In today's classrooms you might hear the words Wiki or Blog, but what exactly does that mean? "A central difference between a wiki and a weblog (or blog) is that wikis were designed as a collaborative environment, whereas blogs were originally intended as personal diaries or journals for individuals to post their own thoughts and ideas." (Jonassen, Howland, Marra, Crismond pg. 112) So how could you use a Wiki in your classroom? One way you could use a Wiki as a class would be to collaboritley write a story allowing each student to write their own part of the story. As the teacher you are able to go in and edit their stories and suggest any changes you might be able to think of. Everyone would be able to view the work in progress and make changes according. I think it is a great way to prove that two or three brains are better then one.
Social Bookmarking is another useful tool for today's technology savvy teacher. How would you use a social book mark? It is very easy; first you create a social bookmarking website at del.icio.us and locate, classify, rank, and even share Internet resources. You can label each link by math, science, etc. It is a great way to network with other teachers and you are able to view any sites they might find useful as well. It also helps you organize any search you might have or need to have. I believe social bookmarking could be useful in the classroom because it allows the students access to any link you might find useful for their assignments. Voice Thread is something I'm not sure I would use in my classroom. It seemed a little to confusing and a little over advanced for students EC-6th grade.
This week’s activities were very interesting to me. I learned a lot more about what a Wiki was and how it could be used in the classroom. I also learned about Social networking and Voice Thread. I can definitely see myself using all of this information to organize my links in the classroom.
Resources: (Jonassen, David. Howland, Jane. Marra, Rose M. Crismond, David) Meaningful Learning with Technology. Pearson Education, Inc. 2008
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Holly, I agree with what you wrote about the VoiceThread. That did seem pretty complicated. I do not believe that I would ever use a VoiceThread in my lesson plan, but never say never. I also saw no advantage to using socialbookmarking. If I want someone to know about a website that I like I wouldsimply shar that information with them. I do see a use for wikis but I believe that I would get a greater benefit from using a blog to keep my students and parents abreast of what is happening in the classroom. I like the idea of posting a syllabus and schedule of work to be done so that everyone will know what is due when, no suprises. Of course I am approaching this on a different level than most in this class, I believe, because I am planning on teaching high school math and coaching.
ReplyDeleteGood job and good luck the rest of the semester.
I agree the VoiceThread did seem a bit complicated but it was very interesting to see one put into action. I felt the same as you Holly about having the students collaboratively write a paper, each adding a paragraph or two to make the story their own as a group, good idea. I can see myself using all of these ideas in my classroom and I think my students would respond well to them, in fact, most probably will already know how to use and create these very things before I even get to show them.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that the Voice Thread seemed a little too complicated. I think that I would probably get confused every time the kids had a question about how to work it.
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