Wiki's in the Classroom

The Use of Wiki’s in the Classroom

The article Uses and Potentials of Wikis in the Classroom really helps to show the power of wiki’s in the classroom. Click the title to view the article. He also has an innovative technology feed that can be reached via: http://www.innovateonline.info/innovate.rss. I also found the wiki site, Britney’s Place which allows students to post comments and evaluations of English projects such as the Scarlett Letter as well as giving the students a rubric and assessment. Each page of this wiki tells the student exactly what is expected. What a wonderful tool for us teacher who dislike repeating ourselves J

What can I say; I have fallen head over heels for wiki’s. Personally, I am using wetpaint and its potential since I set it up a week or so ago has already been immense. I have made contacts with new people who have similar interests as me. I have received information on job leads as well as great resources for my other grad class. I am actually in the process of doing online collaboration via my wiki with two other classmates to write a summary. I took the results of all of our posts and created a page for editing. Wow, talk about the power of collaboration! If you’d like you can see our very different views on the same article which I feel will make a wonderful summary when pulled together, it can be found at http://comptechteacher.wetpaint.com/page/The+Study+of+Culture%2C+Ethnicity.

The potential for wiki’s is enormous. If able to pass the boundaries of firewalls and the powers that be that may need convincing that wiki’s are appropriate for k-12 students. I would suggest edublogs.org as they are guaranteed to be safe and secure while providing a wealth of tools and technology information.

There are many uses of wiki’s for the classrooms that make them very exciting, (following the wiki and watching the videos on the wiki project The Flat Classroom ) just shows the potential of wiki’s. The power of collaboration between students in different time zones, the ability of students to incorporate digital stories, videos, summaries and really synthesis the information was amazing to read and follow. This project is a true inspiration for technology users in education today. These students created an amazing piece using all the best of web 2.0 software.

So what are some of these uses or advantages of wikis just to name a few?

They offer different learning strategies.

Wikis tend to bring about collaborative writing just by their very nature. (Post and reply)

They can create a network for information sharing.

Student can submit assignments via wiki.

Teacher assessment and assignments can be posted.

Shared construction of knowledge can be fostered.

Media Sharing

My thoughts on media sharing: The Role of Emerging Technologies

I think media sharing is really exciting. Emerging interactive media enable new types of educational representations and contexts for creating, sharing, and mastering knowledge. This is driving major shifts in the teaching and research, yet finding the right sites can be very important for K-12 educators. For example, if you go to YouTube and click on education link, the very first video hit is called “Hot XXX Lesbian Action”. You can guarantee that when I become a full time educator, I will not allow my students to go to YouTube, however we have a lot of great content out there that’s helps us to teach as well as supplement our lessons. For example, on teachertube, I immediately found a great clip on internet safety that I shared with friends in education as well as posting it to my wiki site. This is a wonderful tool that allows us to teach our students multimedia while providing various sources of information. I have also considered its impact on visual learners as well. Those students, who do not understand a concept via lecture or class work, may find concepts more meaningful if watching them in context. I especially love the videos produced by students. Many of them are showing us the steps of how they came to produce something or summarize what they have learned. It’s like peer tutoring on a whole new level. Just check out some of the wonderful video’s that have been produced on http://www.youtube.com/user/saschool.

Social Bookmarking

Wow, just when I thought it couldn’t get any better, it just keeps getting better all of the time. I installed del.icio.us this week and never realized how many bookmarks I have! Wow. After the initial import of my bookmarks to del.icio.us after a few key words and viola, my bookmarks are so easy to find and from anywhere I happen to be connected. How many times have I been at work or at someone else’s home computer and wanted to access one of my bookmarks, well lots of times. Thank you del.icio.us. and all other wonderful social bookmarking tools for making life that much easier.

Check out my cool screen shot:

Blogs

I found this awesome audio file on 6 and 7 year olds describing what they think blogs are. A great listen :)

RSS Feeds

I think there are awesome. You are no longer searching for information; the information is coming to you. For our students, this is a huge advantage. They can stay atop of the most current information regarding any subject they might be researching or is of interest to them. Not only do you have the latest and greatest, you have different opinions from all around the world. Students are no longer in the library looking at books that are 5 years outdated with only one point of view, they are able to absorb and give us up to date information with lots of perspectives. Hopefully this wealth of knowledge will help to give them their own perspective. I just hope that we are not inundating them with information, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

How will our students view their feeds is my question? Do all schools allow us to have blog sites or wiki’s?

Using RSS Reader I have added different topics that are of interest to me to my wiki site, I am currently getting the latest information on teaching jobs in NH, I am receiving great articles on technology and learning as well as technology innovations. It makes my life easier already. These are some of the searches I do daily and now they come to me. I think RSS feeds are great. I wish all sites had them.

