One of the main goals of this blog is to share examples of how technology can support teaching and learning in our classrooms. The following post was written by Mike Fitzgerald, a 7th grade History teacher, and describes how he created The International History Detectives wiki for global collaboration. He crafted his reflections and graciously agreed to share his experience with a wider audience. Enjoy!

In November of 2007 I attended an educational conference in Indianapolis, Indiana simply called “Global Learning.” The presenter Alan November stated something rather simple. He said that in an age of free global communication there is no reason that classrooms should not be talking, learning, and networking. With that small seed of an idea I drove back to St.Louis with a new plan.

Within hours of returning home I was online looking for classes to work with for both my 6^th graders who were studying the Middle East and for my 7^th graders who were about to start a unit on WWII. After blanketing the world with polite requests for collaboration things began shaping up. My 6^th graders were set to work with schools in Turkey, Lebanon, and Morocco. My 7^th graders were set to work with schools in Germany, Denmark, Japan, the Philippines, and most importantly Junior High #4 in Poland.

In the past our unit on WWII was handicapped by our geography. This year, with some simple email connections we were able to put American students on the ground around the world with communities and people who have very vivid memories, great questions, and an interest in sharing stories. Cities such as Gdynia proved to be a goldmine of first hand information for American students to supplement their own research. Poland offered vivid stories and images of invasion, concentration camps, and families torn apart, and my students were able examine perspectives that were not to be found in our text book.

My students were involved in two projects. One was collecting and discussing input from around the world on WWII, and the other was interviewing someone in their own life who had a connection to the war. The combination of the two projects proved powerful. The process connected them with friends and family who told amazing stories of their youth, they were able to social network with other students on the other side of the world, and we managed to slip in a good deal of history when they were not looking. Another surprising aspect of the projects was getting a professional boost myself. In a short period of months I have retooled how I teach and how I will teach in the future.

Technology also determined how the project would end. Considering I was using the internet for overseas contact, I decided to look domestically for the conclusion. As a result of just a few minutes effort using emails I found three US museums (see below) who agreed to take our class interview projects for safe keeping in their archives. I was overwhelmed by the interest in our work and was amazed when the US National WWII Museum in New Orleans asked to have us provide links and information for their website.

In conclusion, some simple email and wiki-site contact with a handful of schools brought the WWII period to life for Midwestern students in the US like nothing else could have.

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For more information on Mike’s project, please visit the The International History Detectives and the following museums:

The National WWII Museum (includes a link to the project)
The Missouri History Museum
The St. Louis Holocaust Museum

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Posted: 02|28|08 at 8:14 pm. Filed under: Global Collaboration, In the Classroom.
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