What is Interactive Distance Learning?
Using video conferencing technology on both ends, Park educators present interactive history programs for students in their classrooms across the nation. Students are able to respond to Park historians, ask questions, and learn from experts without leaving their schools.

Can you tell me more about your distance learning programs?
Civil War-Why They Fought program utilizes an interactive map of the United States in 1861, a bar graph that compares and contrasts social and economic differences between the North and South at the time or the Civil War, and a student readers’ theater presenting the perspectives of Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, and various Civil War soldiers and civilians.  These techniques help students understand how and why the debate over the expansion of slavery precipitated secession of the deep-South states and eventually led to civil war.

A second program about the Reconstruction Era will be available November 1, 2011.  “Walking The Road to Freedom” is a historical fiction readers’ theater about an African American mother and two children freed from slavery.  The family takes a dangerous journey in search of the father who was separated from them during the war.  They encounter many of the promises and pitfalls African Americans experienced during the Reconstruction Era.  Each event or challenge they encounter is a memorable learning experience for students participating in the readers’ theater.

Each session is 1 hour and costs $125.

I’d like to book a distance learning program. What equipment do I need?
Organizations must have a complete video conference system that supports H.323 communications, with an ideal connection speed of at least 512 kbps.

I have a projector and have used video streaming in the past. Will that work? Is this like YouTube or GoogleChat?
No, it has to be a complete video conference system that supports H.323 communications, with an ideal connection speed of at least 512 kbps. We currently do not have them in a format for you to stream over the Internet.

Do I need to do anything to prepare my students for the program?
Yes, you will be sent a script for the readers’ theater portion of the program. At minimum, you should select students to participate, make copies of the script for the students, and make sure they are prepared to read in front of the group. You may provide props or costumes for the kids.