It has been a long journey with many trials and errors that were all overcome by the end of the class. This class started out great with a trip to the North-West regions of France. The sites and information that was gathered was well worth the trip. The memories will also be never forgotten and always treasured. The group was on the smaller side and included 10 members in all. That was two professors and then 8 students. We took a plane to Amsterdam and only had one slip up. This included a separation between the group which half made the last 45 minute flight to Luxembourg. The other half of the group was forced to think on their feet and figure out what is the best way to deal with the situation at hand. That was the group I was with and we decided to take a train to our final destination. This train was not bad, there were a few transfers but overall not a bad beginning to this trip. That was simple one event of many that made the trip worth while. The many sites that our group saw once we arrived in France was amazing. A true historical journey through the Western Front.
One of my favorite part of the trip was when we visited the many forts that were used in The Great War and the stohlens that were created by the advancing German troops as living quarters and served as protection from artillery. Our group had the opportunity to explore the stohlens in which we got to walk around in old, underground passages. The entire event was unforgettable. The longest one I went into was roughly 200 feet deep from the opening where it was caved in. There were evidence of old exploded grenades as well as bunk beds that were rusting on the frames. I found an old German grenade that already exploded and acquired a bullet hole some time in its existence. Another group member found a rusty shovel and some others found old exploded shells that were laying peacefully in the soil and debris.
Overview of Topic Decision
The stohlens that our groups visited paved the way for my project ideas. In one of the stohlens, I observed a wire that was frayed on one end. This sparked an idea for a project in communications. I was wondering what to exactly do a project on the first few weeks after we returned to the United States. The communication aspect was still in the back of my mind but I wanted to do something unique. As I was doing some research, I came across a website with different topics in World War One. There was communication and I did click on the link. To my astonishment I found out that animals had a great impact on the communication war effort. I found that Carrier pigeons were used pretty often as a means to communicate what was happening on the war front. The messages were relayed via pigeons to the head quarters behind the front lines. This was a great topic for me. I enjoyed the uniqueness of the topic as well as the fact it still carried my central theme. After researching the same website further I came across a war hero by the name of Sergeant Stubby. This was no ordinary war hero this was a dog that went to the Western Front and came back a hero in more ways than one.
Assessment and Overview
The project consists of two Google Tours that incorporate to very common communication methods that were used on the Western Front. These included the use of Carrier pigeons and dogs the most famous of the dogs being Sergeant Stubby. This project was very enjoyable for me and I had some fun researching the topic as well as using the data and presenting it in Google Tour Builder. The presentation methods that our professor allowed us to choose from was a helpful way to show what we found and created. As well as use some creativity in the means to present the information. The professor of our class is a very intelligent man. Although sometimes disorganized and quirky he knows a great deal of information about his fields and always strive to teach what he can to students. He wants to learn and be able to teach what he learned to students. That great quality should be strived for all individuals. Professor Hupy knows one of the most important thing to do in college is save your work online on a cloud so it can be seen by other professionals. A modern portfolio is an awesome idea to help any student get a great job. The blogger site as well as both presentation methods, Google Tour Builder and ESRI Story Mapping are online websites that allow the user to display information and allow others to see it. These websites should be used by teachers in order to help students better understand where things and events happen in our world. They also give a better relationship of how the world is connected in more ways than one.
This has been a great learning process for me. I enjoyed the final projects that had to be done. However, the process to find out which presentation method to use was a bit of a drag to say the least. The first few weeks of the class was spent on minute projects that were simple to find out if the class was going to use ESRI Story Mapping or Google Tour Builder. The first project included a topic of our choice and had to be done on the ESRI Story Mapping website. I chose the topic of the food we ate while on our trip in France. I describe this process in my first blog post and the website link is here: Story Map of Food. This points out some of the delicious food we ate as well as some pictures of farm animals that were kept at a place we stayed called Jardins Hotel. This was also one of the places we stayed. I enjoyed working with the ESRI website. There was just a bit more steps that had to be done on the technology end of it. This was not the goal of the class. This was not a technology class it was a geography and history class. The content is the most important thing in the projects. The technology is more eye candy for the audiences.
The second project included a tour of our trip to and around France. This was done on Google Tour Builder. Here is the link to the project I created: France The Western France. This project included great visuals of 3D buildings and landscapes as well as a virtual flight to each location. I thought this helped give the audience a sense of where these events took place and how far they are away from each other. This project only had a few points but it did reveal to me that it was very user friendly and easy to add pictures as well as text and links. This was one of the final points that needed to be seen. After the trials and errors I decided that Google Tour Builder was the best option for what I want to accomplish and portray to the audiences.
I then began to work on the final projects that I had to get done. They were both done on Google Tour Builder and I researched a great deal on the topics in order to get a sufficient amount of information within each project. Most of the data was collected on the web or going to the library to research some atlases and literature. The projects consists of some history of the Carrier pigeons and what there importance was during the war. Some of the most famous pigeons that had a great impact on a battle or event. A link to this Google Tour is located here: Google Tour of Pigeons An image of one point is located below. Every time I look at the subject I am still amazed that these pigeons had the impact they did on the war effort.
The second project consisted of a war hero that was found near a military training ground in Connecticut. This stray dog was taken in by Robert Conroy and smuggled on the SS. Minnesota and sailed to France where he participated in 17 battles and even caught a German spy. Once back to the United States he was treated like a hero and was given medals by General Pershing himself. The link to this tour is here: Stubby
Critique of the Class
This class was a great class to participate in and be a part of. Although the trip to France was one of the most exciting parts, the research of our topics were very interesting but the research that our class conducted has the potential to actually be used in the upcoming anniversary of The Great War. The concept of this class was a great idea. However, I would like a bit more organization in classes, as a personal preference. I would rather have specific details laid out to me. And lists of exactly what has to be done. This class did challenge me in ways that I have not had to deal with before. Overall, my semester had a few issues that I had to deal with unrelated to school but I pushed through and got what I needed to done. The only real problem I had was the amount of time spent on testing which web program is the best to portray the information. It was nice to see each program and what each had to offer. But I think it could have been maybe during the timespan of a week or two instead of three or four.
blog post is trial and tribulations what did I learn from the whole thing
overview and assessment
overall thoughts
theme of this post should be long trip overview
