When integrating wikis and blogs into the classroom, assessment must be determined prior to beginning the project. In order for blogs and wikis to become integral learning tools, teachers need to deviate from assessing the use of technology, grammar and rote memorization and instead focus on metacognition and twenty-first century skills. Technology is the conduit to demonstrate learning, not the learning itself. Social studies pedagogy must align with assessment. Frye, Trathen, and Koppenhaver (2010) argue exemplary social studies programs encourage interpretation and assessment of sources; issue investigation and conclusion making; problem-solving and decision-making; and responsible collaboration. If teachers focus on these tenets and their own specific curricular outcomes, then assessments will align with constructivist pedagogy and knowledge construction, not on rote memorization or technology.
I have created a spicynodes mindmap to illustrate how wikis and blogs, along with other free and accessible educational technology tools, can be used to meet British Columbia’s social studies curriculum’s prescribed skills and processes. It is essential learning outcomes and the appropriate assessments are determined prior to lesson implementation in order to ensure maximal affordance of the educational technology tool, in this case blogs and wikis.
When navigating the map below, feel free to move and reorient the icons in order to better view them. Click on each node in order to expand the map. If you want to return to the original view, then click on the parent node. If you are viewing the spicynode in the window below, keep clicking on the nodes to expand the map until only white nodes appear. The white home button with the small black house will return you to the start screen. If you are having troubles viewing the map on this page please view it here.
Proceed to Resources and References.