Due August 5 Reflect on our final project of creating a wiki for your classroom use and share your thoughts on the benefits and limitations of using wikis in the classroom environment.
At first hand I did not understand how benefical wiki could be to the classroom enviorment, teachers, or students. Now that I have created a wiki and learned more about the creation and variety of options, it is truely benefical. Wikis are able to keep lessons or even an entire class, organized for the students and the teacher. They offer so many different activities and creative avenues to engage students. It is a great way for students to share ideas and thoughts in a way besides verbal words/words. The idea of being able to post things on the wiki page is great. It is very interesting to see everyones projects and interests. The most benefical part of the wiki is that it is on going and can always be built on.
The limitations I see with the wiki is if used to much it takes away from the face to face interactions of students/teachers. Which I believe is a vital component of schooling.
Besides that I will always try to incorperate a wiki in my classroom. I loved it, and believe students at all levels will as well.
My new job does not have individual teacher websites so I am very happy I learned how to create a wiki. Now, I can create a wiki page for my students to check different assignments. I can post homework, tests, quizzes, study guides, the syllabus, resources, and all kinds of different items for my students. It’s a great resource to help keep kids on track.
I loved decorating my page with glogs and wordles. It makes the page more exciting and hopefully will draw my students to look at the page. My goal as an educator is to spark interest in my students and make them want to use the knowledge I give them in their everyday lives. I can enforce that goal by starting blogs where we can discuss how to use math outside of the classroom.
I thought that I could use the wiki to inform fellow students about topics that are discussed in my class at DCCC, on health, safety and nutrition. But while I have been waiting for people at DCCC to Blog about it, I realized a limitation: the wiki needs to be used to be useful. I hope some classmates use it.
I have wondered if I could design a wiki for young children, using simple words and pictographs (pictures) for non-readers. It is an interesting way to introduce computer skills. I especially like the control settings and the plasticity of the site, so I can change everything overnight.
I loved Glogs, Blogs, Animotos and Wikis, but I found the Prezi a little difficult to work with. I will try to teach what I learned to a friend, so that I can "pass it along." I will definitely use this technology when I get a teaching job.
In reflecting upon the experience of creating wikispaces and the benefits and limitations of these, I found the benefits far outweigh the limitations. The benefits of creating and using a wiki are numerous. Their very nature allows them to be a "work in progress" and allows for constant editing and adding. They can also provide a wealth of information, as we saw in our class presentations. And perhaps most importantly they are engaging to students. I also really like the level of control teachers can have and the accountability students have in the creation of their wiki. The possibilities of how to use wikis are endless! They can be used independently, as well as cooperatively. They can be used i the classroom or remotely. They are really amazing! As far as the limitations go, there are a few minor ones. They are very time consuming to create, but again, once they are created, they are there forever if you want to use them! Learning how to create a wiki is a little time consuming and cumbersome but in the end it is very much worth it! I really enjoyed working on the wikis and I know it is something that I will use in my classroom in the future! I know it will benefit me as the teacher but most importantly it will benefit the students in my class!
Creating the wiki was a time-consuming experience. It was also very enjoyable and energizing!!! As I looked for the components to create the wiki, I realized there were all kinds of great sites out there that I wasn't utilizing. While creating the wiki took a while, I could easily envision its use in the classroom and home. It's something I can really picture the students enjoying!
One of the limitations would be that we only have the Smartboard available to students in the classroom. We also have a computer lab; with a little creativity, we can work around these facts. Nevertheless, it would be ideal if all of the students had a laptop to work from during the lesson. Another possible limitation would be Internet privacy issues around the Prezi and blog assignments. Parents may be concerned about the public nature of the sites, so those assignments might have to be modified.
However, the benefits outweigh any limitations, by far!!! I loved making the wiki, and look forward to using that one and others in the future with my students!
As previously mentioned by classmates, I too enjoyed the fluidity and immediacy of the wiki. Information can be modified and/or added quickly and easily. And, in the end, is a product which I have assembled (wikis, blogs, glogs, prezis...legos of the modern era!). The creation of these tools is a satisfying and proud moment.
