Cynthia,
I encourage you to keep experimenting with the technology and various ways these tools can enrich the learning experience.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I have a technique in my literature courses where groups work together to "present" one of the assigned stories or poems to the class.
But the groups must also produce a wiki for the class in which they annotate difficult passages, explain archane terms, help "read between the lines". Much 19th century literature hinted at sexuality, but alert readers see the coding. I give hints, but they must ferret out the answers and then properly present and cite it.
Students enjoy being the "experts" for the day, and they actually do enjoy finding out just what X was hinting when he wrote Y. Illustrations, video clips, sound clips or any other "extras" are heartily encourage.
In another course, we use reader response blogs which all of us write. These informal responses, while created for an audience, give a space where their reactions are just as valid as mine. We can then discuss one another's blogs online, asking questions, commenting, praising.
Blackboard has great tools for encouraging this type of learning.
I am unfamiliar with wikis and blogs; however I know an instructor who utilizes them and claims they are most effective. What this instructor does is a whole host of tools from wikis to blogs to live chats to written support materials, etc. so that she captures everyone of her students' needs.
Mary,
Ys, I encourage you to try these tools with your students as they can really enhance the engagement and focus of students.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Great point. I was a little lost on how these (wiki) could be used but you summarized the concept well!
I have always felt that one true test of understanding is to be able to teach it.
Wikis allow for the common development of a knowledge repository. We did this for renewable energy information. Students and others could add their experience and insight.
Blogs (Web logs) allow students to expand on a topic for which they are passionate. I blog on small business issues using my free Wordpress account. Blogs may be incorporated in a Content Management System for online education.
David,
Love the Wiki example! Yes, compling information and knowledge building can be wonderful results of using these technologies.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Wikis and Blogs demand that students put some of their ideas into a written format that can be distributed to a real-world audience. These type of tools will engage current users and experts who will add content and provide oppoortnities for students to bounce back ideas, questions and applications of the content to real-world scenarios. Often, "publishing" ideas is a great way to improve confidence and to train in accepting criticism, both constructive and negtive. Moreover, these tools provide students with an avenue to receive perspectives and suggestions. They also contribute to dynamic learning instead of just linear learning and they can be both receivers and distributors of information.
Suzanne
I haven't used these myself. However, in training at my university, I've heard that wikis can be used to provide students with prepared material on selected blocks of the class. For example, in a statistics class, I might prepare a wiki on setting up null and alternative hypotheses. Students who have questions about this can access the wiki. I would imagine that students could do something similar, such as use wikis to cooperatively prepare a group project.
It would seem to me that blogs offer the opportunity for students to ask questions and exchange information in much the way that discussion boards are supposed to. That the students can asynchronously post information, edit it, ask questions, and give feedback.
Students can actually contribute to a document or content resources via a Wiki and the results of their work are immediately visible. Cooperatively, students can work within a learning community using a blog. Blogs can be used not only as an individual journaling tool, but within the "blog ring" of the whole class, a group within the class, or beyond the class.
Julie,
It also provides direct access to the "voice" of each student which really helps focus instruction. Good points!
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Dr. Reynard,
I have not really used Wiki's or Blogs. However, I believe that through these tools students can share their subject or personal knowledge with the class as a whole. Projects can also be assigned using these new technological tools.
Jorell,
Of course we now have expanded uses of Twitter and other text software which means that the functionality of wikis and blogs is possible in a variety of ways. The basic difference between the two is the collaborative uses of wikis and the self-reflective uses of a blog. Knowing that, there are, as I say, a variety of ways we can now achieve these outcomes.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I would like to incorporate one of these methods into my classrooms. Which would you suggest I begin with?
Jorell,
You could set up a Twitter account which could serve both purposes, however, if you'd like to set each up separately,simply "Google" free educational wikis (there is a very familiar site that educators use, "wiki spaces" and also free blogs. As long as your IT can set you up with permissions for your network, you are good to go :)
Dr. Ruth Reynard
The concept of "wiki" has captured recent imagination. Although I also ask students not to use Wikipedia as a reference, it can be used as a launching point for more valid sources. The Wikipedia entity is extremely large, and there is not enough analysis of the veracity of content to make it an appropriate academic source. There is another reason to discourage its use and that is at the college level, generally students are not to be citing encyclopedias, but finding more in-depth sources. Often students will not initially differentiate Internet sources, possibly assuming that they are all valid.
Often students will find definitions and such form odd sites and proprietary sites focused on product and service sales, so it is possible that information from these sources may be particularly biased. Often many of these seem geared to junior high or even elementary students.
Wikis are often encouraged, and it is quite possible that cutting edge information might be in a wiki or even a ranting blog--I seem to find a lot of these, but often careful analysis is important.
Marcia,
Yes, Wikipedia is a good place for students to start and find the terms and search words they should use for continued research. Sources are constantly changing and while we still encourage peer-reviewed sources in higher education, there can be many Internet journals and published work that are also helpful. The challenge is to help students learn how to know which is legitimate.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I think they can if the students are actively engaged in producing them, not just researching others' use of them. It does seem, however, that W & B are really aimed at verbally-focused students who thrive in a written environment, thus targeting only about 20% of the population of students. When used in a group environment along with other opportunities for technology using other learning styles wikis and blogs can work well. I took an educational technology course and had to create a wiki. Enjoyed it, but found it frustrating not to have someone over my shoulder "showing me the ropes" of this technology.
Lynne,
Yes, not all students like these spaces - just like years ago not everyone enjoyed journaling - we kept going with it, however, because the benefit was great. I feel the same with these "reflective" and "collaborative" tools :)
Dr. Ruth Reynard
