Website Spotlight: Berlin Airlift

Website URL: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/airlift/

Introductory Note:

Welcome to one in a series of posts which spotlight quality websites that I use with my U.S. History survey course students at Azusa Pacific University to enrich the regular material in our learning modules.

In this post, I limit myself to those specific aspects of the website which I find fit particularly well within our face-to-face class sessions (each student is required to bring a laptop to class) or as the basis for the students' regularly-assigned written reactions.

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I ask the students to work through the following links:


In the "Further Reading" section, the suggested web links are especially well
chosen.

II. Special Features

All three features--Online Poll, Newspaper Accounts, and The Chocolate Pilot--
are worthwhile.

III. People & Events

Don't miss the sketch of Gail Halversen.

IV. Maps

These four interactive maps are the best part of this entire website.

V. Timeline

Wonderfully-detailed chronology with effective annoations of each date.


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Concluding Note:

I hope you will use this blog post in conjunction with both the modules on my Learning Professor wiki and the numerous other posts in my Website Spotlight series.

1. The website spotlighted in this post fits within the following U.S. History survey course module on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/Cold+War

2. The other blog posts in my Website Spotlight series--chronologically displayed by U.S. History survey course module-- can be found on this wiki page:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/WEBSITE+SPOTLIGHT

Website Spotlight: Alger Hiss Trial

Website URL: http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/hiss/hiss.html

Introductory Note:

Welcome to one in a series of posts which spotlight quality websites that I use with my U.S. History survey course students at Azusa Pacific University to enrich the regular material in our learning modules.

In this post, I limit myself to those specific aspects of the website which I find fit particularly well within our face-to-face class sessions (each student is required to bring a laptop to class) or as the basis for the students' regularly-assigned written reactions.

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I recommend you begin your enjoyment of this website by reading Douglas Linder's overview essay. [middle of the home screen, underneath the picture]

Each of the websites in this "Famous Trials" series has standard sections on the left sidebar labelled (more or less) as follows:

A. Chronology
B. Biographies/Key Figures
C. Selected Images
D. Excerpts from trial transcripts/Summary of evidence
E. Bibliography and Links

Follow your interests in deciding what parts of this main material to use.

Going beyond these normal categories, I myself found the following items (on the left sidebar) particularly intriguing:

Selected video clips:

Nixon: Answer for Trisha (his daughter)
Pumpkin Papers (don't miss this one)
Nixon Tapes relating to the Hiss case

~~For reviews of the Famous Trials website:

History Matters (The U.S. Survey Course on the Web)
http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/4908/
TeachingHistory.org (National History Education Clearinghouse)
http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/website-reviews/14636

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Concluding Note:

I hope you will use this blog post in conjunction with both the modules on my Learning Professor wiki and the numerous other posts in my Website Spotlight series.

1. The website spotlighted in this post fits within the following U.S. History survey course module on the wiki:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/Cold+War

2. The other blog posts in my Website Spotlight series--chronologically displayed by U.S. History survey course module-- can be found on this wiki page:
http://thelearningprofessor.wikispaces.com/WEBSITE+SPOTLIGHT

Website Spotlight: Cuban Missile Crisis

Disclosure: This blog post is my first in what I hope will be a regular series. Just to keep myself from worrying that this post is not yet good enough to post, I am going with it as it is now.

I require all my students to bring their laptop each day to class. The overall material pertinent to the Cuban Missile Crisis is contained in the Cold War module on our wiki. We profitably used the following excellent websites:

1. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. Go to the page on the Cuban Missile Crisis. Then click on the Interactive Microsite.

2. National Security Archive at George Washington University. The portion containing the surveillance photos was particularly exciting for our class.

3. American Experience Presidents series: John F. Kennedy, section devoted to primary sources. Go to "Letters" to view correspondence between JFK and the Soviet leader.

Final musings: Ideally I should flesh out this material more fully, but I hope this initial post at least gets me out of the blocks.

See Website Review of the National Security Archive:

National Security Archive
http://teachinghistory.org/history-content/website-reviews/23061