Inspired by SAMR, getting ready for #histedchat and driven by the need to create work for my class due to my absence for an MYP planning meeting, I have created a Cold War task that relies heavily on the use technology.

It’s almost the end of the year in VCE Unit 2 20th Century History and that means that we are approaching the collapse of communism.
I could always put on a PPT but that is boring, teacher centric and it doesn’t necessarily teach them anything. I also need the kids to be doing the work because I will be absent.

So here is the task I designed:

The Collapse of Communism, Online

For this task, you will be finding answers to this question:

What caused the collapse of communism in 1989?

You will work in pairs of two (that’s a tautology) and you’ll present your findings in a number of ways. You will also be using key people as a focal point for your research.

After two lessons, each pair will present their work and will provide three dot pointed answers to the question: What caused the collapse of communism in 1989?

Each pair choses one option from below. You can not double up, so sort it out amongst yourselves.

1. A Facebook profile for Mikhail Gorbachev
2. A Twitter feed by Erich Honecker
3. A Facebook profile for Ronald Reagan
4. A Twitter feed by Vaclav Havel
5. A Facebook profile for Lech Walesa
6. A Twitter feed by ‘The Berlin Wall’
7. Create a map of significant countries, places and events in the collapse of communism.
8. Create a timeline using http://www.timetoast.com of significant events between 1980 – 1989
9. Use a visual creator like Vuvox, Animoto or Glogster with images and videos of significant events between 1980 – 1989
10. Create a Youtube Playlist of the 10 best videos which explain the collapse of communism. Each video has to have a note explaining what it is about.

For the remainder of the task description, please go to the wiki I created for the students:

http://communismcollapse.wikispaces.com