Jun 3
If you spend any time here at all, you know that I love all things history and techy. But there are a few things that I love above all others.
Google stuff, especially Google Earth.
The National Archives, especially DocsTeach.
Video games and mobile apps, especially iPad tools.
But I’m also a huge fan of the Library of Congress, especially their Web 2.0 tools. And they just started a brand new blog.
May 11
My greatest wish is to be a journalist, and later on, a famous writer. We’ll have to wait and see if these grand illusions (or delusions!) will ever come true, but up to now I’ve had no lack of topics. In any case, after the war I’d like to publish a book called The Secret Annex. It remains to be seen whether I’ll succeed, but my diary can serve as the basis.
May 11, 1944
Anne Frank
—————————————————————————————–
While browsing my latest new favorite iPad app, Zite, I ran across an article highlighting The Secret Annex Online. Created by the Anne Frank House Foundation, The Secret Annex is perhaps the coolest, most useful site I have ever visited.
Using a variety of media, including text, audio, music, video clips and 3D technology, the site takes you into the small area where Anne Frank, her family and four others hid for over two years.
The site uses technology similar to first person video games – allowing you to walk around and through the Secret Annex as if you are Anne herself in 1942. During your exploring, you can hear descriptions of each area and pan around in 360 degrees.
You can also let Anne take you on a tour, using period photographs and her own words from her diary. This piece is especially powerful because you get a sense of who Anne was and what she thought.
There are maps, building outlines, biographies of all those hiding in the Annex as well as those doing the hiding and information about what the site calls The Outcome – what happened in August 1944 when the Annex was discovered by the German Gestapo.
There is also a teacher page and a student page with resources and materials that you can use along with the site. There are also some nice social media pieces built in.
It really is an extraordinary place – both for the history and events described and also for how they’re described. Even if you don’t teach World War II or the Holocaust, it’s worth a visit just for your own professional growth.
May 6
I heard about TripLine just this week and haven’t had a real chance to play with it much yet. But the samples and basic idea seem very cool. It’s a timeline slash history paper slash multimedia presentation all built on top of Google Maps. The completed projects work on mobile devices and there is a handy iPad/iPod app to go with it. Social media sharing tools are built in and it looks pretty simple to use. It’s digital storytelling made easy!
At its most basic level, Tripline is a way for you to communicate by putting places on a map. That’s a very human activity that has been happening for thousands of years. It’s also a way for you to easily ask and answer questions about your favorite places and topics and the best way to tell your travel stories. And just like in the movies, the Tripline player gives you an animated line moving across the map with a soundtrack. That’s appropriate, because our journeys are our own epic tales of discovery and adventure.
If you like history, you could use Tripline to create The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere or Lewis & Clark’s Journey. If you’re into current events, you could create The Inauguration of Barack Obama or Capt. Chelsey Sullenberger’s famous Flight of US Air 1549. When we first started, I was amazed that map-based visuals of events like these were so difficult to find online. I think now that Tripline exists, that sort of map-based content will have a home. And the possibilities are endless: author and band tours, charity walks and rides, culinary adventures, fictional trips from books and movies, sporting events, scientific expeditions, etc.
Have fun!
May 5
Facebook was once the small, sheltered territory of a couple of techie college students and some high school kids who found ways to sneak past the filter. At the time, it was all about Friendster and MySpace.
And now?
Parents, middle school kids, corporations, advertisers are all over Facebook. Even teachers are using it.
A couple of years ago, I published a quick post about using Facebook as a teaching tool with a Lincoln profile as an example. A tip on how to create an Eisenhower Facebook template followed and we followed that with more ideas on how to use a variety of Facebook and Twitter online tools in the classroom. Others were also thinking about how to use social media as part of instruction. More templates and tools like My Fake Wall sprung up everywhere.
(At this point, if you’re a teacher and not using social media templates as part of your unit design . . . well, it is the 21st century. It’s okay to jump on board.)
The part I like about using Facebook as a historical teaching tool is that it allows kids to bring in a variety of perspectives, primary sources and photos. The exercise forces kids to think in layers rather than simply memorizing data. Likes and comments by other historical characters, profiles and photo albums can be used to create a rich picture of people and events.
So what’s next?
Created by the people at ClassTools, Fakebook is similar to the old My Fake Wall. It’s a quick and easy way for you and your kids to generate historical Facebook profiles and walls. You start with a profile and add other Facebook elements step by step. Kids can complete their profiles and than send you the finished URL. 
ClassTools also has a nice portfolio of examples that you and your kids could use as inspiration or discussion starters.
