Welcome to our Wiki! While I have worked with them a little in the past, I hope this experience will help us both discover ways to make use of 21st Century technologies in our classrooms. I will be looking forward to your thoughts and our plans.
Melissa
Jennie,
It is great to be able to add to a document just as if you'd handed me a paper and pencil and said, "write something for me". I found this document on planning for 21st century schools. I think it is a realistic approach to planning.
Melissa,
I think I understand how this works. I have used Google Docs with other classes and I loved how you could see the edits someone has made and how it affects the meaning of the overall document or project.
"For the last five years Lindsay has used wikis both in and out of the classroom. One wiki Web site, for example, serves as a "window" into his fourth-grade classroom and a portal to curriculum resources. Using the free PBworks online collaboration service, Lindsay not only posts his own data, but also stores his students' portfolios and other pertinent information.
The same process works for collaborative, group projects, which are often difficult to manage and share. A team of four students who are working on a volcano project, for example, can log onto the wiki and use it as a place to post and/or answer research questions among each other. Both teacher and parents can monitor the project's progress, see each student's contribution, and offer feedback and help where needed."
Jenni
Jenni,
I love what you found. I also like how everyone who has access to a Wiki can make adjustments to the font, color, and format. I do believe that, when students use Wiki's for collaboration, you have to lay down some ground rules. However, these are the forms of etiquette that they will have to know to function in the business world. I have to include some common sense guidelines for student Wiki use so you will see what I am talking about. The quotes below come from http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2005/12/wiki-wiki-teaching-art-of-using-wiki.html .
I asked them to post meaningful, relevant information on their topic.
I asked them to summarize information they found on the Net and to link to it.
I asked them to continue to read their topic and ask themselves -- "What do I not understand about this topic?" and then to proceed to answer that question and post their findings.
I asked them to use some of the websites that they read about.
They were not allowed to delete information of another unless it was redundant or they paraphrased/edited it to make it better. (I had two classes working on the same pages so they could experience true collaboration.)
I also tapped into the Cool Cat Teacher Blog and explored this teacher's Wiki. It gave me a lot of ideas for my own classroom. The author, Vicky Davis, has separate pages on her Wiki for her students in various classes to record and share notes, questions, and collections. Her students even created their own "Study Hall" page where they can work at home, at school, or other places without worrying about leaving their textbooks in their lockers. She also used her Wiki as a one-stop portal for her students to access a myriad of resources and conduct live chats. Other uses for her Wiki include (from http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Wikis ):
Lesson Summaries
Collaboration of Notes
Concept Introduction and Exploratory Projects
Dissemination of Important Classroom Learning Beyond the Classroom
Individual Assessment Projects
I have noticed that we can also add widgets, and they are new to me so I will be exploring this. I see them in other folks' Wiki's, but I have yet to learn how to find and add them to ours. I did start a Wiki in my classroom this week to help my students with their research project. I will let you know how it goes with middle school students who have special needs.
Melissa
Melissa's Reflections
I had seen Wikis before, but I don't think I had ever explored the real possibilities of them. Upsides are that they are versatile, always available, and can be customized in a number of ways to meet the needs of users. Furthermore, there are applications for Wikis at all grade levels, and users do not have to be highly tech-savvy. In addition to this, the growth experiences for students and professionals are numberless in areas that touch the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: creating, collaborating, and problem-solving. On the other hand, Wikis are new and potentially frightening forums for teachers and students. The temptation to underuse them or force use with artificial and unauthentic tasks is very real. Users of Wikis must also be willing and able to use appropriate judgment and etiquette. Otherwise, a Wiki could become just another arena for cyberbullying. There is a great need for careful monitoring of Wikis used by students, and this fact could inhibit timid teachers. I, however, am not timid. I look forward to rising to the challenge of using Wikis in my classroom as learning tools that are melded seamlessly into the curriculum. Jenni's Reflections
Because I am new to Wikis, I had a lot of conerns about how they could be implemented in the classroom. After working with Melissa and investigating how Wikis work, I do believe they can be beneficial in the classroom setting. The biggest advantages that I see include
Students taking control and responsibilty of their own learning
Collaborative learning (students and teachers)
Versatile applications (all subjects/curricula)
Development of critical thinking skills
Gives students a chance to edit and reflect upon thier own work
The only real disadvantages I can see would be concerns over students following internet use policies and using appropriate language in their comments and additions to their Wikis. I do plan to use Wikis in my classroom and help other faculty do the same.
Jenni,
Welcome to our Wiki! While I have worked with them a little in the past, I hope this experience will help us both discover ways to make use of 21st Century technologies in our classrooms. I will be looking forward to your thoughts and our plans.