In addition to these strengths, the wiki, as interactive repository, does not just exist passively waiting for a browse. It is the grand central station of my course...with all the hustle and bustle...full of documents, links, images, and videos. Once it is created, a process which can be frustrating at times, I can always go back and easily bring up any information previously posted and update as I move into a new semester ("why reinvent the wheel?").
Wikis are great tools which can be used across grade levels. I can easily envision having my university students utilize them as part of a semester long research project on a topic.
The collaboration and creativity brought about by using wikis make their creation fun. Case in point: our work in this class felt more like play. And, isn't this what we ideally want for our students? A learning that is enjoyable and useful not painful and irrelevant.
I learned a lot about wiki’s in the classroom through creating my own lessons/ blogs/ etc. I think it’s imperative for teachers to use the technology they have available to them in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. The resources available on the internet allow students to not only rely on what a textbook may say, but allow the students take an active part in the research/ learning process. The Wiki I created for my potential students allowed me to think about how 21st century children in the classroom may learn better and use their own knowledge to engage them. The benefits for using wiki’s in the learning process really allow students to be creative and become active in the learning process. Keeping the students engaged and able to use the correct resources to learn is a great benefit to using the wiki, blog, etc. tools. Students already know a lot about using the internet and why not use this knowledge to keep them connected to education. Drawbacks would be that the classrooms don’t have the funds to provide computers to students and therefore, hard to incorporate the use of the wiki’s. Also, using the correct source and finding valid information on the web could also be an issue, however teachers need to be able to teach what a valid source is. So much information is available on the web, it’s a great learning tool, and however everything written on these pages are not always correct. I think using Wiki’s in the learning process can really help student become engaged and in turn, teach other students because they are so technologically savvy. I enjoyed learned about these technology pieces to incorporate in my classroom. Great resources for great teaching!
First of all I want to say how much I learned in this class! I use the computer all the time but have always used it on an “as needed” basis, never exploring new and interesting things I could do with it. Over the last month, I have been forced to explore and create new stuff that I never would have done on my own! Now, in answer to the Blog post… I had fun creating my wiki and exploring some of the ways it can be used in the classroom. I was amazed at how different all of our wikis were and the vast array of information they contained! I can see how creating wikis over time can become like a virtual file cabinet full of plans and ideas. I love the fact that I can build a wiki and add to or subtract from it as the need arises. By using the EDU598 wiki, I got a feel for their useful application. One night I asked Patti a question in class and she was able to just add a new page of resources… What a great tool! As for limitations, I have never had a classroom with more than one computer - and often that was my personal laptop! However, by using a wiki, students can access information at home, post comments, homework, etc. It is certainly a good tool to use in the classroom, but even in a low-tech school environment a wiki could be valuable as an “at home” resource. One other limitation is the simple “computer glitch” problem. There are always the times when you type something up and the power goes off just before you “save,” or you respond to something but forget to “post,” etc. There would be a learning curve each year but it seems that the benefits are well worth any minor frustrations. Really, the benefits and limitations would be unique to each teaching environment.
I really enjoyed this class and value everything I’ve learned. I loved creating the Prezi and my Wikispace page. There are many benefits to using wikis in the classroom, such as creating a collaborative learning environment, allowing the students to be creative and express themselves, and developing higher levels of critical thinking. For instance, the first Prezi I created only contained the “minimum” of what was required for it to have. But after viewing what others were producing, I stretched myself and took the time to figure out ways to make it more informative and interesting.
One of the disadvantages of using wikis in the classroom may be that ALL of the students are not as involved in the project as others because of a lack of interest or a lack of technological resources outside of the classroom. This may make it a little difficult for the teacher to assess how much a student is really contributing to the efforts of the whole group.
I wish I had more time to spend on my wiki. I would've make it look a lot cooler. I had never before used any of the programs/tools that we used in this class except teh blog. I will use all of them now. I am very comfortable with all of them and they can all add something to class even if not on a wiki.