ClassTools wants you to create a premium account so there are ads on the completed profile. If that bugs you, just have kids take a screenshot of their finished work and send it to you as an image or pdf file. They could also print it out and turn in as a hard copy.
Some nice stuff here. Give a try and let me know what works!
May 4
Keeping up with education-friendly iPad and iPod apps is getting more and more difficult, good ones end up slipping past me. But I have run across a few pretty cool things that you might enjoy.
The first two are news apps that provide a different way of giving you access to lots of information.
1. News360 gives you lots of options on how you want your news displayed. News360 starts with a list of categories such as US Politics, World News or Entertainment and provides a list of specific stories. Clicking a story allows you to read it with the option to click on other news outlets writing about the same story. You also have the option of starting with the news outlets themselves, CNN or the Washington Post for example, and then reading the various stories written by just that outlet.
I like this. It gives me a chance to get a variety of perspectives on the same event quickly and easily. I also like that each story has embedded hyperlinks based on keywords within the story. If I’m reading a story about the Bin Laden raid, I may want to know more about Abbottabad. Clicking that link opens a Wikipedia article on that topic. News360 also a semi-cool photo montage option that you can scroll through with each image a link to a story based on that image. It’s a bit hit and miss but a nice way to get a quick visual sense of the day’s events.
The app also has some extensive social media tools built in.
2. Zite is a personalized magazine for your iPad that automatically learns what you like and gets smarter as you use it. Zite gives you personalized news, articles, blogs, videos and other content from a variety of both mainstream and niche publications and sites. Zite can personalize by syncing with your Twitter or Google Reader account or on its own.
Every story you read gives you the chance to “like” certain topics, keywords or web sites. Over time, the software begins to understand your “likes” and provides more and more news that fits your personality. Zite is easy to use and easy to look at – so much so that I’m moving away from Flipboard.
I like the idea of a piece of software learning what I enjoy reading but at the same time, I get a bit concerned that I’m shutting out differing opinions and ideas. So I’ve gotten into the habit of “liking” stuff that I disagree with – ensuring that Zite keeps giving me a variety of opinions and ideas.
The next couple of apps are connected to my ongoing obsession with the Civil War.
3. The History.com people have put together an awesome iPad app called The Civil War Today. “Experience the war as it unfolded, one day at a time, with daily updates that let you live the events in “real-time” over the course of four years. The Civil War Today leverages the iPad multi-touch interface to enable app users to feel and explore thousands of original documents, photos, maps, diary entries, quotes, and newspaper broadsheets like never before.”
4. Civil War: Gettysburg is an app designed to be used while you are actually on the battlefield. Equipped with GPS, you can use the app to literally guide you through 
the events of 1863. But even in your classroom, the app is powerful stuff. Maps, info, photos and video clips by park rangers provide a nice, interactive overview of the battle. Clicking on any of the embedded “virtual signs” will provide you with a wealth of historical information, expert videos, and the voices of the participants who fought. The app also comes with a wealth of onboard information for your “visit” – orders of battle, facts about the battle, historical photos, chronologies, and our famous battle maps are all at your fingertips.
5. The last app is created by the people at Colonial Williamsburg. It’s a bit clunky but it has some pretty amazing info. Also designed to be used as an actual guide while on-site, it has video clips, photos, maps and textual info about Williamsburg. If you can’t make the trip to Virginia, this app would a great way to take a virtual tour of the site.
Mar 24
Lots of stuff going on today. So you’re gonna get a different format this afternoon. Summary statements and bullet points. That’s it.
Okay . . . maybe a photo or two. But seriously. That’s it.
Here we go.
The Youth and Participatory Politics people say that being online is good for kids because:
Why?
Mills College education professor Joe Kahne, the author of the study says that “both in the U.S. and abroad, so much civic and political life is online. We’ve got to pay attention to new media when we think about civic learning.”
Who?
So what?
The end.
Really.
Nothing more to see here. You may go about your business.
Thanks for dropping by! As a curriculum consultant for ESSDACK, an educational service center in Hutchinson, Kansas, History Tech is my chance to rattle on about social studies and technology. Feel free to poke around.
Contact Me:
glennw@essdack.org
Twitter @glennw98
At ESSDACK, we want to offer tools and products that encourage you to learn and work when and where you want. Check out these handy products that can be used as instructional tools and professional learning opportunities in ways that work best for you.
My fave?
The very cool Evidence Analysis Window Frame that scaffolds historical thinking skills and helps kids make sense of primary sources.
But you'll also find C4 Cards and 25 Days of History Tech Tools to help you grow professionally.
History Tech 