December 1st questions

1.  I believe that the teacher has a very important role in helping students to make meaning of primary sources.  In this age of information, we now have more access to primary sources than ever before.  Instead of having to trek to the National Archives, we can access primary sources electronically.  With all this new found access, schools need to prepare students to study sources and use critical thinking skills to piece together meaning from what they find.
    I think that teachers need to get students to ask questions and investigate the primary sources they encounter.  They need to learn how to search for sources, using keywords that will generate the most "hits" possible.  Students also need the skills necessary to look at several primary sources and use what they find to draw some conclusions about the topic being studied.  Having access to information is worthless if one does not have skills necessary to access and/or evaluate the information.  We as teachers need to be sure our students are prepared to navigate within this society once they are on their own.

2.  Blogs, Wiki's and web-based word processors are all programs that allow users to share information and ideas with others, but they do have some important differences.  Blogs are basically online, interactive "journals" where one posts information, comments, and reflections online.  Others can read and respond to the posts.  The information posted is often personal and subjective in nature.  Wikis are also interactive sources of information, but they are often utilized for the posting of informative, objective information.  Like blogs, others can view and respond to content, but, wiki users can also modify the original posted content if they choose to.  Web-based word processors are also interactive sources of information, but they are more intended to allow users to work on documents collaboratively.  Those with access to a document can modify the information posted, but those with access are usually part of a small group who is constructing a document from scratch.

    One possible classroom activity using blogs would be to post open-ended questions about a novel or topic being discussed on class and allow students to respond to these questions in a conversational format.  A class wiki could be used to post information about a course or unit.  Students could access handouts, discussion boards and more on a class "wiki".  A web-based woprd processing program could be used in several ways as well.  Students could work collaborativly on a document for a team project.  Students could also use the web-based processor as a way of backing up their work and ensuring that they are never without access to the documents they are working on for class.