Sonya+Kiefer

This Wiki page assignment was a highly valuable and enriching learning experience. Not only did I learn a lot more about the technology of it, I learned that a Wiki is a useful tool to organize content from all over the web! The amount of information that is available with the click of a mouse is unbelievable.

My plan of action was to first gather information about specific topics and highlights of the time period. I started out doing Google searches and one site would lead me to about 100 others! It is very possible to learn about the history of American education from a computer screen. There were countless numbers of websites, videos, and images that related to our time period.

I was amazed at how easy it was to become completely immersed in this assignment. Every time I logged on to my computer I found myself looking for just one more resource. I truly learned so much about early American education and the common school period. I gained a far deeper understanding than I would have from solely reading a textbook. I found numerous primary source documents that changed my perspective about history. In the past, history was not my area of interest. However, after reading and examining artifacts from the time period, I now realize that I only learned about history from a book, never having the opportunity to delve below the surface. As I researched material for the Wiki, I felt like I was taking a glimpse into the past as I read journals or advertisements that people from 200 years ago also read! I can see how a Wiki can be a useful learning tool to bring content alive for students.