I've tried making my own website in the past with free versions of things but that is a major limitation to me. It can also be a limitation using a free wiki. It can't be too personalized. I could add plenty of pictures, prezis, wordles, etc but it kinda looks like everyone elses wiki. I realized that once I get into a classroom I may be the only teacher with a wiki, so mine would stand out, but I just wish it could be more personal. I'm gonna look further into that. Maybe I just need to learn some other tricks.
Creating a wiki page for a preschool program was very educational for me and will be truly useful to the teachers and the parents of the children. By using a wiki page I have facilitated parent/teacher contact and the exchange of helpful information. I feel that this project has made the teachers more interested in using technology as a form of communication and as a way of collaborating ideas with other teachers. I will definitely be using wiki pages and blogs in the future as part of my regular classroom routine. I feel that it is an excellent way to communicate with students (and parents) and to let student's voices be heard. As many have already stated, I feel that the only drawback or limitation to using the technology that we have learned about throughout this course is the lack of technology resources both in schools and at home.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to manage so many useful Web 2.0 programs for my classroom. At first I thought I would never use the wiki in my second grade learning support classroom but than as I began to create so many resources for my unit I actually started to see the benefit for my students. It’s not that I don’t use technology in the classroom but other than downloading images, and using online resources such as educational sites, I never relieved that I could create a website with wiki (great tool)! Now I ‘m sold on using blogs, glogs, YouTube, and wikis as a strategy for engaging students interests and presenting content using a forum that is appropriate for our 21st century learners. I can’t wait to introduce all these new tools in my classroom at the beginning of the year.
I’m going to make it my professional goal to use as many Web 2.0 resources as I can in the classroom this year!
When I first saw the wiki that we were going to use in this class, I thought to myself, how am I going to create one of these? But I soon found that it was pretty simple and that I could put whatever I would like on any given page and I like that. When I created my poetry wiki, I used some lessons that I al,ready do with my classes and adapted them. I immediately realized how much easier it would be to use the wiki for my assign.ents because students would a,lways have access to assignments ans papers that they need for class. My students always lose assignment papers and resource papers and I end up wasting a lot of paper and constantly running to the copiers. I also like that I can change and edit pages as I like. Since my wiki is a work in progress I would like to edit it and use it in my classroom. My only problem is I don't always have access to computers on a daily basis and many of my students don't have access to internet at home. However, I am very thankful that I learned how to create a wiki and a blog because these can be very useful in my upcoming school year. One last thing, I love how I can upload videos of different poems being read...this is great for my ELL and struggling readers. Thanks Patti!
Wiki pages are now my friend. I have seen them before and have seen some other teachers in my building use them but I have never had the direct experience with creating my own. I plan on using my wiki page a tool in my classroom this year. I like to keep students aware of current issues and topics in the news. I frequently have the students read an article and write a summary or reflection. I plan on using the Wiki page to link the current article so that students can read and then comment on the blog. I plan on having the students lead in the discussions by allowing them to pick topics that they feel the class would like to discuss. The process of creating the Wiki page was similar to creating a web page. Once I gained an understanding of the discussion board (blog) function I was comfortable. This process has giving me the opportunity to develop new skills in site creation and editing. I feel that for the first time, I am ready to use my website as the primary source of student reference and data. All of my teaching tools including the textbook can be placed on the website for student access. My final idea is a digital lecture series. There is a constant pressure to cover required material for student testing and the fact is, utilization of technology for all of its merits takes time. I plan on merging direct instruction with technology to fill this gap. Students will be able to go to my web page and download recorded lectures by me, featuring slide presentations and white board graphing examples. All things said this class has motivated me to take the technology in my classroom to a new level.
