Website Spotlight: Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga (Smithsonian)

Website URL: http://www.mnh.si.edu/vikings/start.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 ask the students to work through the following:

I. GUIDED TOUR [click at the top of the home screen]

Click "Next Room" to move through the Guided Tour:

Room 1 Journey of Discovery
Room 2 Recapturing the Past
Room 3 Going Viking
Room 4 Transforming Society
Room 5 Leaving Home
Room 6 Taking the North Atlantic
Room 7 Discovering North America
Room 8 Holding Fast at World's End

II. VIKING VOYAGE [click at the top of the home screen]

Select the stops from the map at the left of the screen.

Each stop may have addition tabs entitled Archeology, Sagas, History, Environment, and Genetics. Click on and read those.

Stop 1. Homeland: Who were the Vikings
Stop 2. Western Isles: Vikings: Raiders, Traders, or Settlers?
Stop 3. Iceland: Who Settled Iceland?
Stop 4. Greenland: What Happened to the Greenland Norse?
Stop 5. Markland and Helluland: Who Were the Skraelings?
Stop 6. Vinland: Where is Vinland?
Stop 7. Land of Legend: Why are Vikings Still Popular?

III. LEARNING CENTER [click at the top of the home screen]

Read about these:

Hnefatafl Board Game
Runes (Runic alphabet)

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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/Exploration

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: Alamo

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

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:

Survivor Stories
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/sfeature/sf_survivors.html

The Navarro Family
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/sfeature/sf_family.html

The Republic of Texas
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/sfeature/sf_republic.html

Timeline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/timeline/index.html
I always love the timelines in these American Experience websites. This particular one is very detailed, containing a well-annotated explanation of each date.

Stephen Austin
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/p_austin.html

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/p_santaanna.html

Davy Crockett
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/p_crockett.html

Jim Bowie
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/p_bowie.html

William Travis
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/p_travis.html

Sam Houston .
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/p_houston.html

Texas Annexation and Statehood
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/alamo/peopleevents/e_annex.html

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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/Expansion

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: Battle of the Bulge

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

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:

Introduction
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/introduction/bulge-introduction/

George S. Patton, Jr.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/bulge-patton/

Omar Bradley
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/bulge-bradley/

Bernard Law Montgomery
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/bulge-montgomery/

Timeline
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/timeline/bulge/
This is a wonderful timeline of World War II in Europe. As such, it is useful beyond merely the Battle of the Bulge. As with all the American Experience timelines, this one has several sentences about each event in the timeline along with pictures of certain events or persons.

Photo Gallery: Cartoons by Bill Mauldin
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/photo-gallery/warletters-cartoons/

Photo Gallery: Battle of the Bulge
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/photo-gallery/bulge/

Soldiers' Battlefield Accounts
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/bulge-dispatches/

Nurses' Tales
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/primary-resources/bulge-nurse/

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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/World+War+II

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: Bataan Rescue

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

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:

Film Description
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/filmmore/fd.html

Philippines Map
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/sfeature/sf_map.html

Further Reading section
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/filmmore/fr.html
Back to Bataan: A Survivor's Story [read the Hell Ships account--4 screens]
http://www.bataansurvivor.com/content/the_hell_ships/1.php

Gallery: sketches by one of the survivors. Read the caption to each sketch.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/gallery/index.html

The Bataan POWs
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/p_pows.html

Henry Mucci and the Rangers
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/p_mucci.html

The Alamo Scouts
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/p_scouts.html

Filipinos and the War
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/p_filipinos.html

The Moment of Liberation
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/e_liberation.html

Japanese Atrocities in the Philippines
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/e_atrocities.html

Prisoners' Diseases
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/bataan/peopleevents/e_disease.html

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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/World+War+II

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

No Student Laptops Permitted in this Course. Really?

Symptomatic of the change I have made in the way I approach my classes was crystallized for me several months ago when a group of my favorite professor colleagues asserted that they now prohibit students using laptops during class sessions. Previously, I had done the same thing.

I meekly observed that I have decided to move in the opposite direction, intentionally building my classes around the use of student laptops to take advantage of the extraordinary riches--carefully chosen--of the Internet, that "virtual" knowledge which is available at their fingertips.

A prohibition of laptops represented--I will speak just for myself--my prior approach to teaching: professor-centered, lecture-oriented, cover-as-much-of-the-material-as-possible. Taking this approach, it made sense to remove the distraction for the student that his or her laptop represented. They would not be giving ME their full attention.

My feeling is one of being all alone. It is scary but somehow I feel it right for me at this stage of my career. I am certainly convinced it is right for my students. But I still am scared.

What is your reaction? Am I right to pursue my approach?

Getting Back into My Blogging

I am very embarrassed that I have neglected this blog. For the last year I devoted time to perfecting (in so far as possible) my wiki.

In the last few days, I have begun to use Twitter more regularly.

Maybe one of the last in society to do so, I am now on Facebook, with both a profile and a page.

Since my HP laptop has no built-in webcam, I purchased a Logitech webcam--which I am still trying to learn how to use and intend to get active with Skype. Eventually I hope to use it in my classroom to connect with our students in semester-abroad locations. For now I will limit myself to practicing with my wife and several close-by colleagues.

I have begun to use my recently-purchased Coolpix digital camera and have learned to upload pictures to my laptop. The dumb picture of me I am using at the moment for all my external websites was one I had taken of me for a passport picture. Maybe I can manage to update my image a bit with my Coolpix.

I need to begin commenting on blogs and thanking others for what I have learned from them.