of Education, Germany
Roelie Kuijpers, University of Groningen, Netherlands
Marco Lorenz, BBF | Research Library for the History of Education, Germany
Franziska Primus, Örebro University, Sweden
Johan Samuelsson, Karlstad University, Sweden
Josefine Wähler, BBF | Research Library for the History of Education, Germany

Despite the growing significance of digital methodologies in historical research, there is currently no international forum dedicated to the presentation and discussion of research employing these approaches in the field of educational history. The purpose of this SWG is to organise conference sessions at ISCHE events with the aim of showcasing the growing body of educational history research that employs digital methods at various levels of complexity.

Researchers worldwide are conducting educational history projects that engage with digital approaches on various scales. Some projects provide critical analyses of digitised archival sources, exploring the effects of digitisation on historical interpretation and the challenges of using online databases and search tools from a methodological perspective.

Other researchers focus on projects involving database creation for comparative studies, optical character recognition (OCR) projects, or systematic digital source processing. These intermediate approaches help historians analyse extensive collections of sources while addressing issues of digital methodology and historical rigour.

A growing number of scholars are now employing advanced computational methods in their research, including Natural Language Processing (NLP), topic modelling, network analysis, geographic mapping and data visualisation.

The projects under discussion demonstrate the potential of computational approaches to reveal new patterns in educational texts, trace institutional networks, and present historical arguments through innovative analytical frameworks.

While these approaches represent different levels of technical complexity, this diversity of methodological engagement is a strength rather than a barrier – researchers at all stages of digital expertise can contribute meaningfully to our shared understanding of educational history.

The central questions that this study seeks to address are as follows:

• How do digital archives and online databases reshape historical source work? Examining the methodological implications of working with digitized educational materials, from search strategies and source selection to the interpretive challenges posed by digital mediation and platform
  limitations.
• How can computational tools enhance traditional historical analysis of educational sources? Exploring how database creation, text mining, network analysis, and data visualisation can guide researchers toward promising avenues for close reading, help manage large-scale source
  collections, and make complex historical relationships more comprehensible through visual representation.
• What are the possibilities and limitations of integrating digital approaches with established historical methods? Investigating how computational analysis can complement traditional source work – when digital tools offer useful insights, how to maintain critical distance from
  algorithmic outputs, and how to combine computational findings with conventional historical interpretation
  and argumentation.
• How do digital approaches transform academic practices in educational history? Examining how digital methods influence not only research processes but also publication practices, peer review, collaboration patterns, and knowledge dissemination - and considering the implications for
  teaching and public engagement with historical scholarship.

The SWG aims to function as an international forum, where researchers using any of these digital approaches (or critique) will have opportunities to present, while engaging in critical discussion concerning digital methodology in the domain of educational history.

Evidence that the objectives do not overlap with existing Standing Working Groups (SWGs)
Current SWGs organize sessions around thematic, geographical, or temporal approaches to educational history. This SWG focuses on methodological approaches that cut across all existing research areas. International researchers working on any historical period, geographic region, or thematic focus can participate if they employ digital methods in their research.

• Annual conference sessions: Organize two parallel sessions at each ISCHE conference, issuing international calls for papers that invite researchers to present educational history projects employing digital methods at any level of complexity.
• Pre-conference workshops: Coordinate specialized workshops before ISCHE conferences to address technical challenges, share practical knowledge about digital tools and methodologies, and provide hands-on learning opportunities for researchers looking to expand their digital skillsets.
• International research network: Establish and maintain connections among scholars worldwide who are applying digital methods to educational history, facilitating ongoing collaboration, resource sharing, and methodological exchange beyond annual conference meetings.
• Cross-methodological dialogue: Create opportunities within sessions and workshops for researchers using different digital approaches to present together, compare methodologies, and discuss the integration of computational and traditional historical methods.