Welcome to Session 2-Where we'll get a great overview of wikis and their connection to our course curriculum and get a small taste of Open Educational Resources.
Most of you are getting the hang of using this forum and are becoming more adept at posting and downloading. Remember to post your insights and comments in the 'comment' section and also remember to return regularly to read your peers' comments.
In order to facilitate a truly collaborative setting (one in which we can begin to foster an environment where we can benefit from the 'Collective Knowledge' of all the participants here) I am asking that you make a special, concerted effort to try to respond or comment upon, at least, one other posting from w/i each session starting with Session 2. This may mean going back and revisiting the blog after you have posted because you may be the first or second person to post your thoughts. This is not a requirement, but it is a request---one that will help benefit all of us and truly foster a collaborative network of learners and educators! The most efficient method for this is to make sure that you have signed up for a Blogger account. If you already have a Google account with any of G's other services like gmail or Google Docs, then you may use that. After you post your comment to our blog and before you hit the publish button, you'll see an option to have future comments emailed to you. Choose that. There is a tremendous font of knowledge among this group. Don't miss out on the insights and experiences of your peers.
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This session will find us broadening the scope of our view of wikis. This information is pertinent to our discussions on digital content because as the semester unfolds we'll see our definition of user-created content evolve. The merging and integration of e-books with additional multimedia (screencasts, interactive simulations, podcasts, videos,...) is changing so rapidly that no one can predict what our students will be using in just a few short years. Some surveys predict eBook penetration w/i school libraries to increase 14 fold by 2016.Most of you are getting the hang of using this forum and are becoming more adept at posting and downloading. Remember to post your insights and comments in the 'comment' section and also remember to return regularly to read your peers' comments.
In order to facilitate a truly collaborative setting (one in which we can begin to foster an environment where we can benefit from the 'Collective Knowledge' of all the participants here) I am asking that you make a special, concerted effort to try to respond or comment upon, at least, one other posting from w/i each session starting with Session 2. This may mean going back and revisiting the blog after you have posted because you may be the first or second person to post your thoughts. This is not a requirement, but it is a request---one that will help benefit all of us and truly foster a collaborative network of learners and educators! The most efficient method for this is to make sure that you have signed up for a Blogger account. If you already have a Google account with any of G's other services like gmail or Google Docs, then you may use that. After you post your comment to our blog and before you hit the publish button, you'll see an option to have future comments emailed to you. Choose that. There is a tremendous font of knowledge among this group. Don't miss out on the insights and experiences of your peers.
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We will begin this session by taking a look at the benefits of wikis, and other Web 2.0 tools, for students, teachers, and the entire educational community. We'll view some screencasts and videos that give us students' perspectives, as well as hear from teachers from across the K-12 spectrum. Each and every one will be focused upon how Web 2.0 tools have changed the way they teach and learn, and also demonstrate how teachers are becoming the authors of Digital Content shared with the world freely under an "Open" philosophy.
And lastly, we'll end by discussing the fluid definition of the word, "literacy" and try to pin it down in a 21st century classroom---a classroom where the walls have come down and the world is flat. There are lots of different interpretations out there. And as I stated above--prior definitions are changing quickly. Under the subject heading of Wikis there are an increasing number of sub-headings. Google Docs has evolved to be a very wiki-like tool.
Before you download this week's session:
- Please read this article from SLJ called, "Things are Changing Fast." It reminds us that those of us that run into technology-roadblocks are not alone (unfortunately). When you are finished reading that article, also read, "Not Just the Lucky Ones."
- Then visit: http://www.edweb.net/ebooks and join the community if you haven't already.
Lastly, you may access and read past participants' comments about the educational uses of wikis here:
Summer '12 comments,
Spring '12 comments
as well as here and here.
Also, please watch this video introducing you to Google Play (now has Google's digitized books initiative integrated).
Summer '12 comments,
Spring '12 comments
as well as here and here.
Also, please watch this video introducing you to Google Play (now has Google's digitized books initiative integrated).
Good luck and I look forward to reading your comments, insights, and reflections.
DF
PS--You may find a back-up copy of this week's presentation here. Just search for the term: "edc922" and then choose the appropriate session to view and listen to.
17 comments:
Hi everyone,
Welcome to Week 2. I can tell already its going to be a wiki good week. Ha! This is a great topic and so fitting because I was just having a discussion with a student today about use of Wikipedia as a source. The student was very surprised that I was allowing them to use Wikipedia as a source for a presentation they are creating on the universe. My reasoning was the same as the reasoning that is presented in the PowerPoint on slide 4: that it (Wikipedia) is edited so much and by so many that it is a comprehensive work of "collective knowledge". What are other peoples perspectives on using Wikipedia as a source for various types of assignments?