At first hand I did not understand how benefical wiki could be to the classroom enviorment, teachers, or students. Now that I have created a wiki and learned more about the creation and variety of options, it is truely benefical. Wikis are able to keep lessons or even an entire class, organized for the students and the teacher. They offer so many different activities and creative avenues to engage students. It is a great way for students to share ideas and thoughts in a way besides verbal words/words. The idea of being able to post things on the wiki page is great. It is very interesting to see everyones projects and interests. The most benefical part of the wiki is that it is on going and can always be built on.
ReplyDeleteThe limitations I see with the wiki is if used to much it takes away from the face to face interactions of students/teachers. Which I believe is a vital component of schooling.
Besides that I will always try to incorperate a wiki in my classroom. I loved it, and believe students at all levels will as well.
My new job does not have individual teacher websites so I am very happy I learned how to create a wiki. Now, I can create a wiki page for my students to check different assignments. I can post homework, tests, quizzes, study guides, the syllabus, resources, and all kinds of different items for my students. It’s a great resource to help keep kids on track.
ReplyDeleteI loved decorating my page with glogs and wordles. It makes the page more exciting and hopefully will draw my students to look at the page. My goal as an educator is to spark interest in my students and make them want to use the knowledge I give them in their everyday lives. I can enforce that goal by starting blogs where we can discuss how to use math outside of the classroom.
I thought that I could use the wiki to inform fellow students about topics that are discussed in my class at DCCC, on health, safety and nutrition. But while I have been waiting for people at DCCC to Blog about it, I realized a limitation: the wiki needs to be used to be useful. I hope some classmates use it.
ReplyDeleteI have wondered if I could design a wiki for young children, using simple words and pictographs (pictures) for non-readers. It is an interesting way to introduce computer skills. I especially like the control settings and the plasticity of the site, so I can change everything overnight.
I loved Glogs, Blogs, Animotos and Wikis, but I found the Prezi a little difficult to work with. I will try to teach what I learned to a friend, so that I can "pass it along." I will definitely use this technology when I get a teaching job.
In reflecting upon the experience of creating wikispaces and the benefits and limitations of these, I found the benefits far outweigh the limitations.
ReplyDeleteThe benefits of creating and using a wiki are numerous. Their very nature allows them to be a "work in progress" and allows for constant editing and adding. They can also provide a wealth of information, as we saw in our class presentations. And perhaps most importantly they are engaging to students. I also really like the level of control teachers can have and the accountability students have in the creation of their wiki. The possibilities of how to use wikis are endless! They can be used independently, as well as cooperatively. They can be used i the classroom or remotely. They are really amazing!
As far as the limitations go, there are a few minor ones. They are very time consuming to create, but again, once they are created, they are there forever if you want to use them! Learning how to create a wiki is a little time consuming and cumbersome but in the end it is very much worth it!
I really enjoyed working on the wikis and I know it is something that I will use in my classroom in the future! I know it will benefit me as the teacher but most importantly it will benefit the students in my class!
Creating the wiki was a time-consuming experience. It was also very enjoyable and energizing!!! As I looked for the components to create the wiki, I realized there were all kinds of great sites out there that I wasn't utilizing. While creating the wiki took a while, I could easily envision its use in the classroom and home. It's something I can really picture the students enjoying!
ReplyDeleteOne of the limitations would be that we only have the Smartboard available to students in the classroom. We also have a computer lab; with a little creativity, we can work around these facts. Nevertheless, it would be ideal if all of the students had a laptop to work from during the lesson. Another possible limitation would be Internet privacy issues around the Prezi and blog assignments. Parents may be concerned about the public nature of the sites, so those assignments might have to be modified.
However, the benefits outweigh any limitations, by far!!! I loved making the wiki, and look forward to using that one and others in the future with my students!
As previously mentioned by classmates, I too enjoyed the fluidity and immediacy of the wiki. Information can be modified and/or added quickly and easily. And, in the end, is a product which I have assembled (wikis, blogs, glogs, prezis...legos of the modern era!). The creation of these tools is a satisfying and proud moment.
