Making History On the Web - by Mary Delgado

This article is about running an online U.S. history course at the middle school level.  The author maintains that online classes can be an extremely useful tool even at the middle school level.  However, middle school students also need face time with the teacher, so there was a two month period of time before the online portion of the class even started.  The theory behind online classes is that the way students learn this day in age is different than it used to be.  Primary sources used to be extremely hard to come by before, but with the internet, it is possible to find almost anything.  The author feels that it is important to introduce students to the internet as early as possible and get them comfortable working and doing research online.  At this particular school, those that participated in the online class were issued individual laptops for home use, and were also provided internet access with the school computers.  

Q1:  How can school district with no room for spending on personal laptops conduct online classes?

A1:  While online classes may be a great idea and something that all schools should strive for, the reality is there are not very many school districts that have the resources available to conduct online courses.  First of all, you need teachers that have been properly educated in technology to teach the courses.  Schools also need enough funding to purchase the necessary equipment to run online classes.  Also, many students that are under privelaged may not have access to computers or the internet at home, and also may not even know how to use the internet.

Q2:  What positives can be taken from this article?

A2:  First of all, this article introduces a new way to teach history.  This is something that as a future history teacher I am extremely interested in.  It is my goal to introduce and implement new and innovative ways to teach history, and this article is just one example.  Teaching history through an online course can be very useful.  Providing resources for students to study and examine primary sources at the click of a mouse is something that should be taken advantage of.