The Teaching History Her Way Podcast · CherylAnne Amendola

Teaching the Civil War in the Digital Age with Jim Beeghley

September 8, 2025·36 min·2 clips

Jim Bigley warns that AI can produce “phantom websites and phantom quotes” on the Battle of Gettysburg.

1. The Teaching History Her Way Podcast episode centers on teaching the Civil War in the digital age with Dr. Jim Bigley. 2. Sherrilyn Amendola hosts Jim Bigley, an instructional designer, historian, and educational technologist behind TeachingTheCivilWar.com. 3. The episode asks how teachers can use technology to help students “do history” instead of only watching or reading about it. 4. Bigley describes his path from a history-teacher father and Gettysburg reenacting to a master’s degree and later doctoral research on Civil War instruction. 5. He says TeachingTheCivilWar.com began after sharing resources in old wiki spaces and later became a website at the suggestion of Kevin Honeycutt. 6. Bigley argues that tools have changed in 20 years, but the core concept stays the same: students should engage with evidence. 7. He rejects passive use of Ken Burns’ The Civil War and says clips can be used more actively in tools like Edpuzzle. 8. Bigley recommends a “CSI Gettysburg” approach where students examine a battlefield photograph like a crime scene and ask what details matter. 9. He points to Library of Congress TIFF images because they are large enough to zoom in without pixelation. 10. He says Google Earth, letters, commander accounts, and participant testimony can be combined to build a historical narrative. 11. Bigley prefers documentary making, news reporting, and collaborative student teams over forcing a traditional report. 12. He says students feel empowered when their work is published beyond the teacher and classmates. 13. Amendola emphasizes that students are not making things up when they build a narrative from evidence. 14. Bigley explains that different newspapers, such as Northern and Southern papers, create different narratives of the same Gettysburg event. 15. He points to Penn State’s newspaper archive, Colonial Williamsburg’s Virginia Gazette, and the Valley of the Shadow project as sources. 16. He gives an example of overlaying battlefield routes and the Elliott burial map onto Google Earth to show where events happened. 17. Bigley repeatedly describes the tone as simple, low-prep, and accessible, with one computer, one projector, and a Library of Congress image. 18. The episode moves like a practical interview, with Amendola reacting in real time, asking follow-ups, and sharing her own classroom connections. 19. Teachers looking for Civil War, social studies, or technology integration ideas would likely benefit most. 20. Teachers wanting a purely lecture-based Civil War overview would likely skip it.

As heard by us

A practical Civil War teaching conversation that makes digital tools feel usable, not decorative.

Sherrilyn Amendola keeps the focus on classroom use, and Jim Bigley makes the case in plain terms. The discussion stays grounded in familiar tools like Google Earth and Google Maps, then moves into primary sources and AI without losing sight of the main point: students need help…

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Why you'd press play

Press play for a Civil War lesson that leans on digital tools you can actually use.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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