Wiki: A Cool New Way to Learn!
Who would have imagined students creating web pages in school? It is a reality! Students are creating and editing online encyclopedia's and discussing Mcbeth online. The aritlce "Educators Experiment with Student-Written Wiki's" talks about this new do-it-yourself website creation program. The article goes into discussing both the benefits and draw backs to this program. Besides fostering collaboration and communication, Wikis, "Is a Web site that allows anyone to add or change content anywhere." On the downside, Wiki is not techically difficult, but it can be conceptually hard to use. The safty of the program is not the best, and it is wide open to anyone and everyone.
This technology provides a visual for students. Students are able to make abstract ideas concrete when putting them into the web pages. For instance, in the article, it talks about how students at East Side Community High School shared and wrote their own versions of McBeth online and discussed them. Using information that students learn allows them to participate in group learning (a grouping strategy in which students work together to benifit each other's learning potentinal). In working together students can learn from one another.
I feel that Wikis are a great way for teaching students how to utalize technology. Wikis also provide an experience for students to take their education into their own hands. They are responisble for creating their web pages, and therfore they have stake in the outcome. It is just one of many great ways to make education more interesting and colorful for students.
The article talks about how Wikis are "flying under the radar in most schools". It would be useful to see how successful this program is in grades K-12. Is it helping to improve students grades and skills essential for passing standardized test s?. Also, what are the long term benefits? How much is this improving students technological literacy?.
If you would like to read the article "Educatos Experiments with Student-Written Wikis" follow this link: http://web.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.fgcu.edu/ehost/detail?vid=6&hid=112&sid=73a30033-fbef-482b-a6bf-8681164de99f%40sessionmgr103
posted by spot4 @ 8:39 PM
4 Comments
4 Comments:
your article was very informative. I never thought about wikis helping children learn by them creating thier own. This is a great way for them to learn a lot about a certain subject and become proficent in a fun way.
I very much enjoyed the way you made me want to read your article. You didn't drag out the unimportant information and brought out the important. I learned a lot about the different ways that wiki could be used in the classroom and the pros and cons of it as well. Wiki could most definetly be used positively.
Great article summary Elizabeth! I loved the example about how highschool students wrote their own versions of McBeth online and discussed them. I think that is a great idea for how a teacher can use wiki's in their classroom. I also agree with you when you said that this online do-it-yourself website helps students learn how to participate in a group project. I think that is very key to learn while in school because throughout highschool and into college and later into jobs, students must learn how to work with there peers and work on the computer too. I also think it is a great creative outlet for the students to help create a web page. Not only can they be creative but they are taking their education into their own hands, as you said. I loved the questions that you gave at the end too. I also wonder how effective it will be in the younger grades and I think that is a very important question.
Great Job!
-Alicia
I, like you, also think that wikis are a cool way for students to share information and gather it. I also think that there can be some downfalls to them. Because they are so editable and open, some students who aren't sure of what they are talking about my be discourage to write on them. Also, I disagree with allowing younger students to use these websites, mainly for security reasons. You had a nice article, I wish I oould have found one as good.
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