My project’s academic argument is posted in the introductory page of my omeka site for visitors to see and it surrounds the following concept: 

George Washington’s General Orders established the narrative that would forever cast Arnold out of America’s social fraternity, by making Arnold’s treason about a lack of honor and virtue. In doing so, Washington set the parameters for others to be a part of the “imagined community” of the emerging American nation.3 In the early years of nationhood, Arnold’s legacy survived as a constant reminder of its need for virtue and honor to ensure American independence.Moving away from America’s early years, Arnold’s legacy evolved from its original meaning and shifted to more generalized discussions of American loyalty. What has remained constant is that he will always be remembered as America’s greatest traitor. 

That said, the overall purpose of my site is to serve as a prototype  for a public website dedicated to examining how Benedict Arnold’s act of treason played a role in shaping the national identity of the United States. The site’s purpose is educational and the target audience includes k-12 educators and school children. The site will connect to common core standards as well as aspects of the curriculum from Maryland, DC, and Virginia public schools. 

In designing the site, I kept in mind my audience as well as the site’s educational purpose. Three exhibits are used to show support for my academic argument. Within each exhibit, I have used plugins such as PDF embed, Image Annotation, and Text Annotation to show off and differentiate my primary sources and also to provide a deeper analysis  of the sources themselves. Students need assistance in understanding certain types of vocabulary that align with their curriculum standards. In addition, I have embedded YouTube videos on my site to make the content more interactive for my students. 

I will evaluate my work by checking in to see how much of the site can be connected to curriculum standards and how much it aligns with educational Universal Designs for Learning.