IMPORTANT NOTE TO TEACHERS: We are pleased to see your interest in the History Fair’s newest category, historical websites. Any teacher that wants to enter student website projects in the History Fair this year is required to take the training, below, and earn certification.

The deadline for certification is December 17, 2012 for senior division and February 4, 2013 for junior division teachers.  We suggest that you gain your certification before you allow students to register and build websites in order to prevent errors that could result in disqualification. No exceptions will be made.  See the list of certified schools, below.

Chicago Metro History Fair schools that are certified to enter student projects into the website category competition in 2013 (as of 2/2012).  If a teacher moves to a new school, s/he takes certification.  A school must have a certified teacher on staff to enter:

Check the list of certified teachers.

1.  ONLINE TRAINING COURSE (approximately 1.5 hours):

The convenient online training course is designed to introduce you to the basics of this new category:  the framework for organizing a History Fair website, best practices, rules and guidelines, and the platform required to create a History Fair website. Please allow yourself two hours to complete the tutorial and take the "test." Upon approval, CMHEC will confirm your certification and you also will receive a special page for your students' training. Finally, you will receive two cpdu credit hours from CMHEC for doing the training.

The training, "Digi-telling History: Building Great History Fair Websites" is provided in a presentation program called Prezi. The URL for the training is: http://prezi.com/tprtzy6yzjis/digi-telling-history-building-great-history-fair-websites-updated-october-2012 or click on the image below to go to the Prezi site.

You may want to preview how the training is organized before you begin (below).  Also, we have provided a Website Category Guide which contains similar information but also a wealth of information not covered in the Prezi.

DIRECTIONS FOR THE PREZI:  Open this URL in a full browser window. You may have a more enjoyable viewing experience if you click on the “More => Full Screen” view mode at the bottom of your screen. [Click “Esc” if you need to exit full screen viewing.]  We recommend that you use the arrow buttons on the bottom of the screen which allow you to advance through the Prezi at your own pace, or return to a previous spot in the presentation for review (or if you are doing the training in segments).

The website certification training is divided into three parts:

PART ONE: Introduction, Overview, Rules, and Guidelines

The first portion of “Digi-telling History” walks you through:

• What a History Fair website is…and what it is not. (You may wish to view this portion of the presentation with speakers or headphones so you can see a multimedia sample.)
• An overview of the category parameters, how to organize a History Fair website, navigation, and interactivity.
• The rules and guidelines.

PART TWO: You Be the Judge!

During this portion of the training, you will open a separate browser screen to evaluate a sample History Fair website. If the hyperlink to the site does not work, type the following URL into your browser:

http://31160153.nhd.weebly.com/

Review the site to see how the student addressed the History Fair evaluation criteria, but also how the students took advantage of the website category’s features: navigation, interactivity, multimedia, and the link between interpretation and sources. After you have reviewed this site, you may close this browser window.

You have the option of reviewing other sample websites, but these are not a formal part of the website training. You may wish to return to these sites at a later time:

OPTIONAL:

http://98739189.nhd.weebly.com/

http://82675790.nhd.weebly.com/

http://76163867.nhd.weebly.com/

PART THREE: Build Your Own Website

You will use the NHD website editor to build your own site. The purpose of this portion of the training is to familiarize you with how the NHD website editor operates so that you will feel comfortable introducing it to students. While it is helpful to have a basic understanding of how the program works, your students are sure to teach you many technological tricks along the way. Many teachers elect to use the sample site they build during the training as an introduction with their students.

Sample text, files, and multimedia clips are provided in a resource page for you to use in constructing your own site. The instructions provided in "Digi-telling History" will walk you through the steps.

During this portion of the training, you should open two new browser screens, in addition to the Prezi:

• The NHD website editor: www.nhd.weebly.com (please note: do NOT go to the regular Weebly site--it is the wrong platform.)
• A resource page (wiki) filled with sample text, images, video, and audio to construct your website: http://1919hfsamples.pbworks.com

Have fun building your site! Part of the certification will involve verifying that you did start a site--it need not be completed to take the certification test, below.

Download the Website Category Guide if you still need to do so.  The guide is essential reading for teachers and students.

Please send questions and comments about the website category and how to use the website editor to cjohnson@chicagohistoryfair.org. We will use your feedback to craft new materials that will assist future website teachers and students. Thank you!

2.  ONLINE CERTIFICATION TEST (approximately .5 hours):

CMHEC will review the teacher's test and respond accordingly.  Once certified by CMHEC, a teacher may allow her/his students to register.

Take the website certification "test" now.

Certified Teachers