Thing #14--Wiki's in the Classroom

I can see using classroom wikis for easy access to work in progress--regardless of time or location--which will help students who have been absent and to help collaborating students work together despite schedules & transportation issues. It would also be a great tool to monitor individual student's participation & contribution and widen the pool of collaborators. Since my classes tend to be small, it would be helpful for students to "work" with others from other class periods. Most importantly, the use of technology (and the tools available) will definitely serve to increase interest, motivation & support to increase both the quality and the quantity of learning.

Parents would also be able to see what their students are working on and provide (hopefully not too much) assistance. This might be a great way to encourage more parent interest & support as well. Their child's work samples would be organized and easily accessible for review at any time.

The first site I visited (Code Blue) was well organized--primarily by category & related sub-topics, clean & uncluttered with an attractive layout and graphics that called attention to the various topics & links. I think that the link to Online Safety is a great idea and should be required on all school generated wikis. I enjoyed playing a couple of the brain games--we probably all need to be reminded that fun/positive learning = more productive enthusiastic learning.

The second site (Discovery Utopias) had an incredible design/information/question template for a Utopian Society--extremely thorough & thought provoking. The side bar listed several links to real life failed utopias and the main section linked to the discussions about the novels studied that related to this topic. I sent an e-mail to the teacher asking for additional information/clarification on this unit.

The only site where I could see an obvious, although minor, improvement was the Thousands Project. I love this site and will probably encourage students to use SSR time to read some of the entries (should be high-interest). The site was organized chronologically by month with the questions serving as the link to those responses. I think the year should probably be added as well.

I looked at several other sites and was almost universally impressed with both content and organization. The thought process & organization/prioritization skills required to accomplish this are impressive. The Math 12V could easily be used as a STRONG argument for technology vs. textbooks.

I'm starting to feel really bad about all the things in my head that my former students will not benefit from. I guess this is a good testament for my students as to the results & advantages of continued life-long learning !