Virtual Bits and Bytes: Teaching World History Online

World History Association Conference

Salem State University

June 25, 2009

Sherri West

Brookdale Community College

swest@brookdalecc.edu

Prof. Jane Scimeca:

http://ux.brookdalecc.edu/fac/history/Teaching World History Online.ppt

“This was just a call to say: ‘It appears Twitter is playing an important role at a crucial time in Iran. Could you keep it going?’ ” said P.J. Crowley, the assistant secretary of state for public affairs.

Op-Ed ColumnistThe Virtual Mosque

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMANPublished: June 16, 2009 Watching events unfolding in Tehran raises three intriguing questions for me: Is Facebook to Iran’s Moderate Revolution what the mosque was to Iran’s Islamic Revolution? Is Twitter to Iranian moderates what muezzins were to Iranian mullahs? And, finally, is any of this good for the Jews — particularly Israel’s prime minister, Bibi Netanyahu?

Washington Taps Into a Potent New Force in DiplomacyBy MARK LANDLER and BRIAN STELTERPublished: June 16, 2009

“Those who forget history are doomed to retweet it”

Tyranny's new nightmare: Twitter

Are you a Digital Dinosaur, Digital Immigrant, or Digital Native?

http://i296.photobucket.com/albums/mm173/temporary1_bucket/big-mac-class.jpg

“I don't know how staged this was, but for decision makers who are not from the net generation (That's still almost all of us, right?) it definitely is worth thinking about.” Jon Dillow Doctoral Student University of Minnesota (International Listserv, 6/16/08)

Randy Pausch’s Goal:“The Head Fake”

“Educators best serve students by helping them to become more self-reflective.”

“Instructors are like professional trainers. . .it’s our job to be demanding.”

“Our job is to teach students how to see how their minds are growing.”

Opening Videos

• Is Online Learning for You?

• Online Student Testimonial from Mars

• A Vision of Students Today

• Shift Happens: Bringing Education into the 21st Century

• Have You Been Paying Attention?

• Why I Teach Online

• Twitter in the Classroom

Who Learns Online?

• older, transfer, first-generation students• participate in course activities that challenge

them intellectually• participate in discussions that enhance their

understanding of different cultures• spend at least 10 hours per week in class

preparation• believe the campus environment is

supportive of their academic success

National Survey of Student Engagement, 2008 Results: http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2008Results/

http://www.allmyfaves.com/main.php

Multitasking Myths

“You say multitasking like it’s a good thing”-Multitasking saves time.

-Multitasking is as good as single-task learning.

-Multitasking is the forte of the young.

Why in academia?

-“Getting something for nothing?

-It’s cultural—too many electronic devices, too much information, too little time.

Abate, Charles J., “You Say Multitasking Like It’s a Good Thing,”

Thought and Action, Vol. 24, Fall 2008.

Teaching Tolerance, Fall 2008:

http://www.tolerance.org/teach/magazine/features.jsp?p=0&is=43&ar=944

What Can World Civilizations Do For You?

• “Survival Skill” for the 21st century

• Help you become a “global citizen”

• Give you perspective on current events

• Help you get the skills you need to succeed in any career or academic path

What can history courses do for you?

Young Workers: U Nd 2 Improve Ur Writing SkillsNew York Times, Aug. 27, 2007

“some young employees are now guilty of the technological equivalent of wearing flip-flops: they are writing company e-mail as if they were texting cellphone messages with their thumbs.”

Mind Your Blackberry or Mind Your Manners

New York Times, June 22, 2009

21st Century Skills

• Core subjects include English, reading or language arts, world languages, arts, mathematics, economics, science, geography, history, government and civics.

 • Interdisciplinary themes must be woven into the core subjects:

• Global Awareness • Financial, Economic, Business and Entrepreneurial Literacy • Civic Literacy • Health Literacy

http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/TheFutureofOnlineTeachingandLe/157426

Future Trends in Online Learning

Ways to “Cheatproof” your course:

1. “Virtue” – create a climate to deter cheating.

2. “Prevention” – reduce opportunities for cheating.

3. “Police” – develop ways to catch and punish those that cheat.

How?

