Using New Technologies

New technologies scare me. Sad, but true, and this class has stretched my limits! One of the reasons that I find new technology intimidating is because I rarely feel like I will need to use any technology that is not intuitive. Today I found a new technology that I think is amazing, not only for use in a classroom, but for me personally. This, of course, translates into the fact that I will actually learn it and use it. It is a website called the Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History.

Reasons this website is cool:
1. It integrates geography along with history. Which, in my opinion are completely inseparable.
2. It also integrate artwork and pictures (thus the "Art History-ness" of the website)

Virtual Reality

What I have decided to do for my project is virtual field trips. I think that this is such a great idea for social studies because the places and events that you are teaching your students are REAL, and this seems like such a great way to let your students know that fact. I am especially excited to create virtual field trips for the places that I have been and the periods of history that I think are exciting. A lot of history can seem boring, but a virtual field trip would be an excellent way to make it come to life.

Class Website

My class website is http://sites.google.com/site/suzieshistoryclass/home.

Ideas for the classroom

A lot of what I have been learning about teaching is not specifically tied to technology. I however, did take a history class at BYU called History on Film (which is kind of technological) where we discussed the value of film as a way to analyze and discuss history. We spent the whole semester reading history texts and then comparing them against history films about the same subject. Recently I read on this website that besides textbooks, films are the most popular way to learn about history in the classroom. So the question is, are films a good way to represent and learn history?

I guess the conclusion that I have come to is that every film, just like every text, needs to be evaluated on an individual basis. As a teacher I need to be scrutenizing what I expose my students to as FACTUAL history, this includes film and text.