Melissa
Jennie,
It is great to be able to add to a document just as if you'd handed me a paper and pencil and said, "write something for me". I found this document on planning for 21st century schools. I think it is a realistic approach to planning.
http://www.thethinkingstick.com/files/planning-for-21st-century-technologies.pdf
Melissa,
I think I understand how this works. I have used Google Docs with other classes and I loved how you could see the edits someone has made and how it affects the meaning of the overall document or project.
Jenni
I edited the homepage. Feel free to change it. I was just trying to change the look of it a little bit. Are you the only one who can actually change the "look and feel" of the wiki?
http://thejournal.com/articles/2010/10/20/wikis-pulling-it-all-together-online.aspx?sc_lang=en
"For the last five years Lindsay has used wikis both in and out of the classroom. One wiki Web site, for example, serves as a "window" into his fourth-grade classroom and a portal to curriculum resources. Using the free PBworks online collaboration service, Lindsay not only posts his own data, but also stores his students' portfolios and other pertinent information.
The same process works for collaborative, group projects, which are often difficult to manage and share. A team of four students who are working on a volcano project, for example, can log onto the wiki and use it as a place to post and/or answer research questions among each other. Both teacher and parents can monitor the project's progress, see each student's contribution, and offer feedback and help where needed."
Jenni
Jenni,
I love what you found. I also like how everyone who has access to a Wiki can make adjustments to the font, color, and format. I do believe that, when students use Wiki's for collaboration, you have to lay down some ground rules. However, these are the forms of etiquette that they will have to know to function in the business world. I have to include some common sense guidelines for student Wiki use so you will see what I am talking about. The quotes below come from http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2005/12/wiki-wiki-teaching-art-of-using-wiki.html .
I asked them to post meaningful, relevant information on their topic.
I asked them to summarize information they found on the Net and to link to it.
I asked them to continue to read their topic and ask themselves -- "What do I not understand about this topic?" and then to proceed to answer that question and post their findings.
I asked them to use some of the websites that they read about.
They were not allowed to delete information of another unless it was redundant or they paraphrased/edited it to make it better. (I had two classes working on the same pages so they could experience true collaboration.)
I also tapped into the Cool Cat Teacher Blog and explored this teacher's Wiki. It gave me a lot of ideas for my own classroom. The author, Vicky Davis, has separate pages on her Wiki for her students in various classes to record and share notes, questions, and collections. Her students even created their own "Study Hall" page where they can work at home, at school, or other places without worrying about leaving their textbooks in their lockers. She also used her Wiki as a one-stop portal for her students to access a myriad of resources and conduct live chats. Other uses for her Wiki include (from http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Wikis ):
Lesson Summaries
Collaboration of Notes
Concept Introduction and Exploratory Projects
Dissemination of Important Classroom Learning Beyond the Classroom
Individual Assessment Projects
I have noticed that we can also add widgets, and they are new to me so I will be exploring this. I see them in other folks' Wiki's, but I have yet to learn how to find and add them to ours. I did start a Wiki in my classroom this week to help my students with their research project. I will let you know how it goes with middle school students who have special needs.
Melissa
Melissa's Reflections
I had seen Wikis before, but I don't think I had ever explored the real possibilities of them. Upsides are that they are versatile, always available, and can be customized in a number of ways to meet the needs of users. Furthermore, there are applications for Wikis at all grade levels, and users do not have to be highly tech-savvy. In addition to this, the growth experiences for students and professionals are numberless in areas that touch the highest levels of Bloom's Taxonomy: creating, collaborating, and problem-solving. On the other hand, Wikis are new and potentially frightening forums for teachers and students. The temptation to underuse them or force use with artificial and unauthentic tasks is very real. Users of Wikis must also be willing and able to use appropriate judgment and etiquette. Otherwise, a Wiki could become just another arena for cyberbullying. There is a great need for careful monitoring of Wikis used by students, and this fact could inhibit timid teachers. I, however, am not timid. I look forward to rising to the challenge of using Wikis in my classroom as learning tools that are melded seamlessly into the curriculum.
Jenni's Reflections
Because I am new to Wikis, I had a lot of conerns about how they could be implemented in the classroom. After working with Melissa and investigating how Wikis work, I do believe they can be beneficial in the classroom setting. The biggest advantages that I see include
- Students taking control and responsibilty of their own learning
- Collaborative learning (students and teachers)
- Versatile applications (all subjects/curricula)
- Development of critical thinking skills
- Gives students a chance to edit and reflect upon thier own work
The only real disadvantages I can see would be concerns over students following internet use policies and using appropriate language in their comments and additions to their Wikis. I do plan to use Wikis in my classroom and help other faculty do the same.