Teaching Technologies: Research Projects for Student Engagement Available to Purchase

Semester-long assignments allow students to go deeper into Indian Ocean history, and this chapter focuses on four pedagogical elements—backward design, student-driven inquiry, reflective writing, and audiences beyond the instructor—and four assignments that draw on them. Writing biographies help students better understand the people of the Indian Ocean, while writing their own grant application, such as a Fulbright fellowship, helps them explore a topic and its research context. Digital humanities tools like StoryMapJS or Omeka allow students to make their own story maps or museum collections, and the constrained format of the PechaKucha presentation form encourages students to master complex material and relay it to others in compelling ways.