Are historical re-enactments lacking in online learning, or have I just missed all of them so far? A few things were created in Second Life a while back, but they either flat out disappeared, or were ignored by much of the educational community. NASA has launched a pretty cool re-enactment of the Apollo 11 Moon landing online at We Choose the Moon. All this week, you can see what is was like 40 years ago as the Apollo 11 mission unfolded. I bet Science teachers across America are now hacked that the anniversary of the first Moon walk is in July!
Maybe people just haven’t had a vision for how historical re-enactments can happen online. Maybe we are just getting to the place where we can take all of the historical data out there and place it online like NASA has. Imagine if you could have re-enactments like this for other historical events – like the Berlin wall falling, or the Civil War, or the reign of Julius Casar, or who knows?
We Choose the Moon obviously has limited educational potential due to it only happen this week. When most schools are out. But what if they could make this site reset and happen once a month?
Matt is currently an Instructional Designer II at Orbis Education and a Part-Time Instructor at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. Previously he worked as a Learning Innovation Researcher with the UT Arlington LINK Research Lab. His work focuses on learning theory, Heutagogy, and learner agency. Matt holds a Ph.D. in Learning Technologies from the University of North Texas, a Master of Education in Educational Technology from UT Brownsville, and a Bachelors of Science in Education from Baylor University. His research interests include instructional design, learning pathways, sociocultural theory, heutagogy, virtual reality, and open networked learning. He has a background in instructional design and teaching at both the secondary and university levels and has been an active blogger and conference presenter. He also enjoys networking and collaborative efforts involving faculty, students, administration, and anyone involved in the education process.