Presentation of 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and 6th amendments Appreciation of how the U.S. Constitution protects individual liberties
Type of Material:
Learning module that includes assessment, drill and practice, and learning objects
Recommended Uses:
Class lesson, homework
Technical Requirements:
Worked in Chrome, needs Adobe Flash
Identify Major Learning Goals:
The purpose of this site is to give students an introduction to the Bill of Rights, focusing on freedom of speech, privacy, the right to bear arms, the rights of the criminally accused, and the separation of church and state. Students will be able to connect the Bill of Rights to the present day and think about ways it continues to apply and be interpreted in the United States.
Target Student Population:
High School (AP); Undergrad
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Computer skills, some knowledge of the importance of the Bill of Rights in the United States and its origin
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
Includes descriptions of key concepts, as well as relevant examples given in multiple formats. This module is self-contained and includes and adequate amount of material.
Concerns:
There were points in the module where concepts went unexplained (i.e. list at the top of Free Expression module not explicitly included in the transcript of the below video) and if I were a student taking notes, this might confuse me. Also, there were points where footnotes might have been helpful to demonstrate where some of this information originated. In addition, while the assessments and interactive features are great, some of them seemed more for high school students rather than the intended undergraduates.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
This module clearly identifies learning objectives and tries to progressively reinforce concepts and introduce students to the Bill of Rights. This module would be easy to write an assignment for and to have students use at home.
Concerns:
The module does not identify prerequisite knowledge and students, in some parts of the module, are left to make connections and see relationships between the concepts on their own.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
This module includes multiple interactive components as well as a variety of ways of conveying information.
Concerns:
I had trouble with SoftChalk and could not access a full screen mode, which made navigating the module frustrating at times. It would have been easier to use had I been able to access a larger screen with more of the pieces of each chapter clearly visible on one screen with less scrolling. Many parts of the learning module were engaging, but some were harder to follow (i.e. the awful computer voices in the Natural/Positive Rights video). While the site was visually appealing overall, some of the design choices were detrimental to the delivery of content—such as the font, which looked like comic sans, a font not usually associated with undergraduate or academic texts.
Other Issues and Comments:
Under privacy rights, Roe v. Wade is misspelled.
Creative Commons:
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