Wednesday, June 21, 2017

EDU6215 Blog Entry 2 - "Capitalizing on Web 2.0 in the Social Studies Context"


Summary
Like many other subject areas, technology has changed how social studies is taught.  With technology, content can be more hands-on, interactive, and problem-based for learners.  Teachers are able to create lesson that require students to be more active, such as collaborating with peers in the classroom or around the world.  Utilizing technology in social studies lessons help it be student-centered and encourage active student inquiry.

Instead of just consuming information from the web, students can now collaborate and publish and broadcast their own products, i.e. blogs, wiki.  At times this can be at no cost.  This allows students to go beyond an understanding of the content.  It is allowing them to interpret, evaluate, and analyze the material.  Students can also have global connections that teaches them culture and culture diversity.

In this article, it talks about 4 web-based technologies to help in the Social Studies Classroom.
1. VoiceThread – “a collaborative, multimedia software that allows the interactive sharing of images, videos, and documents”
2. Gliffy – Concept mapping software
3. Community Walk - To create informational, interactive, and engaging maps.
4. Footnote - Provides Primary Sources of Military Records

Reflection

The web-based technologies have changed the way teachers teach social studies in the classroom.  For students to have a deeper understanding of the content implementing the web-based technologies can be helpful.  The examples Halcomb and Beal refer in their article seem to have changed since this article has been published, most of them having a cost.  However, Footnote seems to offer some valuable primary sources for free.  VoiceThread seems to be a valuable tool too, however with the cost it will be something to keep in mind.

Reference
Capitalizing on Web 2.0 in the Social Studies Context. (2010). TechTrends: Linking Research & Practice to Improve Learning, 54(4), 28-33. Doi:10.1007/s11528-010-0417-0

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