Thoughts on Educational Wiki Projects
Some ideas I have for wiki use in the classroom is for collaboration amongst students or staff. For student use, I think it’s great for peer review or literature review. When collaborating with fellow teachers, I think it would be ideal to use it or vertical curriculum development; for this purpose, teachers at different grade levels may enter curriculum units so that every teacher at each grade level knows what the department has planned out as a curriculum map.
http://primarymath.wikifoundry.com/
I visited this wiki project and the first thing I observed was its neat organization. Its content was neatly organized and it was very easy to locate information. A clear purpose for the project was clearly stated: To share information with Math classes in elementary schools around the world. The website used widgets, links and page titles to make the website appealing and seamless to navigate.
It’s difficult to think that something was missing because everything seemed well thought out. Besides, it is a project designed for elementary Math; as this is not my teaching area, it’s hard to tell if anything is amiss. But for the purpose of navigation, it looks just great. I would not change anything about this wiki project.
http://codeblue.wikispaces.com/
The first thing I noticed was a sharp contrast between this wiki project and the previous one that I had visited. This webpage does not explain its purpose. It’s very busy with links. Much as the links are titled, the project seems to be missing sense of direction, a clear purpose or even academic discipline that the project represents. If I could help improve the project pages, I would state the purpose of the project and its target audience. I would also group links more concisely.
http://greetingsfromtheworld.wikispaces.com/
I noticed that this wiki project is designed to promote cultural relevance and bring teachers together from different parts of the world. Information is well organized and easy to locate. What was missing was a comprehensive and interactive world map. The map embedded only reflects the following continents: Europe, Africa and Asia. I would recommend embedding Google earth maps so that visitors can actually pin their locations to include landmarks in their part of the world.
Tools Explored
One of the tools that I explored is www.gliffy.com. I would probably use it for mind mapping with my students. After reading an assigned novel, I could have students use it to explore the themes by showing how events reflect an identified theme in the novel by connecting them in a mind map format. A collaborative approach to this use may involve students working in groups. Each group will be assigned a theme. It is up to the group members to decide how specific events in the novel reflect the theme they have been assigned.
Students with diverse needs may be supported with web 2.0 tools through collaborative opportunities, immediate feedback and increased engagement during a learning activity. It also helps students with diverse learning needs to organize and store their documents seamlessly. For example, Slideshare.com can help students to share and manage their presentations. They may also provide feedback or peer review to others’ presentations.
The slideshare.net tool fits into the “Apply” level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Some of the action verbs that fit into its use are: edit, use, upload, construct, share. Activities involved with these tools require editing and presenting.
Some ideas I have for wiki use in the classroom is for collaboration amongst students or staff. For student use, I think it’s great for peer review or literature review. When collaborating with fellow teachers, I think it would be ideal to use it or vertical curriculum development; for this purpose, teachers at different grade levels may enter curriculum units so that every teacher at each grade level knows what the department has planned out as a curriculum map.
http://primarymath.wikifoundry.com/
I visited this wiki project and the first thing I observed was its neat organization. Its content was neatly organized and it was very easy to locate information. A clear purpose for the project was clearly stated: To share information with Math classes in elementary schools around the world. The website used widgets, links and page titles to make the website appealing and seamless to navigate.
It’s difficult to think that something was missing because everything seemed well thought out. Besides, it is a project designed for elementary Math; as this is not my teaching area, it’s hard to tell if anything is amiss. But for the purpose of navigation, it looks just great. I would not change anything about this wiki project.
http://codeblue.wikispaces.com/
The first thing I noticed was a sharp contrast between this wiki project and the previous one that I had visited. This webpage does not explain its purpose. It’s very busy with links. Much as the links are titled, the project seems to be missing sense of direction, a clear purpose or even academic discipline that the project represents. If I could help improve the project pages, I would state the purpose of the project and its target audience. I would also group links more concisely.
http://greetingsfromtheworld.wikispaces.com/
I noticed that this wiki project is designed to promote cultural relevance and bring teachers together from different parts of the world. Information is well organized and easy to locate. What was missing was a comprehensive and interactive world map. The map embedded only reflects the following continents: Europe, Africa and Asia. I would recommend embedding Google earth maps so that visitors can actually pin their locations to include landmarks in their part of the world.
Tools Explored
One of the tools that I explored is www.gliffy.com. I would probably use it for mind mapping with my students. After reading an assigned novel, I could have students use it to explore the themes by showing how events reflect an identified theme in the novel by connecting them in a mind map format. A collaborative approach to this use may involve students working in groups. Each group will be assigned a theme. It is up to the group members to decide how specific events in the novel reflect the theme they have been assigned.
Students with diverse needs may be supported with web 2.0 tools through collaborative opportunities, immediate feedback and increased engagement during a learning activity. It also helps students with diverse learning needs to organize and store their documents seamlessly. For example, Slideshare.com can help students to share and manage their presentations. They may also provide feedback or peer review to others’ presentations.
The slideshare.net tool fits into the “Apply” level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Some of the action verbs that fit into its use are: edit, use, upload, construct, share. Activities involved with these tools require editing and presenting.