There are a number of times I think wikis and blogs would be useful for use in the classroom. Blogs would be easy to use, for instance, it could be a way to reinforce what was studied in class. If students were being introduced to the principles of art and design a blog that contained a principle of the week or of the day. Examples of the principle in art work, like Duchamp’s Nude Descending a Staircase is a classic example of motion in a work of art or Franz Marc’s Foxes is an example of the use of color. A blog would also be a way to have class assignments posted online since we all know that instruction sheets do not always make it home for homework. An occasional post directed at parents might also be a way to keep the student’s family aware of what’s going on in class. Wikis would be helpful if a group project needed more time than allotted in class, especially with younger students who don’t yet drive. Another use would be for a group project that would go with an AP class summer reading list. With family travel and summer jobs it might be hard to get a group together very often while on vacation. Email could get complicated for everyone to stay on the same page while wiki would allow the process to be more organized, posts to be made lists juggled as to who is doing what aspects of the assignment and on from there with many different pages ("Wiki's in Plain English").
Social bookmaking sounds interesting. I wouldn’t hesitate to use it for myself but never having used this particular technology application, I don’t know how well it is policed. I would hate to inadvertently expose a student to adult content. High school students can do some things that are imprudent for grins and giggles, this could come back to haunt a teacher if a parent were to question what their child was doing. I think I would rather have a links list on a blog for a student to use. For me, it might open up many, many new websites with activities and other information to use for teaching. I think, in the right situation a voice thread might be fun. When working on a history of art project, a voice thread would be set up with each student choosing their favorite artist and going from there. There are so many ways to add the voice over that most anyone would have access to one method (Yuen, 2008). This could be used for critiquing projects as well with strict guidelines.
Tapped in sounds like a logical extension of the use of online learning, using it for teacher professional development does not sound far fetched. Students in college take online classes all the time why not use it for development? The website has message boards and discussions, places for document storage, resource searches, learning projects and much more. This sounds like a way to connect with other teachers and share experiences and learn from them, another way for professional networking (About tapped in, 2010).
References:
About tapped in. (2010). Retrieved from http://tappedin.org/tappedin/web/about.jsp
"Wiki's in Plain English." (2007) YouTube. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-dnL00TdmLY
Yuen, S. (2008, January 14). Voice thread. Retrieved from http://scyuen.wordpress.com/2008/01/14/voicethread/
I too thought about the ability of parents to check in on class assignments. Rather than just asking their child what they did in school that day, it could be really helpful if that parent were to actually check for themselves. Then child and parent could really communicate about the specifics of what was done. Getting parents involved will only be a positive for students and the school, in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteI think the wikis are a great thing as well. It is just a really convenient way of communication! I too think that Tapped In is a great use of technology. It's a great means of communication as well. I agree with you Scott about the parent being able to communicate with the student. I think it's only a positive in education.
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