Tom Daccord's'Historical' Perspective about the Web
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Joan Oleck -- School Library Journal, 02/06/2008
For six years, Tom Daccord's online resource, Best of History Web Sites, has offered librarians and other educators a treasure trove of Web sites, augmented with lesson plans, course units, and PowerPoint presentations. Now, Daccord, a history and technology teacher at Noble & Greenough School in Dedham, MA, has expanded into print with The Best of History Web Sites (Neal-Shumann, 2007), which moves beyond the Web to incorporate Daccord's other geeky passion: getting kids and educators to love technology.
You already have a great Web site, so why come out with a book?
The idea was to create an academic reference work for academic libraries useful for classroom teachers, library media specialists, and school technology staff. The feeling was that if the book contained special features that the Web site did not, it could be of special use to these various individuals. The idea was to categorize each and every Web site contained in the book... I came up with about a dozen designations for usages for individual Web sites. For instance, certain Web sites are designated "virtual tours." Certain Web sites are designated as "research." If it’s a "primary source collection," I mark it as such. Also, on the Web site and in the book you’ll 
see a special designation for lesson plans and activities.
What does the book add to the Web site?
What’s different about the book is that the Web site does not include grade levels. You’ll have "middle school," "upper school," "lower school," so you can quickly locate resources by grade level. Another aspect is that the book contains two introductory chapters: how to find the best history Web sites [and] how to incorporate them into the classroom.
You've said there are about 1,200 sites in the book. How did you choose them?
I started with the most respected educational organizations: I went right away to the Library of Congress. I looked in American Memory and took a look at the teaching units, the resources that they supplied. I used nonprofit orgs like PBS; I used the National Archives; I went to the Center for History and New Media. What I did was begin right away with credible sources that have developed excellent resources in the past. From there I looked at the external sites they recommended In their units they offer teacher resources via links to external sites. Also, many people send me "best of history Web sites" to review.
Can you name two or three Web sites that blew you away?
I think the Center for History and New Media is absolutely fantastic. They have various sites. It’s a wonderful resource geared toward classroom teachers.
Your book advocates “proactive searches.” How does one break the Google habit?
It really comes down to having well-designed activities and projects that compel the students to use a diversified set of resources, both electronic and print. Depending on the particular topic, a student may be using more, let’s say, electronic-database resources than print resources. In my courses, the student must show an aptitude for using print resources and navigating the physical library, as well as navigating Google and ProQuest, the Gale databases and InfoTrac.
You're president of the Center for Teaching History with Technology, which has 2,000 subscribers. Your summer workshops on teaching technology and history (and language arts) sell out. Anything else coming up?
I’m developing a new [Web site] Edtechtearcher.org, which is under construction and will be full of video tutorials and a lot on Web 2.0.