Technology and the Student/Teacher Relationship

How can technology improve the learning relationship between teacher and student?

SHegstrom - ED5160: My view on blogs

SHegstrom - ED5160: My view on blogs

My view on blogs

To me, blogs are an open forum. It is a way to share ideas and thoughts online. It is a way of journaling, asking questions, and posting general opinions. As I have started blogging more often and watching the Google reader, I have already learned a great deal about a variety of subjects from dogs to technology to methodology. I think blogs are a way to collaborate and share ideas as well as receive ideas. It has many functions such as submitting school assignments, calendaring, submitting homework assignments as well as a variety of many other useful features. To me blogs are a great way to learn and truly collaborate. I look forward to when I have a bigger community to blog with. Blogs give us the ultimate tool as educators for true collaboration, too bad, most schools do not trust them or approve of them. In all I think blogs are great. I have learned a great deal and enjoy bringing up topics when they seem appropriate to my theme or interests.

SHegstrom - ED5160: Connectivism (Siemens' Theory of Knowledge)

SHegstrom - ED5160: Connectivism (Siemens' Theory of Knowledge)

Connectivism (Siemens' Theory of Knowledge)

I would like to begin my discussion on connectivism with the following quote found on http://www.elearnspace.org/Articles/connectivism.htm:

Knowledge is growing exponentially. In many fields the life of knowledge is now measured in months and years. Gonzalez (2004) describes the challenges of rapidly diminishing knowledge life:

“One of the most persuasive factors is the shrinking half-life of knowledge. The “half-life of knowledge” is the time span from when knowledge is gained to when it becomes obsolete. Half of what is known today was not known 10 years ago. The amount of knowledge in the world has doubled in the past 10 years and is doubling every 18 months according to the American Society of Training and Documentation (ASTD). To combat the shrinking half-life of knowledge, organizations have been forced to develop new methods of deploying instruction.”

We all live in a different type of reality where the traditional learning styles of yesterday do not meet today’s learning needs. In today’s society, information changes too quickly for us to process all of it. Therefore it is extremely important for us to form networks so that we have access to individual/experts will be able to help and guide us.

Technology has changed the rate at which we receive information as well as how we process that information. According to the about quote, this information is is coming at us faster than ever before and it’s going to just keep getting faster. Processes and technology are constantly changing and in order to keep up with these changes, the way we think about learning must change. Students need to be able to think dynamically. They need to be able to process information quickly and determine what is pertinent to them. We need to re-examine how we educator our students today, most of which is based on the main three theories of education, behaviorism, cognitivism, and constructivism. At this point in our world, we do not need a new theory to help us deal with the never ending and forever changing technical environment in which we live; we need an entirely new approach.

That is where the connectivism theory comes into play. It takes the circumstances of today (technology), a person’s ability to synthesis and retain information into account.

The fact of the matter is, it is impossible to retain all of the information that is thrown at us in this day and age. It is getting harder to focus and to decipher what is and what is not needed. That is where connectivism comes in. Connectivism deals with the ability of people/students to actually be able to evaluate and construct their own meanings. This is much easier to do when you know where to obtain information, and is certainly much easier than trying to retain all of the information.

When giving my initial thoughts on the course, I stated that “I’m not sure about this tweeter, twicker thing, who has the time”. Jeff’s response was that it has helped him develop a network of teachers or resources that have come in very useful over the years. I believe Jeff was referring to connectivism. He was letting me know he has a large network of people with whom he follows and corresponds that each have their own specialty and interests. He has the nodes of his network in place and they are easily contactable via twitter and twirl. Now that I have a better understanding of the theory of connectivism, it occurs to me that blogs, twitter, twirl are all part of our networks, we can watch them, build contacts and learn from them. This is technology responding to the rapid changes it is bringing about.

Learning networks are created so we stay current and continually acquire experience create and connect new knowledge. Many in our society are realizing what many before the such as John Dewey who wrote “Experience in Education” and believed “Educators are responsible, therefore, for providing students with experiences that are immediately valuable and which better enable the students to contribute to society” or “Uncommon Learning” written by Henry David Thoreau on Education which address how people/students learn through experience and that schools are unprepared for the task of lifelong learning.

Connectivism allows us to not only to be teachers but facilitators, we show, we demonstrate, we introduce and then facilitate the learning process instead of taking control of it

Web 2.0 when you Least Expect It.

