DocsTeach vs HistoriCall
DocsTeach
docsteach.org
HistoriCall
historia.europa.euSide by side
| Figure | DocsTeach | HistoriCall |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | — |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| macOS | Yes | — |
| iOS | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · History Learning Apps | 8.8 (#3) | 7.8 (#8) |
| Audience | DocsTeach is presented as a resource for teachers, students, and history explorers. | It is designed for secondary-school educators working with students aged 13 to 18, including in history, civic education, geography and languages. |
| Privacy | The privacy policy says submitted personal information is not sold to third parties and describes use of cookies and Google Analytics Premium. | The House of European History privacy policy says personal data is processed in compliance with Regulation (EU) 2018/1725 and used only for stated purposes. |
| Purpose | DocsTeach is an interactive website for teaching with activities based on documents in the National Archives holdings. | HistoriCall offers ready-to-use content and a teaching methodology connecting European history with current challenges for students and their communities. |
| Support | DocsTeach lists [email protected] for questions and comments. | The site directs teachers to a manual at the start of each module and provides [email protected] for additional questions. |
Plans
In their own words
DocsTeach
DocsTeach is a free interactive teaching website built around primary sources in the National Archives holdings. Its collection includes thousands of letters, photographs, speeches, posters, maps, and videos. Teachers can create activities by selecting a tool and sources, then customizing instructions. Activity formats include document analysis, discussion, compare and contrast, zoom and crop, sequencing, mapping, and interpreting data. Students can submit and save responses for a teacher to view in My Students’ Responses, or send responses by email. Teachers can share activities to Google Classroom, where students can turn in their work through its button. For lessons using other materials, teachers can upload JPG, PNG, GIF, or JPEG documents and images up to 8 MB per file. The redesigned site supports exploring and creating activities on computers and tablets, and students can turn in work through the DocsTeach App for iPad. A free account costs nothing and allows users to create, save, and share activities and primary sources, and access hundreds more educator activities. Creating an account requires a name, email address, and password.
HistoriCall
HistoriCall is a free web teaching resource connecting European history with present-day challenges for students and their communities. It is designed for secondary-school educators teaching learners aged 13 to 18 in history, civic education, geography, and languages. Modules address EU pioneers, the EU timeline, media literacy through European history, and racism and colonial histories. Lessons combine text and audiovisual material with quizzes, student-created content, and individual or group activities. The teaching method uses multiple perspectives and the student-oriented Visible Thinking approach to build critical thinking and relate historical topics to learners’ lives. HistoriCall is available in 24 languages, with content reviewed by curators and external academic experts. Teachers distribute login codes, with no stated limit on simultaneous students. Moodle powers the service. It works on computers, tablets, and smartphones through Edge, Chrome, or Safari, but requires internet access; some quiz results can be downloaded.