Up to this point in the course, we have learned how digital technology has re-shaped the traditional pedagogy of historians. Digital media as a tool for learning has made information more accessible and readily available for the historian. This post will look at a few of the projects that the Center of History and New Media at GMU has worked on in the past, as well as analyze their strengths and weaknesses…(well mostly strengths.)
The first project that we will look at is called World History Sources and is located at this link: World History Sources. Upon first glance, the site looks very easy to navigate. There is not a lot of clutter, which makes a world of difference when trying to access the various sources one would need to conduct research. For instance, the links on the main page of the website provide access to more specific information. This is very helpful when doing research for an essay because the user does not have to sift through a lot of pointless information just to find something on say, Trade in World History. What is also quite effective about the website is that it offers interactive multimedia features to help one analyze specific aspects of World History, such as music. By actually hearing and seeing the music played, the historian may arrive at a better analytical interpretation of the music, as opposed to just reading about what’s being played. The ease at which one can navigate this site also matched with the interactive features makes World History Sources a full-fledged winner. (more…)
October 15, 2006
Weeks 7 & 8 – A Critique of CHNM Projects
October 6, 2006
October 3, 2006
Technology for Technology’s Sake
This week’s readings have opened new windows into the rapidly intertwining worlds of history and technology. Possibly the most interesting facet of this evolution of history is the speed at which it is taking place. Graeme Davison’s article although almost a decade old and somewhat outdated highlights this speed. He describes that “the academic world often seems to be divided between techno-freaks and Luddites, those who unreservedly welcome the new technology and those who try to hold it at bay.” That was ten years ago, and Davison was referring to simply using a computer in daily life. At the time of his writing there was still great debate over the future of technology in the classroom but “Most of us, however, have quietly absorbed the computer into the pattern of our academic lives, only occasionally pausing to consider how it is also changing the character of what we know and how we know it.” (more…)
New Lights
Many of the readings this week took into account the whats and hows of communication and narration. This seems to really get at the heart of why new media seems to be a necassary step in the future of education. (more…)
October 2, 2006
Week 6
Before I start addressing the readings for this week, I must note the importance of reminding me that technology is ever-changing and that the readings are tools that present guidelines on how to use digital media within a course. Technology is a discipline that changes rapidly and just as I use it in the business world; it is up to me to take the initiative to seek out what technology is at my disposal.
Sara Horton’s Web Teaching Guide: A Practical Approach to Creating Course Web Sites provides an interesting argument – course websites facilitate face-to-face teaching. She uses the five chapters to provide steps in developing a course web site. I like that she teaches with example; providing interviews with experienced website creators, as well as summaries and references. Even though some of the technology has since advanced since Horton wrote this book she offers valued direction on the creation, implementation, and assessment of a course website; as well as highlighting the importance of re-tooling the website based on the various assessments of the website. (more…)
October 1, 2006
Week 6: Instructions
It’s amazing how real life can get in the way of scholarship. As I have been reading this week’s material, I’ve also been caught up in the multilayered world of my two teenagers. When I’m reading our assignments, I’m often thinking about them in the back of my mind. Ultimately, both my 11th and 9th graders will be the consumers of an educational system trying to incorporate multimedia into its curriculum. That being said, I am late posting because of homecoming. My world yesterday was consumed with flowers, hair appointments, transportation arrangements…it was almost as bad as a wedding – just on a tinier scale.
Sara Horton’s book begins with some excellent ideas about content; what to include and what to leave out. She describes some excellent ways to think about page layout. I was particularly impressed by the comparison of dull, busy, and balanced pages using a graphic illustration on page 110. I liked the way I could quickly get an idea of what she meant by looking at the picture. However, not far after that point the ideas of what to include, who my audience might be, how to organize material, etc…became bogged down in technical stuff I would hope has been resolved by prepackaged software by now.
Her book was copyrighted in 2000, which isn’t that long ago; but means that she must have started writing it way before that. My impression of web work is that there have been leaps and bounds in the industry which will allow most of us to bypass certain steps. I’m not sure that I will need to scrutinize my images so closely, or know how many colors my computer is capable of producing on the screen. Discussions of topics like copyright considerations are much more useful. I am appreciative though for examples of why things are the way they are.
