Wow! Today was such an exciting and packed day! I enjoyed seeing the enthusiasm and excitement as you explored blogs and Twitter. You had some great ideas for using these tools in your classrooms. Although we didn't get time to create any rubrics or scoring guidelines, we were able to discuss relating the assessment to the educational goal related to the tool's use.
Tonight you have a few assignments:
1. Complete your blog creation, write your first post, and upload to our class wiki.
2. Read your classmates' blogs and comment on each.
3. Create a new wiki for our class at wikispaces.com
4. Read Chapter 8 of the course text, post a short summary here along with your thoughts .
Chapter 8 can be summarized in one word: Wikis. The wiki is similar to the other Web 2.0 we learned about earlier this week, including blogging and twitter. The reason a wiki is similar to these other online tools is because the wiki is another way to form connections with people all around the world. For the sake of the classroom, a wiki is another way to get students to virtually engage with one another and the course content. Chapter 8 discusses how wikis are a great tool for collaboration. “A collaborative project works well, but only if an environment of cooperation already exists.” It is important to keep in mind that while online tools are a fun way to learn, sometimes the safest bet is to establish a classroom routine first, and then advance to more intricate tasks, like virtual discussions. The wiki also benefits parents of students, not only to view assignment information, but also to become a part of the classroom conversation.
ReplyDeleteI think Wikis, while initially intimidating (especially when paired with the other similar yet “different” Web 2.0 tools) will prove to be an extremely effective means to communicate in the classroom. I have started my own wiki, and I hope to engage students in this technology by creating a slide show of images on the home page. I think this will demonstrate the type of product students can create when they eventually participate in this Web 2.0 technology!
Chapter 8 deals with wikis outside of the well-known Wikipedia.These are web pages in which collaborative projects, among other things, take place using writing and editing tools (plus additional elements as needed). As project-based learning resources, they have become invaluable for educators for a variety of needs all within a single web location. They encourage learning in ways that were unavailable until very recently, both in a private wiki within a classroom and more public forms encouraging a wider audience to view students' progress.
DeleteIn addition, because of the purpose, peer/group editing allow students to edit one another's work and help improve appropriate and accurate responses because of the audiences [I do have concerns regarding the benefits of multiple editors for a single work]. This format allows teachers (and others) to keep track of individual entries and edits, amounting to a virtual portfolio as previous versions of work are retained. For those unfamiliar with wikis, the authors provide 14 tips for their use. Guidelines for assessments are also provided.
The part of the chapter that interested me the most was the section giving examples of collaborative writing projects from contributors around the world, an authentic use of the far-reaching capabilities this resource has.These vignettes gave me more insight into using wikis for the research portion of a project and how much more engaging the process can become for students.
Chapter 8 is about wikis. According to the authors, “Wikis are web pages that students can use to write, edit, and add elements, such as images and video, to create collaborative projects” (page 135). Personally, I took it to mean that wikis are glorified, interactive websites, that more than one person, if permitted, may edit, alter, improve, and/or evaluate. Since they are project-based in nature, they sure are authentic, and since they involve technology, they are sure to engage most students. Just like a blog, wikis raise the stakes for students, making their work more tailored and synthesized.
ReplyDeleteWikis are collaborative in nature. Students read and build on each other’s work, so students must first know the guidelines for collaboration without using technology. They will need to know each other well and be able to trust their classmates because they will be working closely with them when using a wiki. Since students can alter (add, edit, delete, and/or change) the contents of works that were already posted and since changes are visible instantly, students in a class need to have high-quality communication skills and know what is appropriate to write before interacting with a wiki.
I do like the accountability and relevance that wikis hold. Since older posts never go away, a teacher can view what each student in a group has posted and worked on, each student is held accountable for doing a portion of the work and participating. In collaborating so closely with other students, and in utilizing technology to do so, wikis simulate interactions students will have in their future places of employment.
