Project Options to be used with HSLDA Online Academy U.S. History course.

Three times per semester you will be presented with a list of topic choices. These are specific incidents
or episodes in history that have a role in the unit of study but are not, by themselves, part of the
overarching “big picture”. Example: Piracy in the Caribbean was not a major factor in the Colonization
of the New World, but it was an element that impacted the region for several hundred years.
For each project week (three per semester), students will choose from the provided list of historic events.
Next, you will decide from the following six methods of presentation. You may not repeat the
presentation method within a semester. Example: if you created an Animoto video to tell about Piracy in
the Caribbean, you may not use Animoto for the second or third Project weeks. You may use it again, if
you wish, for a project in the second semester.
These six methods are all online tools. You are not obligated to purchase the advanced settings for any of
these. Even though the free mode will have fewer options and may contain a “water-mark” on the final
product, that is fine. The free online tools available will be enough to ensure a quality product if you put
the time and effort into it.
Each site gives you step-by-step instructions on how to utilize the site and its tools. Feel free to play
around with these and come up with some cool creations. I provide an example, for most, and perhaps I
will be able to share others during our course. You can also go to Youtube to find tutorial videos.
Thinglink: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaZZfECX4p0.
NEARPOD: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qCLeNB2cDA.
Powtoons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFv8L0z-72c.
Storyboard That: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=np-1qdaf_Aw.
Timeline JS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUVUjt7jd1c.
Animoto: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6A1PVeVf_U.

During the first Project Week, you will cover some or all these sites in your weekly online class. During
the first such Project Week, you will have no other lessons or reading so that you may practice this
important class procedure. Moving forward, all subsequent Project Weeks will be in conjunction with
our unit tests.

Thinglink
Link to Thinglink Thinglink allows you to
annotate images in a cool way.
Example Take a picture or map and add
“pins” that turn into links or
videos of their own.
NEARPOD
Link to Nearpod Like an interactive PowerPoint
or Google Slides. Import
Example pictures, notes or information
while adding video clips, polls
or written questions. Nearpod
also incorporates specialty
features.

Powtoons
Link to Powtoons homepage Powtoons allows you to create
professional looking animated
videos; cartoons with an
educational edge.

STORYBOARD
Link To Storyboard That This tool allows you to create a
cool comic strip by selecting

THAT
from tons of backgrounds,
Example characters, and speech
bubbles.

Timeline JS
Link to Timeline JS Timeline JS allows students to
create awesome looking
timelines with interactive links
and elements.

ANIMOTO
Link to Animoto Use pictures, your own or
online images, and even video
Example. This is from a to create short movies. Utilize
presentation to my school faculty music and text to complete
reporting on a learning fellowship I your educational video.
was awarded several summers ago.

REQUIREMENTS: More specifics and requirements will be given during our week 5 class
session.
For Thinglink projects: you must have an appropriate background image (a map perhaps). You will need
six or more links of your creation. Only one may be a video and only one may be a link to another site.
Four (or more) of the links must have information of your own creation!
For NEARPOD projects: you must include at least six slides of information – five (or more) of these
must be of your own creation. You may have one video or outside link. You do not need to have any
polls, quizzes, or student interactive features as you will be sharing this with me, and it will not be
“live.”
For Powtoons projects: You need a Powtoon creation of at least 90 seconds. Include text boxes in each
slide that convey your historical facts, commentary and analysis. Powtoons is a fun tool but you still
must have ample historical evidence to score well on this project.
For Storyboard That projects: You must create a six-panel cartoon. Background scenes and characters
should be as historically appropriate as possible. Use the Narration bar and/or text bubbles to convey
historical information in EACH slide. Storyboard That is a fun tool, but you still must have ample
historical evidence to score well on this project.
For Timeline JS projects: You must create a timeline of between 6-8 (or more) events connected with
your project topic. Include evidence and analysis along with appropriate pictures or images.
For Animoto projects: Animoto project should be at least two minutes in length. Add text to images (or
between images) to give your historical evidence and commentary. Be advised, you have limited space
for text so you may need to add text bars between pictures and carefully construct your text to convey
maximum knowledge in a short space. Pictures should be historical or have a strong connection to your
topic. Likewise, if you can somehow get your uploaded music to have some connection, that would be a
plus (though this is not mandatory).

FOR EACH PROJECT, make sure to get the embed code and put that into Canvas under the assignment.