by The first stages of my final project has officially begun! The goal of teaching world history through historical concepts has been as tough as I envisioned it. However, my work on it has begun to raise a series of questions that I want to answer in order to achieve my teaching goal. These questions, in my opinion, present an immediate challenge to the foundation of my project and how it will be built for researchers and observers to explore. Below are just some of the questions I wish to answer.
The first pressing question I have is how digital media and tools can be used in teaching my target audience about history and historical thinking? I found this question to be a continuation of questions I have had from past projects throughout all my digital history graduate classes. I have been a firm believer in diversity of interactivity for users to have access to, but I have seen other classmates’ projects from past semesters that make me challenge that belief. While having multiple methods is good, sometimes simple and effective is the best path to take. One such project was a timeline of the lives and accomplishments of the wives of Henry VIII, where the interactivity was minimal but was enjoyable to research and interact with. This has definitely challenged my reasoning for diversity in interactivity, but I plan to have at least some additional methods of interactivity to not bore my readers.
The next question revolves around what digital components in my project will influence what I need to do and why? Depending on the digital program I use, it’ll influence my project in its entirety. My project will revolve around three key aspects: relaying of information, modes of interactivity, and flow of the story. The digital program I use will affect each one of those elements and how it will be utilized throughout the project. The reasons for doing this helps create a freedom of creativity that won’t be too strict for me in regards to the project’s completion.
Lastly, my final question focuses on how these changes shape my final project pitch? Relatively speaking, it changes little overall. The focal points of the project haven’t been compromised to such an extent that it required such a radical change at any point so far. Fundamentally, the only things that seemed to be challenged revolve around the digital program and the diversity of digital tools that the project will provide for the user. With all this in mind, I expect one of these questions to eventually shape my project to some capacity further in the semester. It is only inevitable that changes occur as time goes on.
In conclusion, these are just some of the questions I have had throughout my experiences so far. I am aware that the project is still in its infancy and more questions will present themselves as the project comes to fruition. However, my goal of teaching world historical concepts hasn’t changed all that much. The question of what digital program I will use still lingers, but this is a question I know will have an answer soon. Other than that, more questions will be answered as the blog posts continue.
