This week in our class we finished up our video presentations. Mine is on Genghis Khan and is an example for what I would expect students to make as an end of the year project. I think that with a video presentation students are more involved with their material and therefore internalize the content better. This kind of video project also helps students be creative and choose a particular character in world history they felt was most influential. This process of evaluation is highest on Blooms Taxonomy of higher order thinking. This particular project covers the UEN standard 3 objective 1 in the core curriculum for the Utah world history core. I thought the project was challenging but fun to do. Now that I have done it once and learned the skills necessary to make a basic video I will be able to apply this to other classes and projects in the future. This is also beneficial for students who would similarly complete this assignment. Bellow is my video and you can also find it by going to this address! Here is a lower resolution form of the same video. Both should work
Monday, November 8, 2010
Saturday, November 6, 2010
World History Podcasts
Last week I shared a collections of American History pod casts. This week I feel it is appropriate to also offer a series of world history pod casts that are also free to access and great to show to a class. Since world history and American history are the two most common history classes taught in our public schools I feel it would be a good idea to represent both on this blog. One website called learn out loud offers scores of pod casts that cover the classical times all the way to modern world history and anything in between. I listened to a few of the pod casts on this site that dealt with Greek Mythology since it is an interest of mine and I thought they were very well done. You don't have to pay for anything and there is a lot of great stuff and most of the pod casts are short so they would work in a high school class if you wanted to show one. Rather than showing a podcast in class they could assign a podcast for homework and have students write a reflection on it. Enjoy
Monday, November 1, 2010
BackStory with the American History Guys
On our voicethread this week I commented about a podcast group that I once followed after having to listen to several during a history class at BYU. The group is called BackStory with the American History Guys. It is a group of professors who all specialize in a different century and address several different important themes in history and how they have changed America. They are witty and the podcasts are very well done. I think that it would be a great way to introduce podcasts to a history class and it also teaches a lot of really great insights into american history. Hope you enjoy.
Monday, October 25, 2010
Interactive maps
While I was searching around this week for a new history related website I cam across Interactive Maps which is a website that has tons of interactive maps which can be downloaded for free. I thought it was really cool. Its downfall is that it focuses solely on the US but could still be used when talking about different states or in a political science/geography course. When you click on the map of the US you can click on any of the different states and then find out a ton about each state like its economy, political standing etc. I think that if you were teaching a class on the different states in a geography course it would be fun to assign a state to each of the students and then have them research it and do a simple presentation. I thought it was pretty cool. Enjoy
The Great Khan (storyboard)
For my video project I am creating a short video on the rise and accomplishments of one of the most feared leaders of all time, the Great Genghis Khan. Feel free to look at my storyboard and let me know what you think!
Monday, October 18, 2010
Copyrights
I was able to learn a lot from the three copyright videos that we watched for this assignment. First according to the third video there are some CONFU guidelines that help teachers be more responsible about what media they show in class and post on educational websites. Some of these guidelines include the use of only 10% or 3 minutes of a video whichever is smallest and 30 seconds of a song. Now this is related to songs and media that they acquired legally but do not necessarily have permission from the author to use in its entirety. Also the first video explained that the copyright laws were not used to protect the author financially rather was suppose to help science and information spread and increase and improve. Copyright laws help encourage people to produce their own good work not simply copy others all the time. Finally, I learned that if a video is going to be showed in history class, for example, and it was bought and used for educational purposes then its okay to show the whole thing but if you are showing it for a reward our extra filler time then it is prohibited against copyright laws.
In this first video that I found Mr. Johnny Williams offers the students the chance to look at what might happen if the United States were to change drastically in a short period of time into a northern confederation led by a charismatic but then oppressive leader. He poses questions to the students to think about whether they would fight back or simply go with the flow under such conditions. The presentation is well done with music playing in the background and pictures. The problem is that at no point does he offer the viewer any reference for how the music/pictures were obtained or how they could be found. Since it is for educational purposes and non profit this may be okay if depending on how he obtained these media sources but he should still offer a works cited page at the end or footnotes during the presentation demonstrating where he obtained the media sources and giving them their rightful credit.
In this second video done by Isaac Rosete, a junior in high school, he presents a rather interesting conspiracy theory to 9/11. In a history class I think it would be interesting to show a class a short clip like this and see how they respond. My experience in the past tells me that most students would immediately accept this as fact. It sounds convincing to some if they have not studied the facts and I can't point to any of his facts and say that they are necessarily false but I do doubt his presentation for one main reason. He does not site his sources! Not only do we not know where he got the music, although he does mention the titles in the abstract on the youtube blurb, or his pictures but his information as well. As a historian it is critical that one sites their sources to add authority to the paper. It shows that proper recognition is given to others who are more informed than we or who may have a greater voice. Similarly giving recognition to media sources is important. It shows that we acknowledge the work of another. To help this presentation the student should have added a list of where he got his information and where he found his media sources. Without it he loses credibility.
The first video sources can be found on at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwX8pSTWqlo and the second at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcxVvZq0REc
In this first video that I found Mr. Johnny Williams offers the students the chance to look at what might happen if the United States were to change drastically in a short period of time into a northern confederation led by a charismatic but then oppressive leader. He poses questions to the students to think about whether they would fight back or simply go with the flow under such conditions. The presentation is well done with music playing in the background and pictures. The problem is that at no point does he offer the viewer any reference for how the music/pictures were obtained or how they could be found. Since it is for educational purposes and non profit this may be okay if depending on how he obtained these media sources but he should still offer a works cited page at the end or footnotes during the presentation demonstrating where he obtained the media sources and giving them their rightful credit.
In this second video done by Isaac Rosete, a junior in high school, he presents a rather interesting conspiracy theory to 9/11. In a history class I think it would be interesting to show a class a short clip like this and see how they respond. My experience in the past tells me that most students would immediately accept this as fact. It sounds convincing to some if they have not studied the facts and I can't point to any of his facts and say that they are necessarily false but I do doubt his presentation for one main reason. He does not site his sources! Not only do we not know where he got the music, although he does mention the titles in the abstract on the youtube blurb, or his pictures but his information as well. As a historian it is critical that one sites their sources to add authority to the paper. It shows that proper recognition is given to others who are more informed than we or who may have a greater voice. Similarly giving recognition to media sources is important. It shows that we acknowledge the work of another. To help this presentation the student should have added a list of where he got his information and where he found his media sources. Without it he loses credibility.
The first video sources can be found on at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwX8pSTWqlo and the second at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dcxVvZq0REc
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