Wow Wiki

Wiki's are yet another useful tool to communicate ideas, information and opinions. I have found them a little confusing though and I am still trying to figure out a few things. Wiki is yet another tool that teacher's are able to use in the classroom. However, teacher's would need to ensure they scaffolded the lesson so that student's have a good understanding of how a Wiki works. Once students had this understanding they could use it to display projects and collaborate with other students. The active learning pyramid (2000) shows that fifty percent of information is retained by discussion groups. Wiki provided a great platform for students to hold discussions with other students, teachers and professionals. Wiki could be used as the platform for an investigation set by the teacher that required students to work in collaborative groups to complete. These completed investigations could be forwarded onto professionals in that field for their input and opinion on the students work. By using Wiki for an investigation of this type students are engaging in learning activities that 'emphasizes team effort that involves communication, planning, management and social skills' (Kearsley & Shneiderman, 1999) as well as making the investigation a creative and purposeful task. Students would also gain a great sense of accomplishment and pride when they recieved feedback from a professinal in this field not just the teacher.

Wiki is a great tool for the classroom but I think would only be suitable for upper grade students. In order for the learning experinece to be engaging teachers would need to ensure all studetns have a clear understanding of how Wiki's work or student's would become disengaged and disinterested.

References:

ACU Adams Center for Teaching Excellence. (2000) Active learnng online. Retrieved July 29, 2009, http://www.acu.edu/cte/activelearning/whatisal.htm

Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B (1999). Engagement Theroy: A framework for teachnology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved July 29th, 2009, from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE 11001 Active learning & learning diversity. http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=580

Blogs and RSS

When I first started looking at all the information on the course website and going into all the different sites I was starting to get a little worried. But as I created my blog and spent some time exploring the site and using the tools it became a little more clear. Blogs are an excellent way of communicating both personal and professional information. I also like the fact that you are able to narrow down information sent to you via the RSS feeder such as google readers. Kearsley and Shneiderman's (1999) engagement theory suggests that in order for students to be meaningfully engaged in learning activities there needs to opportunities for them to experiment during self-directed learning . I found myself when setting up a blog I needed to explore the site and experiment with the tools available. For students I think this would be a very exciting tool to use as while they are building their knowledge they are also seeing the results through what they are creating. Blogs and RSS feeders would also be a fantastic tool for teachers to utilise so that students could participate in learning experiences that occur in a group context. These groups could either be within the class, school, Australia or the world. Blogs allow teachers to design learning experiences where students could participate in collaborative groups with students from the other side of the country. Apart from being educationally beneficial it would allow students to experience other cultures and ways of living.

These types of learning experiences would take time for the teacher to set up but I think it would be a very rewarding and interesting learning journey for students. Teachers would also have the opportunity to develop relationships with other teaching professionals that could last years.


References:

Kearsley, G & Shneiderman, B (1999). Engagement Theroy: A framework for teachnology-based teaching and learning. Retrieved July 29th, 2009, from CQUniversity e-courses, FAHE 11001 Active learning & learning diversity. http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=580