Thursday, February 05, 2009

Podcast #175 - Smithsonian Museum of American History Using Web 2.0 to Connect


Hello. I have been spending some time lately checking out the wealth of resources for teachers available online through the Smithsonian. As a history teacher, I always like to see what is happening at the Museum of American History. It has just reopened after a 2 year face lift and I can't wait to see it the next time I'm in Washington DC. The museum has a well organized collection of lesson plans and resources available to teachers but a couple of days ago what really caught my attention was their use of web 2.0 to connect to visitors.


The Museum of American History has a great blog named "O Say Can You See", a Flickr account for behind the scenes pictures, a You Tube channel with a variety of clips, a Facebook page and you can follow them on Twitter. Amazing. The Smithsonian gets it and I've heard the new Smithsonian leadership has a true vision for utilizing web 2.0 as a tool. The Smithsonian recently held a conference to explore the potential of web 2.0. I am very impressed. If you are a history teacher you really should add the O Say Can You See blog to your reader and start following them on Twitter. I can't wait to see what they do next.





2 comments:

  1. Great info - another part of the Smithsonian, Smithsonian Folkways, has many music educational resources including some with historically significant recordings.

    www.folkways.si.edu

    specifically

    http://www.smithsonianglobalsound.org/teaching_intro.aspx

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  2. David - Thanks for adding this link. I will check it out. Students love using music in history class.

    Eric

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