Library of Congress Resources About Ukraine

Over the last couple of weeks I've received quite a few requests for resources for teaching and learning about the Russia/ Ukraine conflict. In response to those requests I've been directing people to Larry Ferlazzo's frequently updated list of resources. Today, I found one resource that isn't on Larry's list, yet. That is the a list of resources compiled by the Library of Congress. 

In the LOC's list of resources about Ukraine you will find historical maps including this one that appears to be the first time Ukraine was used to describe the region. In the list you will also find links to resources from the Congressional Research Service and overviews of Library of Congress collections about Ukraine. 

By following tags and links through the digital archives of the Library of Congress you can find additional resources about Ukraine. That's how I found the map that I used as the feature image for this blog post. I viewed this map then scrolled down to find the tag Ukraine then on the next page clicked the map tag to find a list of 33 related maps. Take a look at my GIF below for those steps. 

Map Image Source: United States Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2005626464/

Try These Zoom Presentation Tips from Garr Reynolds

Garr Reynolds is one of the world's foremost experts on presentation design. If you haven't seen any of his TED Talks or read Presentation Zen, put it on your to-do list. I follow Garr Reynolds on Twitter and this morning he Tweeted a link to a new video of his in which he explains why and how to use picture-in-picture when giving a presentation in Zoom. 

In Do This in Zoom to Make Amazing Visual Presentations Garr Reynolds explains why you should use a picture-in-picture style when giving presentations in Zoom. As you might expect, he uses great visuals to convey those points. After explaining why you should use a PIP style, he explains how you can create a PIP effect without using any external or third-party tools. 

After watching the video above, you might have questions about how to use slides in Zoom to create a PIP effect. Fortunately, Garr Reynolds has you covered there with another tutorial video titled How to Use Slides as Virtual Background in Zoom.

Applications for Education

It's probably worth noting that the methods Garr Reynolds presented in these videos might be a little cumbersome for daily instruction. As he points out in the video above, it's hard to use the drawing tool while using these methods. That said, these methods could be great to put to use for professional development presentations and presentations to school boards or other stake-holder groups.