Wandering through SmArtHistory again, found a few introductory videos, including this, The Skill of Describing
Thinking back to mine own education, can't remember anyone really describing a work of art, let alone describing the skill of describing! (We did make it to the National Art Gallery by HS, so maybe it happened there).
What I'm wondering today is, surely this site would make at least a quarter's credit for any and every HS student in the nation. How, though, to evaluate? This beautiful and rich site has so much--and yet, a teacher has to assess somehow. Write their own?
If anyone has seen assessments based on SmArtHistory, We'd love to see them!
Mr. Roughton's Class 2.0
Can't tell if this is a trend yet. Having grown up gamers themselves, many teachers are turning to gameplay for help in reaching their students. As we've documented here, this can be hit and miss as far as covering any particular content.
The next step to some teachers is to make the entire class a game. Rather than waiting each week for the assgnments to be announced on Monday, with all work done or else by Friday, teachers are allowing students to accumulate points in different manners and times.
We'll look at this more later. For now, have a look 'round Mr. Roughton's digital classroom, check out some of his resources, and see how he assigns/offers lessons and grants points.
Online history lessons - history and ICT - www.SchoolHistory.co.uk
It's been awhile since we looked around SchoolHistory.co.uk. Those who have been around the digital History frontier know it's one of the oldies. Fling the Teacher goes way, way back. They've modified it a bit. (Of course students can "skin" their chosen teacher.) Some 2665 questions on 68 possible topics are available.
learninreturn | Robotics
Learninreturn offers nice lessons relating to real science and engineering projects. I know as a hs student, the most memorable work I did was a simple term paper on what here in the boondocks seemed science fiction, stuff that was actually out of the labs and into the field.
The interactive and assessment part runs more in the worksheet vein, though it is online. Still, cool content...if it inspires to do the hard work of science discipline and math.
Astronomers challenge - Mesopotamia! This challenge from the British Museum accompanies a number of interactives on Assyria, Babylonia, and Sumer. Haven't got to play in depth yet, but my they are gorgeous.
Another is Trading Places: 'Your relations are all merchants and they want you to learn their trade. You will work for three different people, buying goods from other merchants in Anatolia, Dilmun and Susa. Your challenge is to be as good a merchant as possible.'
C-Span Puts Its Full Archives on the Web - NYTimes.com Do you ever step back and think how unexpected all this was? Even those of us who dreamed of a network that connected us all and provided us books and article--could any of us have expected in 2010 instant access to full video like this?
@TimeGlider :: World War I (source: Wikipedia) Another timeline app is Timeglider. Timeglider seems to show you few actual timelines, the purpose is more to create your own? Not sure yet why they don't publish more.
I point you here to the World War 1 timeline. As you can see, there's a bit of sensory overload here. Which tends to be the problem with many of these. The authors just can't stop! You'll recall HyperHistory, which is now much improved, yet which long suffered the same problem.
Timeglider says it has 12,000 users. They show 4 timelines. Are you a user? What's yours look like?
Capzles We talk much of timelines and this was presented to me as a timeline app; it's byline is "Time Captured". A quick exploration shows it to be more of a narrated presentation engine. Much of the content reminds one of TV: much self congratulation and omphaloskepsis.
Yet consider Paul Revere's Ride, a reading of Longfellow's The Midnight Ride.... Every student should have heard this poem professionally read, and what a way to do it, with beautiful pictures and maps of the era all available for exploration.
There's a History section, to help get away from the more personal uses. Yu still get James Bond Movie Posters, Helmut Newton, and 2009 Dodge Challenger. Still, 75 Years of the Popemobile perhaps has potential to draw in a young man interested in cars to some connection with the 2000 year old papacy?
Black Death quickly shows learners a map of the plague's spread; the dead, the dead rats, and a contemporary sketch of the ill, with the body parts appropriately censored as the age demanded.
Capsules can be a platform for students to roll their own, and sports a few good themes. Meta-app for showcasing the richer content, anyone?
We've mentioned Gee's books here before, and it was interesting to hear him speak at this later date to a new audience. I didn't feel I learned much, nor did I feel that he convincingly reinforced what I thought I knew. Instead, I felt the opposite, a desire to push against gaming as learning.
Maybe it was Tuesday's Frontline: Digital Nation. Maybe it was because he had no convincing examples.
Primary Games Arena - School Curriculum Games Don't think we've highlighted this set of games for children. They're Flash based, and cover all the subjects. You can select by grades: 1-6. Also, a few teachers games, like Captain Broadband, designed to guide teachers on Internet safety.
If you have a way to access the journal Computers in Schools, Google Scholar indicates that several articles mention it. Would be great to see some paralytics on these things.
The Open History Project is an online community, and an
open source developer organization. It is also backed by a 501(c)3 organization
to raise and oversee funds for developer contests. The organization
is chartered under the laws of the state of Ohio, for the purpose of
advancing education. Yeah, we need contributions, or contacts with grantmakers.
e-mail Ed
Thinking back to mine own education, can't remember anyone really describing a work of art, let alone describing the skill of describing! (We did make it to the National Art Gallery by HS, so maybe it happened there). 