ReplyDeleteIn addition to these strengths, the wiki, as interactive repository, does not just exist passively waiting for a browse. It is the grand central station of my course...with all the hustle and bustle...full of documents, links, images, and videos. Once it is created, a process which can be frustrating at times, I can always go back and easily bring up any information previously posted and update as I move into a new semester ("why reinvent the wheel?").
Wikis are great tools which can be used across grade levels. I can easily envision having my university students utilize them as part of a semester long research project on a topic.
The collaboration and creativity brought about by using wikis make their creation fun. Case in point: our work in this class felt more like play. And, isn't this what we ideally want for our students? A learning that is enjoyable and useful not painful and irrelevant.
I learned a lot about wiki’s in the classroom through creating my own lessons/ blogs/ etc. I think it’s imperative for teachers to use the technology they have available to them in the classroom as well as outside of the classroom. The resources available on the internet allow students to not only rely on what a textbook may say, but allow the students take an active part in the research/ learning process. The Wiki I created for my potential students allowed me to think about how 21st century children in the classroom may learn better and use their own knowledge to engage them.
ReplyDeleteThe benefits for using wiki’s in the learning process really allow students to be creative and become active in the learning process. Keeping the students engaged and able to use the correct resources to learn is a great benefit to using the wiki, blog, etc. tools. Students already know a lot about using the internet and why not use this knowledge to keep them connected to education.
Drawbacks would be that the classrooms don’t have the funds to provide computers to students and therefore, hard to incorporate the use of the wiki’s. Also, using the correct source and finding valid information on the web could also be an issue, however teachers need to be able to teach what a valid source is. So much information is available on the web, it’s a great learning tool, and however everything written on these pages are not always correct.
I think using Wiki’s in the learning process can really help student become engaged and in turn, teach other students because they are so technologically savvy.
I enjoyed learned about these technology pieces to incorporate in my classroom. Great resources for great teaching!
First of all I want to say how much I learned in this class! I use the computer all the time but have always used it on an “as needed” basis, never exploring new and interesting things I could do with it. Over the last month, I have been forced to explore and create new stuff that I never would have done on my own!
ReplyDeleteNow, in answer to the Blog post… I had fun creating my wiki and exploring some of the ways it can be used in the classroom. I was amazed at how different all of our wikis were and the vast array of information they contained! I can see how creating wikis over time can become like a virtual file cabinet full of plans and ideas. I love the fact that I can build a wiki and add to or subtract from it as the need arises. By using the EDU598 wiki, I got a feel for their useful application. One night I asked Patti a question in class and she was able to just add a new page of resources… What a great tool!
As for limitations, I have never had a classroom with more than one computer - and often that was my personal laptop! However, by using a wiki, students can access information at home, post comments, homework, etc. It is certainly a good tool to use in the classroom, but even in a low-tech school environment a wiki could be valuable as an “at home” resource. One other limitation is the simple “computer glitch” problem. There are always the times when you type something up and the power goes off just before you “save,” or you respond to something but forget to “post,” etc. There would be a learning curve each year but it seems that the benefits are well worth any minor frustrations. Really, the benefits and limitations would be unique to each teaching environment.
I really enjoyed this class and value everything I’ve learned. I loved creating the Prezi and my Wikispace page. There are many benefits to using wikis in the classroom, such as creating a collaborative learning environment, allowing the students to be creative and express themselves, and developing higher levels of critical thinking. For instance, the first Prezi I created only contained the “minimum” of what was required for it to have. But after viewing what others were producing, I stretched myself and took the time to figure out ways to make it more informative and interesting.
ReplyDeleteOne of the disadvantages of using wikis in the classroom may be that ALL of the students are not as involved in the project as others because of a lack of interest or a lack of technological resources outside of the classroom. This may make it a little difficult for the teacher to assess how much a student is really contributing to the efforts of the whole group.
I wish I had more time to spend on my wiki. I would've make it look a lot cooler. I had never before used any of the programs/tools that we used in this class except teh blog. I will use all of them now. I am very comfortable with all of them and they can all add something to class even if not on a wiki.
