Teach a Man to Fish...

When I took my 3-day "teaching history with technology" course this summer, one of the first things that we talked about was Ben Schneiderman's Collect-Relate-Create-Donate ideas that will in the words of one reviewer said "illustrate how technology can empower and liberate users." (Diane Maloney-Krichmar, University of Maryland Baltimore County). When I read the article that I linked to in the title, I thought about how the things that I have asked my students already this year have led them down the road to that "Do-It-Yourself" ability. I understand that this is when learning works best. I believe that if I can teach my students to do things for themselves, and learn to work through the assignments and tasks that I give them by themselves, then whatever they learn in U.S. History class will have been well worth it because they will have learned how to learn and teach themselves.