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This project aimed to take advantage of the enormous amount of material available on the Internet that applied to the subject area of my Senior Seminar--America and the Vietnam Experience." This work followed three paths:
1. creation of an electronic syllabus with links to numerous bibliographic, informational, and personal websites;
2. shared reading done by students for two classes sessions, of material posted on the web;
3. discovery, reading, and assessing of additional web material for these two class sessions.
General
Report:
The Internet has become a significant place for Vietnam Veterans
and others to self-publish memories, complaints, and discussions
about the Vietnam experience. It offers a rich and varied source
of material, allowing deep insight into these complex and persistent
issues.
One problem with all Internet sites, however, is the lack of screening--all
that is required to post one's views is a homepage and a server.
The pedagogical possibility of enormous material is balanced by
the pedagogical problem of helping students to evaluate what is
valid, what is distorted, and what we can learn from each.
I created an electronic syllabus for this course, which was duplicated
in hard copy for the students. [It now resides on the Wheaton
Serve on the History Department's page.] Actively linked were
the bibliographic material students might need for their individual
research, as well as two "Web Assignments." These covered
the weekly topics "In Country: The Experience of War"
and "The Vietnam Vets: Neglected, Memorialized, Mythologized."
All students were to read several shared observations (these were
also electronically linked), as well as locate two additional
observations, memoirs, reflections or other primary material on
their own.
Each student was asked to fill out a sheet about these two additional
sites, answering questions that would help them to evaluate the
validity of the observations and the site's merit. Copies of these
sheets were to be passed in to me by the morning of the seminar
sessions so I could structure a discussion based on the findings.
Assessment
will be by several means:
1. I will be able to judge the success of the individual class
meetings which used the electronic sources by the means we evaluate
all our classes--did it meet my expectations with regard to material
covered? was there interest in the discussion? did students participate?
did they seem to lilac it more than traditional reading? etc.
2. On the course evaluation form I will ask students to distinguish
between regular reading and web reading in their comments.
3. Finally, I will be able to see from their seminar papers whether
they are taking advantage of the material for areas other than
class discussions.
Last updated
on 11/26/00;
Send questions about this page to: Alex
Bloom
or contact Wheaton
College.