ReplyDeleteI've tried making my own website in the past with free versions of things but that is a major limitation to me. It can also be a limitation using a free wiki. It can't be too personalized. I could add plenty of pictures, prezis, wordles, etc but it kinda looks like everyone elses wiki. I realized that once I get into a classroom I may be the only teacher with a wiki, so mine would stand out, but I just wish it could be more personal. I'm gonna look further into that. Maybe I just need to learn some other tricks.
And also, all the wikis in class were really good. I will use some of your ideas and probably not give you credit so thanks ahead of time.
ReplyDeleteCreating a wiki page for a preschool program was very educational for me and will be truly useful to the teachers and the parents of the children. By using a wiki page I have facilitated parent/teacher contact and the exchange of helpful information. I feel that this project has made the teachers more interested in using technology as a form of communication and as a way of collaborating ideas with other teachers.
ReplyDeleteI will definitely be using wiki pages and blogs in the future as part of my regular classroom routine. I feel that it is an excellent way to communicate with students (and parents) and to let student's voices be heard.
As many have already stated, I feel that the only drawback or limitation to using the technology that we have learned about throughout this course is the lack of technology resources both in schools and at home.
I thoroughly enjoyed learning how to manage so many useful Web 2.0 programs for my classroom. At first I thought I would never use the wiki in my second grade learning support classroom but than as I began to create so many resources for my unit I actually started to see the benefit for my students. It’s not that I don’t use technology in the classroom but other than downloading images, and using online resources such as educational sites, I never relieved that I could create a website with wiki (great tool)! Now I ‘m sold on using blogs, glogs, YouTube, and wikis as a strategy for engaging students interests and presenting content using a forum that is appropriate for our 21st century learners. I can’t wait to introduce all these new tools in my classroom at the beginning of the year.
ReplyDeleteI’m going to make it my professional goal to use as many Web 2.0 resources as I can in the classroom this year!
When I first saw the wiki that we were going to use in this class, I thought to myself, how am I going to create one of these? But I soon found that it was pretty simple and that I could put whatever I would like on any given page and I like that. When I created my poetry wiki, I used some lessons that I al,ready do with my classes and adapted them. I immediately realized how much easier it would be to use the wiki for my assign.ents because students would a,lways have access to assignments ans papers that they need for class. My students always lose assignment papers and resource papers and I end up wasting a lot of paper and constantly running to the copiers. I also like that I can change and edit pages as I like. Since my wiki is a work in progress I would like to edit it and use it in my classroom. My only problem is I don't always have access to computers on a daily basis and many of my students don't have access to internet at home. However, I am very thankful that I learned how to create a wiki and a blog because these can be very useful in my upcoming school year. One last thing, I love how I can upload videos of different poems being read...this is great for my ELL and struggling readers. Thanks Patti!
ReplyDeleteWiki pages are now my friend. I have seen them before and have seen some other teachers in my building use them but I have never had the direct experience with creating my own. I plan on using my wiki page a tool in my classroom this year. I like to keep students aware of current issues and topics in the news. I frequently have the students read an article and write a summary or reflection. I plan on using the Wiki page to link the current article so that students can read and then comment on the blog. I plan on having the students lead in the discussions by allowing them to pick topics that they feel the class would like to discuss.
ReplyDeleteThe process of creating the Wiki page was similar to creating a web page. Once I gained an understanding of the discussion board (blog) function I was comfortable. This process has giving me the opportunity to develop new skills in site creation and editing. I feel that for the first time, I am ready to use my website as the primary source of student reference and data. All of my teaching tools including the textbook can be placed on the website for student access.
My final idea is a digital lecture series. There is a constant pressure to cover required material for student testing and the fact is, utilization of technology for all of its merits takes time. I plan on merging direct instruction with technology to fill this gap. Students will be able to go to my web page and download recorded lectures by me, featuring slide presentations and white board graphing examples.
All things said this class has motivated me to take the technology in my classroom to a new level.