Muriel,
Great example. Thank you for sharing.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
Although Wikis have been an active part of blackboard for sometime now, I've not had this integrated into any the courses that I teach. However, upon re-enrolling in school this past month, I've had the opportunity to collaborate with other students for a group project through use of a Wiki. The ability to interact with my team in multiple ways gives me encouragement when tasks to complete a detailed group project.
Some of the capabilities that I notice to be most helpful are:
*group email
*file exchange
*group discussion forum that either of us may facilitate
*group collaboration tool
These are all very helpful to me as a student and I hope to someday have this feature enabled in my own courses that I teach.
~Muriel
Loriann,
The customization made possible through Wikis and Blogs means that students can develop their own learning path while still within the greater class group. This also helps us as instructors to "hear" our students more directly.
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I do think with today's technology that becoming more technologically aware is part of moving forward. By reviewing the learning outcomes for a given major, students and instructors can keep in mind and discuss the larger picture of a students learning of the courses, projects, assessments, and other learning activities that help students accomplish those outcomes.
Beverly,
Good points. Yes, I think some students will have a more natural aptitude than others, however, I would encourage you to think about the overall instructional goals that could be met using these tools - we have focused on journaling and reflection for many years in education...for all students. These tools make it easier - new tools on the horizon though...
Dr. Ruth Reynard
I am fairly new to wikis and blogs but I think that they definitely fit well with teaching today’s technologically savvy students. I had the opportunity to use both of these in an online class that I took. I will say that I had a small learning curve with the programs. However, I do feel that this type of approach will definitely appeal to those kinesthetic students who learn best by doing. These tools allow students to explore their creativity and expand the mechanisms of teaching with and to their fellow classmates. Depending on the student, online teachers may have to be a little patient with them as they are learning how to use the tools but I do feel that once the techniques are mastered, it will prove to greatly enhance the learning.
Wikis are pretty rare, but I did one once as a student in a PhD course and I thought it was fairly interesting. The instructor had it set up as an ongoing endeavor, and each time she held a class on a related subject the students would be given the opportunity to add to the Wiki for alternative points in various assignments.
The Wiki would notify the instructor of any changes, so she could then look at the changes and approve or correct them. Students could also comment on each other's content.
One potential down side was that it was difficult to specify and quantify what constitutes "quality" input. Having a rubric for an assignment like this is tricky -- it would almost certainly not have a length requirement, for example, because some Wiki entries are short (but still important).
I think the book is still out on the use of Wikis as a teaching tool.
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
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.
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
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.
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
I would like to incorporate one of these methods into my classrooms. Which would you suggest I begin with?
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
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.
Julie,
It also provides direct access to the "voice" of each student which really helps focus instruction. Good points!
Dr. Ruth Reynard
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.
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.
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