1. Secure Log-ins

2. Use several kinds of assessment

3. Use multiple, individualized assignments

4. Use lots of student-teacher interaction

5. Take a proactive approach toplagiarism

6. Set clear time restrictions, clear test parameters, randomize tests

7. Use proctored testing

Collaborative AssignmentsVideojournal

UTubeU

Current Events Questions -Then and Now

Wrong Wikis, Quiz Wikis

YouTube, Twitter for Quick Class Assessment

Google Your Cultural Heritage

Using Visuals

Create/Edit Podcasts

Music

Russia, home of the galosh is made up of two brobdingnagian furry boots (one European and one Siberian, one imagines). Canada and Greenland are similarly furry and boot-like and icy patches that together form the shape of a low boot.South America, passionate about futbol, is decked out as a sports shoe. Mexico and India also seem shaped like locally worn footwear. Baja California peninsula doubles as an elongated heel, while India’s shoetip is decorated with a pompon – i.e. Sri Lanka.The US is, of course, a cowboy boot. Alaska is cleverly represented as the nose of Canada’s left shoeIceland, New Zealand (perhaps a Wellington boot?), a Japanese geta, an unmatching pair representing the island of New Guinea, divided between the independent state of Papua New Guinea (eastern half) and Irian Jaya (Indonesia’s western half).Italy is represented by the exact same shape it has in reality…I am not familiar with the context of this particular cartoon, so I am unaware of any political double entendre. I can only speculate that, if such were the case, it might have something to do with the particular place of footwear in Arab social discourse. To be struck with the sole of a shoe is the ultimate insult – hence the images, at the end of the Baathist regime, of angry Iraqis hammering Saddam’s torn-down statue with their shoes.  Hence also the practice of throwing footwear at despised dignitaries, as happened to the former president Bush on his last visit to Iraq.

Italy’s famously boot-like appearance might be what gave Emad Hajjaj the idea for this footwear-oriented world map. Hajjaj, a cartoonist for the Jordanian newspaper Al-Ghad, manages to craft all major countries and continents into shoe-shapes – most of them endemic to the country or continent thus represented.

http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/, Shoe World, May 12, 2009

Shoes and Culture

Teaching Module: http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/podcasts/200901/index.shtml

http://www.batashoemuseum.ca/education/

http://www.allaboutshoes.ca/en/heights_of_fashion/east_meets_west/

Shoes and Culture Assignment• Choose a shoe type from an historic era in your

region/country.

• Post a picture/video/audio along with links.

• In your first post, summarize what you learned about the symbolic, economic, religious, and/or social importance of the shoe in your culture.

• In your other posts, we’ll discuss the role of material culture (like shoes) in reflecting culture and work to compare yours with others.

Earth 2100 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Earth2100

Transcript: http://a.abcnews.com/images/Technology/Web_Version_Earth_2100_Annotated_2_6.pdf

Earth 2100 DQ

Teaching “Earth 2100” and Copenhagen

Teaching “Earth 2100” and Copenhagen

• Use “Reports from the Field” Blogs in online classes and web-enhanced classes.

• Focus: Reporting from region selected on environmental problems, solutions, key movers and shakers, policy positions at Copenhagen.

• Final Roundtable: Conference to present positions, solutions to contrast with those presented at Copenhagen.

Earth 2100 and Copenhagen• (10 pts.) Watch “Earth 2100” and submit a 2-page

evaluation of the most pressing issues raised. Earth 2100 http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/Earth2100

Take your own ecological footprint and report the results: http://myfootprint.org/

• (5 pts.) Select one critical evaluation on the program from an internet search, summarize key criticisms, then provide your opinion.

• (20 pts.) Choose one world region (or country in Africa, Asia, America, Europe, Middle East) and submit 4 approx. one page “reports” on environmental news during the semester to the course blog, “Earth 2100.” Be sure to provide a brief summary of the article, the reference(s) you used, and develop a question that would lead to discussion with others online.

• (15 pts.) Review the main areas of discussion for the upcoming Copenhagen Conference on the Environment, which will be held in December. Submit a two-page “report” that highlights your region or country’s position on some of the key issues at the conference. (10 pts.) After you post your review, enter into discussion with other reporters on the merits and demerits of their positions. (5 pts.) http://www.erantis.com/events/denmark/copenhagen/climate-conference-2009/index.htm

• Ultimately we want to discuss (via the blog) the questions:

– Will countries/regions be successful in avoiding the worst effects highlighted in the video, “Earth 2100.”

– What actions is your region taking to make Copenhagen a success?

– If Copenhagen fails, who’s to blame?

