My ideas about blogs in history classes are pretty similar to my thoughts on wikis in educational settings. There’s a lot of potential, but I’m still not sure how things will work out. That said, I do have some ideas about how I’d like to at least try to use blogs in my classes in the future.
I really like the idea of having a structured, moderated course blog. I would be able to post readings and know they wouldn’t change while the students would have the freedom to express themselves and engage their classmates in the comments section of the blog. I also really like the idea of breaking the class into groups — possibly by research interests — and having each group create a blog about their subject as well as the research process.
Similarly, individual students or groups of students could be responsible for leading discussion every couple weeks. The students would be in charge of finding, posting, and contextualizing the readings as well as moderating the comments. They would then structure a class discussion building on the blog comments and after class, post a final summation of the topic and the class discussion.
But, maybe that’s too much information to make available to the world as well as too much to expect?
Below is a sample assignment showing how I would use a wiki in a college-level history course. It’s far from a perfect assignment and I would love feedback about how to improve it, but I think it conveys some of my basic ideas about how wikis could reshape classroom interactions.
The class would build parts of a wiki as weekly assignments. The assignments would be scheduled at the beginning of the semester and the wiki pages would be due the week before the relevant classes. Wiki entries would include: (a) context for the readings/topics witing outside sources, (b) any relevant news stories, (c) discussion questions, (d) and overview of key issues, (e) possibly identification terms and exam questions. After the week covered by each group, the group members would be responsible for posting a summary of the in-class discussions and how they relate to the wiki posts and the rest of the class.
The goal of this assignment would be to have the students create a useful site for themselves (essentially a review sheet of the course) as well as for anyone interested in the topic.
I’m still not completely sure how I would control access to the wiki. I’m inclined to start with a free open-access wiki from pbwiki, but I do want to limit the wiki to class members during the semester. Perhaps the most efficient option would be to use a premium wiki to make some pages private, lock others, and give the class limited access to the rest?
I was thinking of making a screencast for one of the requirements for my tool of research. I probably won’t at this point because I don’t have a microphone and I’m still not completely comfortable with the software. But, it’s fascinating stuff all the same. And, to avoid relearning this stuff later, here’s everything I know at the moment about screencasting.
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I started to correct the very flawed Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl entry in Wikipedia, but decided not to since I didn’t want my edits to somehow influence the plagarism investigation into one of my students. But, let it be know that it is a terrible entry! instead, I added a brief overview of Project Renew to the Unexploded U.S. Explosives section of the Wikipedia entry on the Vietnam War.
With some hesitation, I do appreciate Wikipedia for what it is. I agree with Rosenzweig that it is a useful research starting point, but I will probably tell my students not to quote/cite it for research papers. Of course, I am still quite suspicious on online research, so my objections to Wikipedia are not personal, per se. However, it is frustrating to me that so many students see Wikipedia as the final arbiter of history — or maybe they’re just lazy?
Rosenzweig’s article convinced me that my innate distrust of Wikipedia is a bit of an overreaction and misplaced as the online encyclopedia compares quite favorably with professional publications such as Encarta and the American National Biography Online. Additionally, the ability to track changes and respond to errors/vandalism is a clear strength of Wikipedia. (see an earlier post about politics and Wikipedia here)
This week’s readings have given me an idea for a potentially interesting assignment for the class I’m teaching this summer: either in class or an outside paper, I will have students critically evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a Wikipedia entry. I have to think about this a bit more, but it might be a very useful way to convince students to question all sources, particularly unauthored, internet sources. What do you think about this potential assignment? Would you, if you were a freshman or sophomore at AU, take away something useful from such a project or would you feel insulted and belittled?
I sincerely enjoyed poking around the blogs and carnivals, but had to cut myself off because the midterms refused to grade themselves. I thought Mark Grimsley made a number of excellent points about the potential usefulness of blogging for academics — I particularly like the idea of making my work into a form of procrastination! What did you find most useful/interesting in the readings for this week?
Wow. And I thought I hated PowerPoint! My dislike of PowerPoint as a presentation tool is nothing compared to Tufte’s. Although I felt he was a little too vitriolic at points, most of his arguments about PowerPoint’s failures, weaknesses, and flaws are dead on. Too many presenters rely on PowerPoint to give their representation rather than using PowerPoint to complement or enhance their presentation. Chartjunk and PowerPointPhluff are both very real dangers to any PowerPoint presentation and the examples Tufte uses highlight these dangers with a very real sense of humor. I particularly liked the Gettysburg Address as PowerPoint example.
As I read the article, I kept trying to figure out how I would use PowerPoint for a presentation later this semester. My research does not rely on images, but I think PowerPoint presentations are part of the tool of research requirement, so I need to think of something. Perhaps make a couple PowerPoint presentations for the class I’m teaching this summer? Regardless of the topic, the discussion at Tufte’s and the Presentation Zen websites have some great ideas about presentation styles, habits, etc. that I will certainly be returning to before my next presentation.
I didn’t have any particularly pressing questions from this reading, but I am curious to know how many people use/enjoy/appreciate/tolerate/despise PowerPoint and how they plan to deal with it and similar programs in the future? Also, if you have a primarily word-based presentation, but must use PowerPoint, how would you reconcile the “dumbing down” effect of PowerPoint with your presentation needs? I think I would use PowerPoint to give my audience an outline of my presentation — while providing a more substantice paper handout. But, I may very well find a picture of Nixon doing the chicken dance when I go to the Archives on Wednesday, so maybe I will have pictures for my presentation. Of course, I could always weave images (of people, places, documents) and sounds (from the Nixon tapes) into my presentation.