Well, out of the mouth's of Babes. Ok, my babe is 15 but his is still my baby. He's sitting there bopping his head, totally plugged into his laptop when he says mom "listen to this", my friends just cut this "riff" and it's got a really cool beat. So of course I said, Wow, I'm surprised an audio file emailed over so quickly", he says " no they linked it to their website while they recorded and sent it to me via wikidot. Hey mom, you ever heard of wikidot, it's really cool, it's kinda like chat but I can go back and see what happened earlier, and it kinda looks like a website. I can even talk with friends about homework. WOW! It's really happening, this Web 2.0 thing :)) Sounds a lot like wetpaint to me I tell him "huh, wetpaint?", he is already plugged back in.

Initial Thoughts

I am very excited about this class! You have already given us some neat tools to play with and learn and I love to play. I think that blogs, wikis and the podcast are certainly the way of the future. As an upcoming technology teacher, the possibility of allowing my students the opportunity to have true collaboration where they are reading ideas, and truly take the time to absorb these ideas is truly what it is all about. I believe that as our students become more connected on the internet, it will enhance their depth of knowledge, understanding. For example, if working on a project, they are getting ideas from classmates, teacher's and possibly experts from all around the world. Not only do these tools enhance the learning experience, they help us reach learners with different learning styles. Students who would normally not contribute verbally may contribute in writing. It is slightly more autonomous.

My mind actually starts to spin about the wonderful possibilities. I am enjoying this class and am looking forward to learning more and having more fun. I am still taking it all in and not sure about somethings, for example, Twitter and twirl, who has the time? I have left it running all day yesterday and did get some great clips from Jeff, but some of it just seems liked journaling, another wonderful tool we can teach our students as I believe the act of writing in wikis and blogs can be a great way to journal as well as reflect on previous thoughts or pieces of work, but as a working adult in school, I am not sure how much I will use it, but, I do watch the posts from time to time. I'm having fun and looking forward to the rest of the semester.

Partnership for 21st Century Learning

I found this web site to be exactly what we need in technology education. A dedicated web site that wants to ensure that our students are indeed ready for the challenges of the 21st century. That our students and teachers are ready for the technology of today and tomorrow. The website itself has a wealth of information and resources for educators. It appears from the partnerships and participating schools that this is a visionary program that works. I was so impressed, that I made an account, there is a wealth of current information on standards, assessment, instruction, curriculum and learning environments. I looked around after logging in and within 1/2 hour had added 10 really great links to my "toolbox of teacher needed sites". This is a progressive site and program, one I wish we had here in my town. I look forward to being a member and getting the most information I can for preparing my students for the 21 century.

School 2.0

I found the article on School 2.0 to be very interesting. It truly brings home a lot of the concepts we are currently being taught in the Computer Technology Education concentration. School 2.0 reminds me of wiki's and blogs. Each facilitates community discussions which is the underlying concepts behind School 2.0. It is very much like an implementation plan where all parties must be involved in order for change to be successful. The community is the learning ecosystem and that encompasses school, home, school administration and all others within the community. It is not just the school and the parents; it must encompass school administration, the school board and most importantly the students. What do they feel is important to learn coming into the 21 century? The map adds to the sense that School 2.0 is not about technology but about the many paths you can take to connect across traditional boundaries. A way in which people and places can communicate over the World Wide Web. School 2.0 helps a school or community to devise a solid, successful plan for breaking the barriers of traditional communication. How these changes will be implemented as well as how they will be supported once they are in affect must be considered. Training is also a key factor in planning a collaborative community. I have researched many articles regarding implementing technology within a school district, and many times these plans fail because the teachers and administration do not feel comfortable enough to use the technology or equipment.

School 2.0 goes beyond technology into the realm of online communication and collaboration where proper and continuous training and support will be even more essential or just as essential as a training and support on a new computer application.

It appears to me that School 2.0 provides an excellent resource that provides process areas that should be addressed in order for our schools and community to be able to collaborate effectively across many platforms. School 2.0 is an attempt to bring all members of a school and community together, to allow them to be able to communicate instantly and effectively. When looking at the map it reminds me of a blog. Teacher 1 posts about student A, teacher 2 reads it and says "hey, try these great links for Student A, they will work well for him/her". At the same time, parents could follow the same blog on student A to see what has occurred during the day or what project he/she is working on, get an update on grades as well as receive comments from teachers on a regular basis. We have many tools that do these things separately, CMS systems allow us to input grades, attendance and generate reports while other tools allow us to communicate online and other applications to teach with. School 2.0 appears to be a wonderful way of implementing web tools and communication across a school system and community that will enrich our student’s experience. It will empower students to be responsible and allow them greater resources and experiences than can be achieved in a traditional classroom setting.

Blog for ED5160 Networking in a Classroom Env.