Using wikis to experience history

This dissertation is an action research study examining the use of technology to encourage critical thinking and digital literacy in a community college history class. The students are responsible for researching course material and teaching the class. They then use a wiki to contribute to and edit an interactive, online textbook that has been created by students over several semesters. The goal is to link more interactive technologies with what the author terms socially democratic education, by empowering students to create knowledge and encouraging them to consider biases in historical writing. Two main research questions are considered, each with related sub-questions. First, what do students experience using an educational wiki and an open classroom? Are the students able to think critically about history? The work of Giroux (1978) is used to discuss the critical thinking that emerged in the class. Second, what are the relationships between the wiki and open classroom, and democratic education? How is that observable? What role does the teacher play? Is this a critical pedagogy? Evidence of socially democratic learning is examined, and Freire (2009) is used to analyze the presence of a critical pedagogy. Several issues are raised as the result of the study, and their implications are discussed. These include the loss of teacher control with this type of pedagogy, the need for a balance between allowing freedom for discovery and organizational structure, and issues related to trust and identity.

Name thesis:degree_name

Ph.D.

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Secondary & Continuing Educ

Grantor

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Year dc:date

2011

Author dc:creator

• Martin, Vance S.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Noffke, Susan E.
• Parsons, Marilyn A.
• Peters, Michael A.
• Span, Christopher M.

• Action Research
• history education
• technology in education
• community college
• wikis

Statement dc:rights

• Copyright 2011 Vance S. Martin

Language dc:language

en

Handle dc:identifier

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/24084

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/24084