Travel Log

Learners will create a travel journal or log about an imaginary trip they take back in time to a period, region, and culture studied during this course to assess students’ ability to describe the significance of cultural achievements of Western Civilizations.

Description

Students will create a travel journal about their travels back to one of the cultures or societies studied in the course and write about the sites and events that they visited. The journal can be presented in a digital format such as a website, blog, social media posting series, or storyboard.

Important: Travel Logs created using Word or PowerPoint will not be accepted for grading. See media options below.

Details

1. Students must choose a minimum of 5 sites or events from a single culture or society.

1. Examples of site: monuments, temples, churches, castles, famous marketplaces, battlefields, statues, painters’ workshops, taverns, etc.
2. Example of events: gladiator fights, dinner parties, sermons, receptions, parades, religious festivals or ceremonies, marriage ceremonies, etc.

2. Students will use at least 10 sources (5 primary, 5 secondary) to research how the sites were constructed and used by the societies, what events took place at these locations, and the significance of these events and monuments for the culture visited.

1. Pay attention to descriptions and images of the monument or site
2. Be sure to understand the society that site, or event was relevant to
3. Consider who might visit such a site. What types of people might the traveler encounter?
4. Imagine what sounds, smells, conversations the traveler might overhear.

Acceptable Primary and Secondary Sources include but are not limited to:

• Primary sources (court records, memoirs/autobiographies, letters, artifacts, etc.)
• Print secondary sources
• Scholarly journals
• Newspaper and other media and video archives
• Appropriate history-related websites and databases (not Wikipedia)
• Historical documentaries
• History textbooks

Please contact a NOVA librarian or your instructor if you have questions on locating sources.

3. Students will submit an annotated bibliography in Module 7

4. Descriptions of the 5 sites or events should be at least 300-500 words for each site or event presented. The descriptions should accurately demonstrate the cultural achievements and significance of the society studied and presented.

1. Consider utilizing photos of the site or an event that may have been similar to help illustrate your narrative

5. The student will present their travel narrative and descriptions of location, along with any accompanying images (properly label and cited) on a digital platform of their choice. Here are some options:

1. Google sites
2. Blogger
3. Wix
4. Weebly
5. WordPress
6. Tumblr
7. TravelDiaries
8. Tripcast

Important: If you choose to create a website, make sure that you make your website publicly accessible or the instructor won’t be able to access it for purposes of grading. Do not make it private or require a password for access. Some website creation sites, such as Wix, require you to “publish” your site before other can view it. (In the case of Wix and likely the others, you need to remember to “publish” after all of your edits, no matter how minor.)