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Creating Engaging Web Content with Flash |
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Because the story of Clara Barton and the American Red Cross has such broad international appeal, hosting the interactive program on the park’s website would provide a very effective long-distance learning tool for students and general audiences who could not physically visit the site.
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The Clara Barton Interactive ExperienceClara Barton National Historic Site recently unveiled a new online virtual tour of the Clara Barton house in Glen Echo, Maryland. Called “The Clara Barton Interactive Experience,” the virtual tour and related online activities are designed to engage school children and general audiences alike in the story of Clara Barton and the American Red Cross. The interactive program was the brainchild of Clara Barton staff, who first submitted the concept as a Parks as Classroom grant request in August 2004. One of the most compelling arguments in the park’s funding request was based on the international scope of the Red Cross story. Because the story of Clara Barton and the American Red Cross has such broad international appeal, hosting the interactive program on the park’s website would provide a very effective long-distance learning tool for students and general audiences who could not physically visit the site. As audiences viewed the offices, supply rooms, and living quarters online, they would be experiencing the home and its collections in almost as much detail as “real” visitors do. The inclusion of audio files, historic photographs, historic documents, and interpretive text would further enhance the “virtual” visit. In May 2006, the park approached Harpers Ferry Center to provide contracting services for the online program. Using their Parks as Classrooms grant and other funding sources, $12,475 was transferred to Harpers Ferry Center for design and production of the interactive Flash program. The balance of the park’s funding was allocated for two Montgomery County, Maryland teacher stipends. The teachers would help develop curriculum to meet Maryland State Standards of Learning (SOLs), and would also help guide development of the interactive program’s curriculum-based activities. HFC and Clara Barton staff drafted a scope of work for the Flash program, solicited bids from two NPS Indefinite Delivery - Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contractors, and awarded a contract to Somerset Group, a Multimedia Planning and Production IDIQ contractor located in Madison, Alabama. The contract called for a 15-room virtual tour of the Clara Barton house and a total of nine activities each for grades 2-4 and grades 5 and up. In April 2007, Clara Barton National Historic Site and Harpers Ferry Center modified the original contract in order to add additional audio narration and interactive features to the Flash program, bringing the contract total to $13,967. On May 14, 2007, the National Park Service took delivery of “The Clara Barton Interactive Experience” from the Somerset Group. |
RELATED LINKS:The Clara Barton Interactive Experience » |
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