Thank you,
Stacey
Hi again,
I forgot to mention that I require students to verify their information with multiple sources. Hopefully this decreases the chance of erroneous information as well.
Stacey
Hi,
Has anyone used the Wiki function on School Fusion? I have used the Discussion Board extensively but have not incorporated the use of the School Fusion Wiki, although I can definitely see the advantages of using it. I am just wondering if it works as well as using another Wiki platform.
Stacey
Hi:)
As an uber “global” thinker, my synapses were totally firing while exploring the information in this week’s session. Wading through all of my notes, I’m going to focus my comments on the idea of the “fluidity” that Dave mentioned in the blog this week. Hopefully that will help my own thoughts to flow☺
#1 Fluidity of Literacy—In my discipline, the concept of literacy was “fixed” for centuries. Reading was reading; writing was writing. Since the advent of the web, however, it’s crazy to me to think of how much the idea of literacy has changed. The role of writing and reading, as the NCTE president explained in last week’s readings, has expanded from being just individual and isolated experiences. That’s a significant paradigm for me to consider in both how I conceive of and subsequently teach “literacy.” With critical thinking & web literacy forcing students to challenge what they find online to “reading” and “writing” abstract Tumblr pages, my job as an English teacher has shifted. Now I have to teach them to, as John Bidder said in his interview be “slow to accept what was found as ‘the truth’.” While it is overwhelming, at the same time, however, it is exciting.
Now I have to think about the implications of these shifts, consider how I teach kids to be critical “readers” as researchers, readers of Web 2.0 texts, and creators of collaborative or just independently constructed writing pieces. I have to consider how I instruct interactive “reading” with movement to what Brian Kenny’s survey showed as 1/3 students who have ability to smart phones/ tablets/ etc. Yet, I also have to consider how I can’t jump in whole-heartedly and must take into account the inequity of digital divide and digital slide of my students that don’t have access. Thoughts on this in your classrooms?
#2 Fluidity of What a “Classroom” or “School” Looks Like— In “Probing OER’s Huge Potential” Rob Farber writes how “huge” the implications of an OER “since individuals from around the world will have access to quality educational materials AT ANY TIME over the internet.” School can be anytime, anywhere. Sounds great but it’s super overwhelming. Yes, I would like to provide more of a Wiki situation like Freedman presents in the “Coming of Age” article, provide more than a “set of bullet points” and instead “a three dimensional balloon diagram or concept map” through which my students would explore outside school hours. But how long does it take to teach them to create and read in these kinds of experiences in meaningful ways? Like most of you I feel like CCSS is making me nervous about ‘covering’ everything and while it would incorporate so many skills, I ask myself will the time invested in it justify the rich product a Wiki conceivable would yield?
So, implications. . .it would be easier where the digital divide is narrower with my AP class to create our own textbooks or collection of critical sources. Or maybe we could create a school-wide wiki for WHS best practices and update during CPT time? Perhaps a community wiki for the whole school for summer reading? I’ve made a pact with myself that I’m going to explore them some these ideas through PB WIKI. I’ll let you know how it goes if you’re interested.
#3 Fluidity of Student-Centered Learning—The move from teacher to student centered learning, from me as expert to me as guide, has always interested me (as that is how I as a self-motivated learner have always loved). And OERs seem great for this, so let me just jump into implications. I especially love the idea that if I/we did create a comprehensive text as Farber wrote “students interested in self-instruction can pick and choose topics and videos”. Or what if the kids created their own? They could have what Vicki Davis asserts Wikis provide: connectivism, authentic audience, voice and investment. All of these are alluring for certain. Equally as alluring is Freedman’s idea of the “free-market principle” where both the students analysis of “plausibility and accuracy” in choosing what information include is almost as important as the information itself. I can see it working on both sides—teacher and student created and it’s exciting, but as I indicated before overwhelming. To see Sharon Peters’ kids discussing how incredible an experience of creating these kinds of projects together through the web, however, gave me some hope that I could do something like this, I guess, that my students could “participate in this worldwide conversation.” It’s pretty exciting.
I guess the only way I’ll know the potential of all of this is try it. Anyone feel like bringing me down to earth?
Stacey,
I don't let the students use Wikipedia as a source. . .not sure if the "academic" world is ready for it to hold the validity of other, more "reliable" sources. What I do use if for is to teach them to find the seminal sources from whence the info came or even how to evaluate which Wiki pages are more reliable than others based on the citations:) I guess that step is a bit like your using other sources to validate the info. I do believe the "collective knowledge" idea is gathering merit, but we may not be there yet on some of the Wikipedia pages.
