A Wiki is a group based website. The software resides on the server so there is nothing special to install. Rights to author are shared so basically whoever the creator of the wiki wants to be able to edit it can edit. However, they can also be locked down. Wikipedia is an example of a collaborative website that we have all used at one time or another. IF you haven't, then you need to go there right now so you can see what they are all about. Well, now educators are starting to do just the same thing. One of the big players in the Wiki business has just made its product ad-free for educators. The product has been free but to have a free wiki you had to accept whatever advertisement Wetpaint happened to load at the time someone looked at your page. You had no say over what the ad was....and for an educator not knowing what a student might read or see in an ad is a bit (and rightfully so) scary. Now teachers can get ad-free Wikis....meaning no more potentially bad ads. What a great way for students to share their thinking with each other or you the teacher.
http://www.wetpaint.com/category/Education--Ad-free/?wpcmp=educp1
I've posted this before but to get a better idea of just what a Wiki is I would recommend that you watch this video.
Showing posts with label wiki. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wiki. Show all posts
Sunday, February 3, 2008
Friday, November 16, 2007
PBWiki Ideas...
This one is too good not to share!
PBWiki is a site that will give teachers a free wiki. A wiki is a shared website in which multiple people can contribute to the content being worked on. Wikipedia is the best known of the wikis.
Karen M. was saying that she wanted to use more technology this year. I'm all for that. Karen is always full of meaningful ideas that make the content more meaningful for the students.
About a week ago Karen and I signed up for a wiki (it takes a whopping 30 seconds or so to do it). She had a great idea for her literature groups. Sequencing and main ideas are important concepts in the grade 3 curriculum...as well as grade 4 and 5. Karen's idea was for the students to create and maintain a wiki page as they read their story. They would be required to find and list important events in their story. They were required to keep a list of events in the story.
Here is where is gets good....they could only keep a limited number. They just couldn't record each and every event. They had to list only the most important. So after a number of chapters were read the students listed 20 events that happened in the story. Then the students had to read a few more chapters, record the events, and then update the wiki. The students couldn't go over 20 events so now they have to start evaluating the importance of the events in terms of the story. If you recall, Bloom held "evaluation" in very high regard :) So with each revisiting of the list the students have to review the current list and decide what to keep, delete, and add.
I know Karen is still working thru the project, because as a student updates that wikis it automatically emails their changes. I'm not sure how the project is going since I haven't talk to Karen about it since she started, but the idea is so great I just had to share.
The district is in the process of putting up the own wiki, but I don't feel like you have to wait for us....grab a PBwiki for the time being and start posting....give your kids a real audience to write for.
http://pbwiki.com/education.wiki
PBWiki is a site that will give teachers a free wiki. A wiki is a shared website in which multiple people can contribute to the content being worked on. Wikipedia is the best known of the wikis.
Karen M. was saying that she wanted to use more technology this year. I'm all for that. Karen is always full of meaningful ideas that make the content more meaningful for the students.
About a week ago Karen and I signed up for a wiki (it takes a whopping 30 seconds or so to do it). She had a great idea for her literature groups. Sequencing and main ideas are important concepts in the grade 3 curriculum...as well as grade 4 and 5. Karen's idea was for the students to create and maintain a wiki page as they read their story. They would be required to find and list important events in their story. They were required to keep a list of events in the story.
Here is where is gets good....they could only keep a limited number. They just couldn't record each and every event. They had to list only the most important. So after a number of chapters were read the students listed 20 events that happened in the story. Then the students had to read a few more chapters, record the events, and then update the wiki. The students couldn't go over 20 events so now they have to start evaluating the importance of the events in terms of the story. If you recall, Bloom held "evaluation" in very high regard :) So with each revisiting of the list the students have to review the current list and decide what to keep, delete, and add.
I know Karen is still working thru the project, because as a student updates that wikis it automatically emails their changes. I'm not sure how the project is going since I haven't talk to Karen about it since she started, but the idea is so great I just had to share.
The district is in the process of putting up the own wiki, but I don't feel like you have to wait for us....grab a PBwiki for the time being and start posting....give your kids a real audience to write for.
http://pbwiki.com/education.wiki
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Wikis
Now that you have seen wikis in action….how do you think you could use wikis in class. Obviously you could use other people’s wikis for information. How could you give make use of student created wikis in your classroom. Be specific with regards to courses, content, projects, etc. This link will give you some ideas.
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Marzano and Web 2.0
If you aren’t sure what to focus on during your tech week I have a suggestion to help you get started.
Robert Marzano has written a valuable book (Classroom Instruction That Works) that is based on the meta analysis he did for McREL. In it he has written about what he thinks are the most “bang for your buck” instructional practices. In writing the book he read and studied hundreds of educational studies. He has classified them into what some people call the “Big 9” not to be confused with the “Big 6”.
A group of educators have created a wiki (shared web site) documenting how teachers can harness the power of technology and web 2.0 to teach with the big 9.
The Educational Technology That Works wiki might give you some improvement ideas.
Robert Marzano has written a valuable book (Classroom Instruction That Works) that is based on the meta analysis he did for McREL. In it he has written about what he thinks are the most “bang for your buck” instructional practices. In writing the book he read and studied hundreds of educational studies. He has classified them into what some people call the “Big 9” not to be confused with the “Big 6”.
A group of educators have created a wiki (shared web site) documenting how teachers can harness the power of technology and web 2.0 to teach with the big 9.
The Educational Technology That Works wiki might give you some improvement ideas.
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