I am certainly more interested in content. There is a whole workforce of people out there who can help me actually get a web page running. If I can’t figure out how to create something myself by using software designed for an end user like me – which I’m sure there are many; then I’ll be able to hire someone who can help me, and leave me in charge of what actually gets said. The proliferation of such products as Dreamweaver and its like is evidence that use of the web is increasing every day. Will these things be used for History though?
Of course they will. Using the web as a teaching tool does not mean that the print world disappears. We would be wrong to eliminate instruction of how to use traditional research methods (the dusty library), and equally wrong to reject electronic media. Including online sources in conjunction with traditional ones is really what is necessary. Overall, the Horton’s book and the articles assigned for this week give us guidelines to think about what we want to convey, and how we might want to spread the word to a population which has decided to embrace electronic media completely. Resistance is futile.
If we don’t do it who will? Teaching new media skills.
Earlier this semester we discussed the tension or conflict between good scholarship and the need for excellence in teaching. While both are important, scholarship has traditionally outweighed the other when it came to awarding tenure. How were we to foster excellence in teaching if it didn’t receive the same support and rewards? Some of this week’s readings raised a similarly thorny issue. Daniel M. Ringrose’s article Beyond Amusement: Reflections on Multimedia, Pedagogy, and Digital Literacy in the History Seminar presented two multi media projects he introduced to his students over the course of two semesters. The article details the trials and tribulations of teaching his students web authoring techniques while at the same time trying to teach them how to construct historical arguments. He set lofty goals for himself such as changing faculty expectations, promoting digital literacy, and assessing what aspects of his project might transfer well to other institutions.
September 30, 2006
Is having fun enough?
Sara Horton’s Web Teaching Guide: A Practical Approach to Creating Course Web Sites, and the Bass-Rosenzweig article “Rewiring the History and Social Studies Classroom: Needs, Frameworks, Dangers, and Proposals,” provide a handy framework, set of guidelines, and best practices for using new media as part of the interaction with the students. These two works show that there is no one formula or recipe — design and content really depend on the teacher’s goals and objectives, the students, and facility resources (h/w, s/w, it support staff, availability of computer facilities).
Horton’s reference to shovelware (p. xi) and Kelly’s warning in his article “Using New Media to Teach East European History” not to use new media for the sake of it are spot on. I would guess that all of us have experienced several courses or training where the presenter feels they have done their job of being “with it” by incorporating new media in their course by dumping a bunch of website links in the students’ lap, basically pointing to web and saying “There is it, go get it,” with no thought, organization or purpose. So if just using new media to use is not the answer, then what is, or should be the purpose of goal of using new media. Should it just be easy to use with information easy to find at the fingertips of the student, a mechanism for instilling enjoyment or amusement, or can it, should it be more, a medium to enhances learning?
History and Technology: or how I learned to love the bomb.
I seem to keep making comments before I’ve even read most of the articles for the week. I haven’t even finished the first one that I’m reading as I make this comment. But if I don’t make them as I think of them, then I’ll forget them and won’t make them…
So, in reading Brass and Rosenzweig’s article, they mention how search engines can help students learn more and different aspects of history. That’s all fine and good, but the examples they give are a bit of a stretch for the K-12 and even college student. They say:
“In other words, the search engines cannot only help students to find what they are looking for; they also allow them to examine patterns of word usage and language formation within and across documents.”
(more…)
Links for the articles hosted at CHNM – week 6 readings
The links from the syllabus are incorrect. They should be as follows:
Bass, Randy and Roy Rosenzweig, Rewiring the History and Social Studies Classroom: Needs, Frameworks, Dangers, and Proposals , White Paper for Department of Education, Forum on Technology in K-12 Education: Envisioning a New Future , December 1999
Kelly, T. Mills ” Using New Media to Teach East European History ,” Nationalities Papers (September 2001)
Kobrin, David, ” Using History Matters with a Ninth Grade Class ,” The History Teacher (May 2001)
Schrum, Kelly, ” Making History on the Web Matter in the Classroom ,” The History Teacher (May 2001)
Weis, Tracey, ” Evaluating Websites for History Teachers: Using History Matters in a Graduate Seminar ,” The History Teacher (May 2001)