I can see myself using wikis in my classroom in 2 different ways, I think. The first way will be as a class website to which students and parents can refer for upcoming events, tutorials, homework assignments, etc. I have never created or maintained a class website in the past because I simply did not know how, and I am not historically the best at keeping up with something that seemed so tedious. Using a wiki as a class website seems easy enough to create and maintain, and it will surely keep everyone in the class connected and on the same page. In addition to a class website, I would also like to experiment in using a wiki as a digital portfolio for either the entire class (a simple compilation of work samples throughout the year), or if I feel ambitious and really get it, for individual students. In this way, parents will see samples of what we do in school throughout the year, similar to what they would see hanging on a bulletin board outside the classroom. Well, we all know that parents are not in the school all of the time to see work hanging in the hallways, and who knows which work gets home for parents to see, so posting samples online will be a great way for parents to feel connected to their children and perhaps have something to talk about over dinner if their child comes home and said they did “nothing” in school that day.
Chapter 8 covers the fundamentals of the wiki, a technology that we have begun talking about in our class. A wiki is a website page that teachers can use to encourage collaboration among his/her students. It seems quite versatile and to me, it serves two primary purposes: a work space and a showcase. Because a wiki is an online tool that students can access anywhere at any time, it is a constant work in progress. Students can make changes at any point in the project’s duration. These changes are, in turn, recorded by the wiki and that information is available to the teacher. As a result, students are accountable for their work, but, better yet, they are intrinsically motivated to make the project live up to its full potential. Why? Because of the second purpose of wikis! In addition to providing students with a work space or a construction site, a wiki is also a showcase for finished work. Many of the example projects mentioned in the text imply broader audiences than just the classroom teacher. Whether it is the peer-to-peer feedback inspired by Tim Nelson on page 137, or the global partnerships established by the award winners described on pages 142 to 144, the audience potential is quite limitless with wikis! And, because of that, students will want to be sure that they produce a respectable if not commendable final product. As was the case with blogging and microblogging, the wiki technology is an opportunity for students to make connections, for them to link academic content to the world beyond the classroom, and most importantly to other people. This humanizes the technology and makes it a tool for reaching out to the wider world.
DeleteAs I read pages 137 to 139, the discussion became very familiar to me. Not because I am an expert with wikis—that is hardly the case! The discourse reminds me of countless conversations I’ve had with fellow educators—and with myself, too—on the management of group work. I think that we all acknowledge the value of students working together, yet as teachers, we have all encountered situations where group work situations have gone hopelessly awry. One person bosses around the entire group. One (or more) group members fail to pull their weight. The students are so overscheduled they have no possible way of getting together outside of school. One member of the group is a social isolate and no one wants to include him or her; the other members of the group complain about behavior problems. Yikes! I see in wikis some definite positive points. I like the idea of individual accountability. I also like that the teacher can access work completed by each individual. In my opinion, I think that the technology piece, while still relatively novel, might bolster motivation in students who have never shown it before. While there are practical considerations for any instructional technique, wikispaces seem to hold some promise. I also think that they model the work situations that students will graduate to when they leave school. Seldom do people in the work force complete assignments entirely on their own. It is this collaborative model that seems to take precedence. If they don’t learn to work together now, when will they?
I would need to experiment with wikis a little more before I state for certain how I might use them in the classroom. I am definitely intrigued by the idea of forming a partnership with another class. I think it’d be exciting to have my kids work with students from another part of the country, or even the world! Collaborative writing projects hold some interest for me, as do the project-based approaches such as the one attributed to Dan McCarthy on the bottom of page 145. I know in my heart that I have not done enough to celebrate my students’ achievements in my classroom. At the very least, I think that I could use a wiki to showcase the awesome talent my classroom boasts each year. I am so proud of my students, and I know others would be, too, if they only knew what was going on!
-Kristin
I agree with you on the accountability factor regarding wikis. I've noticed through the years the increasing incidence of a lack of participation in projects by some students who think they can evade responsibility and "piggyback" on others to bear the burdens. Wikis remove this factor by holding each member of the group to a comparable level as the other members. Reluctant participants would gain confidence in knowing that each person's input into the project was on equal footing.
DeleteAfter being exposed to the class wiki, and contributing my portion to the discussion, I found myself in just that position! I was extremely reluctant to contribute, allowing myself to become intimidated by the others with more experience. Helped along by other perspectives, it was a lesson for me that one had to start somewhere-even 50 yards behind the starting line!
What I also found was a nagging what if? in thought experiments. How would I incorporate the technology portion into a previously unengaging project that seemed to bore students rather than excite them? This is one of the interesting aspects of wikis. I don't yet know how flexible and expandable this resource is but, in its current form, it most certainly fulfills its purpose.