FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Frank T. Brogan
Commissioner of Education

For Immediate Release
November 13, 1997

Dr. Ann Barron, Commissioner Brogan, Rositta E. Kenigsberg

Commissioner Brogan Unveils New CD-ROM,
"A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust"

     TALLAHASSEE--Education Commissioner Frank T. Brogan today unveiled "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust," a new CD-ROM designed for middle school and high school teachers that includes text, photographs, video, music, and reproductions of paintings and sketches. 5,000 copies of the CD-ROM will be distributed to public schools, colleges of education, and professional development centers throughout Florida.

     "We are pleased to be able to offer this tool to help our teachers educate students about this horrible chapter in human history," said Brogan, a former classroom teacher, principal and superintendent. "Education about the causes and horrors of the Holocaust can prevent such a hideous tragedy from happening again."

     In 1994 Florida became the first state to enact a law requiring instruction in the history of the Holocaust. The new law, sponsored by Representative Ron Klein (D-West Boca) and Senator Ron Silver (D-North Miami Beach), was championed by, among others, Stephen Spielberg, director of Schindler's List, and Rositta Kenigsburg, executive vice president of the Holocaust Documentation and Education Center at Florida International University, who now chairs the Commissioner's Task Force on Holocaust Education.

     The CD includes three different "lenses"--Timeline, People, and the Arts--through which to view the Holocaust. The Timeline focuses on specific historical occurrences and includes central themes of each period. The People section employs the perspectives of different groups of people--victims, perpetrators, bystanders, resisters, rescuers, liberators, and survivors--to learn about the Holocaust. The Arts section uses literature, music, and the visual arts to explore the Holocaust. In addition, the student activities section contains lesson plans that are designed for use in the classroom and the teacher resources section contains a list of relevant books, films, plays, software, web sites and museums.

     The CD-ROM was developed by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT) at the University of South Florida which is funded by the Florida Department of Education, Office of Educational Technology. "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust" began as part of a graduate level course "Advanced Design in Technological Based Instruction," taught by Dr. Ann Barron in the fall of 1995 at the University of South Florida College of Education. Ten students worked as a team for a semester designing and writing a web site. After the semester was completed, staff at the FCIT continued the project. Additionally, suggestions from a group of eight Holocaust educators who reviewed "A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust" for content were incorporated.

     "I applaud the work of the Florida Center for Instructional Technology and the University of South Florida," said Brogan. "The Department of Education will continue to support efforts to harness technology which enables us to better support our teachers and students."

     Florida was recently rated by Education Week as a national leader in school technology for its investment in public education technology--$445 million during the last five years, the ratio of computers to students and classrooms, efforts to train teachers in the use of technology, and new initiatives such as the distribution of CD-ROMs based on the new Sunshine State Standards and the use of satellite transponders to provide professional development and training.

     The CD-ROM, A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust, can be accessed on the world wide web at https://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/. The Task Force on Holocaust Education web site address is http://holocaust.fiu.edu.

A Teacher's Guide to the Holocaust
Produced by the Florida Center for Instructional Technology,
College of Education, University of South Florida © 1997-2013.