Educational Wikis

As a whole, for Technology class, I am still missing the big deal with Wikis.  I get how they can be helpful with group collaboration online, but in a classroom setting, I don't know why they seem to be presented as more useful or accessible than websites or other collaboration sites.  Every one that I encountered for this blog post was a classroom's Wiki where they had posted things they have done or a teachers Wiki where other teachers can come and get resources.  Maybe they are easier to access or safer for children? ...oh, I don't know.  But anyhow!  I am going to give you my review of the best educational Wiki for the elementary setting I could find on the two sources provided to us for this assignment.

I was searching through Educational Wikis and came across this one titled 2nd Grade Class Wiki.  When I clicked on it, the colors were appealing, it had a fun logo and welcoming banner.  I was surprised then to see the site turn into something I didn't understand.  It took me a while to gather that it was a Wiki where children in a classroom have used the space to present and organize information they have learned and gathered in class.  There is a fun section where the children are reading some poems that they wrote and the teacher used some function to write feedback to them in text bubbles, which I thought was so neat!  There are fun little animations and creative use of the webspace.  I think it looks disorganized and was hard to follow.  I wonder what purpose it actually serves in the class and how much of the information is posted by students or by the teacher.  Is it just a tool where the students can show their parents something cool they have been doing in school on the home computer?  Is it a means of assessment?  I wish there were more discussion of this on the page to inform random viewers like myself.  Overall, I gained some unique information of creative things you can post on these Wiki sites, but am still wondering what place they have in my classroom.  

Inquiry Based Activity

This weeks adventure in technology was quite different from those of the past weeks!   We created an Inquiry-Based activity for students to log onto the page (created in a Wiki) and follow directions and links.  The students have access to the information through various media such as videos and informational sites.

I really enjoyed doing this activity through a media that we had already learned! It really freed me up to put effort into the content of my activity.  I really saw this as a potential lesson that I could use in the future and not just a frustrating task that I will never again use.  I love the idea of kids getting to do their own research through other websites than the ones they see all the time.  They get to see information in a new way than teachers lecturing to them or reading about it in a book.  This is exciting for children and I think it's helpful to get them engaged in the learning process.  Overall, this was a good use of my time.  It was great to learn on my own different websites on teaching standards and compiling the information into a lesson for the kids.  

WebQuests

WebQuests were something I knew nothing about before entering Technology class last week.  So, if you, like me, feel inarticulate about WebQuests, I have got news for you.  These are some of the easiest and coolest sites for helpful teaching tools!
AWebQuest is an inquiry-oriented activity in which some or all of the information that learners interact with comes from resources on the internet.  So, basically it is a sight where teachers can direct their students to for information, project guidelines and research tools on a broad variety of subjects.  WebQuests are designed to promote higher order thinking rather than just a regurgitation of facts that students should know for a test.  They are designed to promote deep understanding in a classroom setting.  Since these sites are being used by a variety of learners, they should be very easy to read and understand.  They should lead to accurate information-filled, working websites for research on a topic.  They should outline a task to help learners engage fully and get to know a topic.
I do question a little how practical WebQuests are for the classroom.  I can forsee many issues with these.  As we observed a few of these sites in class today, I learned that it could be easy to create a inefficient site.  Also, most classrooms do not have access for each child to be at a computer, so if they are constantly referring to directions for a task, it isn't practical to not have it written down instead.  The research I can see the pros for, but easily links can be disabled or lead to irrelevant sites. And there are definitely issues with internet, like the one we ran into today.  The internet on campus was not working very well and we weren't able to proceed with class as planned.
Just a few thoughts!

Wikis!!

So this week in Technology, we have been introduced to the wonderful world of Wikis!!

To be honest, I had no idea what a wiki was until 3 weeks ago.. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am culturally relevant.  I know what Wikipedia is and have heard of scandals happening on Wikis, but I had no knowledge of how they worked until recently.  Wikis are pages that allow members to create and edit them and turn them into a website.

So this is why Wikipedia is said to be an unreliable source.   Volunteers edit the encyclopedia style information and cite their sources on the bottom of the page.  It is true that anyone could go in and edit the pages in Wikipedia, but it is highly monitored, so it rarely puts out incorrect information.

I have learned so much about the usefulness of Wikis in the classroom.  This week we made Wiki pages that were "All About Me" and used them to introduce ourselves to the class. (You can view my page here.)  I did however think, "in an elementary classroom, really?"  So, since then I think they have more relevance than I was thinking they would.  Especially for students in upper elementary, these sites could be useful tools for study guides, math problems, a calendar.  One of my favorite new options is question and answer.. If students need help on a project, they could put it on the Wiki, then other students or I could answer.  This could even be great for questions that parents have! Because chances are if one parent has a question, then others will want to know the same thing, and it would be great to have it all in one place!

All in all - check out Wikis.  I loved reading the Wikipedia on Wikipedia.