About The Technology
Web as Environment:
Wikis
Wikis offer an easy way to publish and edit content on the Web. In fact, the name comes from wiki wiki, Hawaiian for quick. Wikis are open-editable Web pages. This means that wiki pages can be edited live on the Web from any browser. Once the software is installed (running on a server), then users can add text and images to the site from their browser. Wikis provide useful tools for collaborative writing and note taking projects where users need to share and edit information, exchange ideas, or provide feedback to one another.
Web as Resource:
Library of Congress Web Site
The Library of Congress Web site is an exceptional resource for information about US history, legislation, world cultures and all the information that has come into the largest library in the world. The site includes an extensive collection of online exhibits including audio files, photographs and video. It is a terrific starting point for research.
Worth Noting
Online note taking improves student research skills
Roger Hamilton teaches American history to high school students in a small town where library resources are limited. He is looking for ways to provide his students with access to primary sources so they can learn to analyze and interpret information. Since he is particularly interested in having his students use primary sources to investigate and develop their own analysis of past events, he decided to focus on note taking to help students organize their research and document evidence to support their analysis.
Implementing Research-Based Strategies
Hamilton revised a unit on the civil rights movement to incorporate online research. Having students use primary sources to investigate their questions would teach them to use inquiry as an active learning process; apply the higher order thinking skill of analysis; and use technology for research, analysis, and communicating ideas.
Hamilton told students they would be using primary sources to investigate the events that set the stage for the civil rights movement. Students were to find at least four artifacts from the Library of Congress's American Memory collection to support their answer. Students could choose from video clips, photographs, newspaper articles, texts of congressional debates, songs, speeches, and so forth. Before demonstrating how to search the collection, Hamilton explained how to take effective notes.
- Teacher-prepared notes show students what is important and how ideas relate, and offer a model for how students should take notes themselves (Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2001).
- When students review and revise their own notes, the notes become more meaningful and useful (Anderson & Armbruster, 1986; Denner, 1986; Einstein, Morris, & Smith, 1985).
- Notes should include both linguistic and nonlinguistic forms, such as idea webs, sketches, informal outlines, and combinations of words and schematics; the more notes, the better (Nye, Crooks, Powlie, & Tripp, 1984).
Technology Supporting Success
Hamilton wanted to create an online workspace where students could record their notes and document their sources. This would allow him to comment on students' notes and make suggestions to guide their research. He wanted students to see their notes as documents that they could review, revise, and update.
Hamilton had used a wiki to gather his own online research materials; it had taken only a short time to learn to use the intuitive editing tools. Setting up a wiki is free, and the site is accessible from any networked computer. Passwords can be set up to protect privacy. Wikis are designed to support collaboration, so when students worked in teams, they could collaborate online easily.
Hamilton modeled effective note-taking strategies for his students. He was looking for artifacts to support his theory that Dr. Martin Luther Kingis "I Have a Dream" speech marked a critical moment in the civil rights movement. He reviewed the original text of the speech, viewed video clips and photographs, listened to radio broadcasts, and read newspaper columns in response to the speech. He documented his sources, including bibliographic details and Web sites with photos or other historical artifacts he might want to consult later.
He explained how his notes were meaningful to him and shared his strategies. He developed his own code system with symbols, a method that made sense to him, and suggested students should develop their own strategies for organizing information. Later he revised and shortened his notes, showing how he had organized them into a concept map.
Hamilton reserved the computer lab for a two-week block so that students would have daily class time to conduct online research and make notes on the wiki. They could access these resources at home, from the library, or from any computer with Web access. As students proceeded with this first phase, Hamilton made daily use of the wiki to review their notes, check in on their progress, and make suggestions to guide their research.
Near the end of the two-week investigation, Hamilton watched his students at work in the computer lab. They were engaging with a variety of artifacts—listening to archived radio broadcasts, reading magazines from 1968, watching video documentaries. The note-taking assignment helped to make this a more purposeful activity. Students were investigating these artifacts with a goal in mind, and were making effective use of the wiki to capture their ideas. They used a variety of note-taking strategies. Once students completed taking notes for this assignment, they were ready to proceed with the next phase of the unit.