Technical Resources• Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/• Adobe Captivate: http://www.adobe.com/devnet/captivate/• Blogger: https://www.blogger.com/start• Camtasia: http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp• Common Craft: http://commoncraft.com/• Educators Using Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7036945291• Google Maps for History Teachers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI5_x_6K-A0• Jing: http://www.jingproject.com/• Quizlet: http://quizlet.com/demo/• Snipshot: http://snipshot.com/• Softchalk: http://www.softchalk.com/• SurveyMonkey: http://www.surveymonkey.com• TeacherTube: http://www.teachertube.com/• TwHistory: http://www.twhistory.com/• Twitter: http://twitterforteachers.wetpaint.com• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page• World Press Blog: http://wordpress.org/

Resources• Ron Berk’s website: http://www.ronberk.com/index.html• 7 things you should know about Second Life:

http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7038.pdf• Educause Connect: http://connect.educause.edu/• History News Network: http://hnn.us/• Best of History Websites: http://besthistorysites.net/• Center for History and New Media: http://chnm.gmu.edu/index.php• Bridging World History: http://www.learner.org/channel/courses/worldhistory/• Clickers in the Classroom: http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/resources/teaching_resources/technology/crs.htm• Jeffrey Young, “Short and Sweet: Technology Shrinks the Lecture,” Chronicle of Higher Education, Vol.

54: 41: http://chronicle.com/free/v54/i41/41a00901.htm• The Last Lecture: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo• Teaching with PowerPoints: http://www.teachingwithpowerpoint.com/• World History Connected: http://worldhistoryconnected.press.illinois.edu/• World History For Us All: http://worldhistoryforusall.sdsu.edu/default.htm• Political Cartoons: http://www.cagle.com/politicalcartoons/pccartoons/archives/hajjaj.asp?Action=

GetImage

ResourcesDigital History Reader (US and European History): http://www.dhr.history.vt.edu/about/index.html

Evaluating Webpages: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/TeachingLib/Guides/Internet/Evaluate.html

Online Map Bank: http://www.phschool.com/curriculum_support/map_bank/a_to_e.html

Strange Maps: http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/

“Twitter and the World Simulation:” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgbfMY-6giY&feature=channel

Kevin Sheets, “Wiki in the History Classroom:” AHA Perspectives, 47:5, May 2009: http://www.historians.org/Perspectives/issues/2009/0905/0905for11.cfm

World History Since 1945: http://www.uncg.edu/~jwjones/world/index.html

Text Websites:

MyHistoryLab: http://www.myhistorylab.com/login-web-wcwh.html

Traditions and Encounters Brief: http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0073534536/student_view0/

You’ll find additional websites here: http://ux.brookdalecc.edu/fac/history/Websites.htm

Spodek Companion Website: http://wps.prenhall.com/hss_spodek_worldhist_3/

Brookdale TLC Center link: http://www.brookdalecc.edu/pages/199.asp

References

Abate, Charles J., “You Say Multitasking Like It’s a Good Thing,” Thought and Action, Vol. 24, Fall 2008.

Chisholm, Julie, “Pleasure and Danger in Online Teaching and Learning,” Academe Online, Nov-Dec 2006.

Kim, Kyong-Jee and Bonk, Curtis J., “The Future of Online Teaching and Learning. . .The Survey says,” EDUCAUSE Quarterly (EQ), Vol 29, Number 4, 2006.

Hensley, Gordon, “Creating a Hybrid College Course: Instructional Design Notes and Recommendations for Beginners,” Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, Vol. 1, No. 2, 2005.

Olt, Melissa, “Ethics and Distance Education: Strategies for Minimizing Academic Dishonesty in Online Assessment,” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Vol. V, Number III, Fall 2002.

National Survey of Student Engagement, 2008 Results, http://nsse.iub.edu/NSSE_2008_Results/

Partnership for 21st Century Skills, http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/route21/images/stories/epapers/skills_foundations_final.pdf

Pausch, Randy, The Last Lecture, Hyperion, 2008.

Rowe, Neil, “Cheating in Online Student Assessment: Beyond Plagiarism,” Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, Vol. VII, Number II, Fall 2004.

Teach Online, http://telr.osu.edu/teachonline/index.htm

Vess, Deborah, Ph.D., “Cleo Contemplates Her Students: Reflections on Teaching and Learning History in the Digital Age,” http://www.usg.edu/academics/fac_dev/awards/2007/gcsu_vess.pdf