As for our School Fusion page, I have used the feature once, but that was after using a different wiki years ago. I liked the other one so much I never really jived with our interface. I get weirded out by all of those Pink Elephant and Orange Rhino names. I like the other platforms better, but maybe if we all tried one out together, we could trouble shoot and find the best ways to use it?
anne
Hi All-
Recently I spent some quality time in a hospital waiting room and read the entirety of Wilkinson's book during that time. As I read I asked myself several questions: how can I utilize one tool this week that I didn't before, how can my school work collectively towards a common technological goal, and how can I use the expertise of my students to improve my own classroom use of technologies?
I thought about blogging and how I have used it in the past. Often I have asked my students to answer an open-ended question and I would check the site for completion. Why not expect more collaboration? My students could easily respond to one another's questions rather than just mine. Additionally, in a "flipped" manor my students could participate in this dialogue in order to prepare for the following day's writing prompt or socratic seminar. So, rather than taking on a new tool, I could use one more effectively that I already have in place.
As a school, I would like us to push the "bring your own device" concept. Though we are a very fortunate school, we do not have a 1:1 ratio and much of what we are exploring (blogs, wikis, google docs, digital texts) require a device in hand. If we set the tone, students would understand the power they carry.
And finally, on the subject of student expertise. When I read about the benefits of Wikipedia I really began to think about my hesitation. Why not allow my students to add onto or create a page of their own. We could watch how quickly it is edited as Wilkinson suggested. More importantly, we would be adding to the knowledge of the collective.
So much to do...so little time....
Hi Anne-
I also thought a great deal about the change in literacy. I remind myself of the philosophy in education that "when you know better, you do better". When I think back to the very static curriculums I began with 14 years ago, the fluidity of today's English classroom is both refreshing and challenging. Such potential when we combine our "book closet" with the unlimited potential at our finger tips.
Hi, All,
I must say that I feel "better" about Wikis after this week's session :) Just last week, I told my students that I do not want them citing Wikipedia as a source in their Sophomore Independent Project research papers. Now, after reading posts by Stacey, Anne, and Melissa, I am questioning if I want to edit my remarks... What a great idea to create a class Wiki as a review or assessment... I, too, am thinking about how I can incorporate Wikis in order to make my class more interactive and exciting for students. Each day, students begin the class reading a novel as a timed bell-ringer activity that I "adopted" from Melissa after she shared the idea; I wonder if I can have students post what they learn about the novel in order to help them become experts and prepare for the exam... Also, this would promote collaboration, of which they are not getting much now. Starting smaller may feel better for me until I feel like I have more practice... time will promote this. Posting on WikiDave was a fun way to begin practicing :) I have used the SchoolFusion blog once before, and I wish that I had spent more time using it with students.
This week's presentation was great. I have so many ideas on incorporating wiki's into physics. One of my goals for moving my physics teaching forward is to focus more on the critical thinking/problem solving/collaboration/communication skills and using the Physics Content as the conduit, and wikis certainly support this....however, I don't think they necessarily teach these skills. Thinking of the different types of learners and students I have (yes I have them in Physics) we almost need on wiki on using wikis.
Another comment I had on wikis and the use of them, I feel that I need some way to assess a student's progress in developing the aforementioned skills by examining their contribution to the wikis. Is contributing the only measure? or should the quality of the contribution be measured? I hate to "rubric-ize" everything especially when the major purpose of the wiki is the free flow of information. Am I trying to put a 20th century square peg into a 21st century round hole? : )
so part of our assignment was to post into the wikidave. i followed the directions that was given in PP slides and found the unit/topics. my question is are we able to add a topic/unit as these really do not pertain to culinary arts. any thoughts
On a side note our school fusion website allows us to create wikis. I am in the process of sitting down with the it department to see how it works
@Jamie-
Yes, feel free to create a new section. Let practicality prevail!
I, too, posted on WikiDave and, although I didn't write a great deal, I decided to try creating a hyperlink, so that's what I did. Maybe I will add more to it later. Bill, I agree that the quality of the contribution counts. I think that the quality of the information must be considered when we require students to become part of these digital learning communities. I guess it parallels with Vicki Davis' "Don't be a doorknob!"mentality; teachers can require students to communicate effectively when students create wikis by closely supervising. Not that we have a great deal of time to do this...
Hi everyone,
I hope that everyone "powered" through Nemo! Here is a link to my edited WikiDave page: http://wikidave.wikispaces.com/Physical+Science.
I added the information on distance and displacement. I hope that it works. The activity is one that I have my classes do.
I tried creating Wikis on the school fusion page but it was giving me some technical issues: It kept listing the Wiki on the discussion board which was "clogging" my discussion board so I deleted them. HAs anyone else used them on school fusion? I might have to ask tech about it.
Thanks,
Stacey
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