Evaluation
This is an excellent question. What makes the wiki and the blog such a powerful tool for learning is that it is an oversight tool used by the instructor to view their students understanding of a topic. As students insert comments to blogs, I can ask them specific questions that will require them to synthesize an answer by using information and facts presented to them in class. The teacher is able to actually see them work out a question and defend their answer in a manner that focuses on writing, facts, and understanding. Likewise, the wiki is the same thing. You ask an open-ended questions allow the students to explore and learn off of one another. The wiki also uses peer review as a powerful tool for evaluation. As students add comments to the wiki, their peers will examine this and ether add to the comment, agree with it, or disagree with it. Students will have to defend their answers which makes it even more imperative that they fully explain themselves.
In my specific case, I will use the blogs and the wiki to gain a better idea of how my students are beginning to recognize the themes and the characteristics about ancient civilizations that are common. I will look for students being able to draw upon info and facts learned from specific in class activities to add to their comments to the blog and wiki.
