Wikis and Blogs
How can wikis and blogs directly support students becoming producers of knowledge?
Theresa,
Good points! Yes, these interactive tools help students process the information and look for application in their thinking and knowledge building.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Wikis and Blogs help to students to become producers of knowledge by allowing the student to interact with the application. Wiki and Blogs are a good way to students to explain how they interpt the material.
Suzanne,
Good points! Yes, often these kinds of environments lack the formality of more conventional learning environments. So, instructors should design the expectations to be tightly tied to the learning outcomes and award scores accordingly.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Wikis and blogs allow students to share their thoughts, ideas and knowledge in a classroom setting. However, these formats are perceived as casual, which takes away some of the pressure many students feel. Students can take more risks with their answers. I like these tolls and find them helpful for increasing student involvement in the classroom.
Suzanne
Cynthia,
Very true - these tools heighten student authoring which, in turn, engages them and supports collaboration and ideas sharing.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Wikis and blogs are approaches that require students to become the author of the knowledge being shared. The requirement of students sharing information through the posting of information on both wikis and blogs produce the outcome of their distribution of their own knowledge in the subject areas.
Josh,
Yes, these tools provide a great opportunity for students to customize their own learning - from experience, though, test out the tool before you ask students to use it. I have been caught out on that.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I have been in an online class in the past where as a group we had to create a wiki on a topic of our choice. It was meant to be a fairly comprehensive wiki on a particular topic, and it therefore required a lot of research of our group. After compiling the information, we divided it up into an organized manner and created the wiki. Then we shared the link with the rest of the class. It was very much a process of us becoming the producers of information. We jad to find it, organize it and present it to the class in a logical manner.
Because wikis and blogs are created by users, then students can be assigned to produce the material in a neaningful fashion. They share with others what they have learned which helps increase theirown knowledge of the subject.
Deborah,
Good points - Wikispaces are effective for sure. Wikis do need o have cooperative possibilities in order for them to work well.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Students can contribute as individuals in group projects. What I have found is that Wikispaces is a great option because it tracks what everyone does and it makes it easy for assessment. Blogs are also a good option because students will want to work harder to make it look good if the whole world could possibly see their work.
Deb
Stephen,
Good points - yes, these text-based tools can help develop literacy skills in students as well as involve students more in the thought process.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I think Wikis and Blogs are invaluable for certain types of students. It seems that the ones that are motivated to produce content for these are prone to strong writing and research tendencies. I have really enjoyed watching the development of some of my students in this segment of my curriculum.
Steve
Jennifer,
True - blogs are used for all kinds of purposes now, however, the concept is still a good one for the instructional process.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
When they produce a "blog" of their research to date in their respective groups, they tend to manage the group work better. Otherwise I tend to steer students away from 'blogs as they tend to recreate the bad stuff.
Suzie ,
Good points. They also elevate student "voice" and exchange of ideas.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I believe that Wikis and Blogs follow the model of Learn, Do, Teach and that students are able to share and expand their learning process through blogging.
I have not personally used wikis or blogs in my class, however, I attended a seminar where this was discussed. I've been experimenting so I can be more comfortable with the technology before I introduce it. The instructor that put on the seminar used a wiki as an FAQ board. This was a great tool! Students would post questions, others would answer (or sometimes the instructor would). This allowed everyone to use the technology and/or learn from it. By the end of the course, many students had participated in the wiki.
Lindsey,
I agree - it also provides a "window" into the students' thought processes and that can be very insightful for the teacher as well as the students.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
It allows students to make public their thinking on the topic at hand as they showcase the information they found relevant and their opinions and ideas about it. It does present a challenge in assessment, however, as you need to be able to assess the quality of information presented without being critical of the student's opinions.
