Technology In The Classroom

Wow: Wikis

Wikis: Wow! What a great tool for supporting the writing process.

Wikis are new in the field of education and most teachers are not familiar with the concept of wikis. Therefore, I would like to show an activity we did in our discussion group to demonstrate wiki technology.

Class Articles

Overview:

We used www.writeboard.com to role-play a group of students creating a story beginning using an on-line wiki.

The activity demonstrated the function and purpose of wikis and how wikis support the writing process.

After Read the blog, I invite you to contribute to our wiki. This is truly a great example of how to implement wikis into the classroom, and will answer a lot of questions regarding the overall process.

Visit our writeboard at http://123.writeboard.com/705327009c43a41a3

Password: ncsu

Generalizations: Using Wikis:

The process of actively engaging in the writing process via a wiki provided a real world introduction to wikis. As we used the wiki for a mock writing project, we reflected on the following features:

1) Wikis are free, online writing spaces. For example, www.writeboard.com is a great wiki site. Teachers can create writeboards, assign passwords and allow students to work, collectively on writing projects.

2) Wikis use simple formatting rules, so you don't need to understand HTML or an HTML authoring tools, such as Microsoft FrontPage or Dreamweaver to contribute.

3) Wikis convey a highly collaborative view of composing and creativity. People who contribute to a wiki need to understand that their words may be deleted and changed by others.

4) Wikis give focus to the last draft, yet wikis provide a history. Each time the text is changed, a new version is saved. Anyone can go back later and see previous versions. This greatly impacts how a teacher can grade group project by holding each student accountable for his/her writing contributions to the overall project.

5) Teachers and students can see the writing process in action. For example, in our writeboard we can track how the beginning of our story was formed. This same concept can be applied to more extensive writing collaborations.

6) Each new reader can suddenly become a writer. www.writeboard.com provides private wikis. However, all group members are able to write to the wiki.

7) The draft that matters is the last draft.

8) Wikis are designed specifically as a writing space. They are neither a presentation space nor a course management system.

9) Wikis make it possible - and necessary - for writers to continually build upon, revise, and edit an emerging text.

Group Reactions to Wikis:

Barbie, a French teacher explained, "I could use the story writing concept with French 2 and higher levels so that we could create and publish a class story (in French of course) over the course of the semester. Students would then each have their own copy of our class book?I could even see collaborating with French teachers at other schools to either add to the same story or possibly to create their own story with questions. By doing this, we could exchange stories online and test our comprehension of both stories by adding to our own story (you have to read all the previous entries so that it makes sense) and by answering questions about the other school's story. Since students know another school will be reading their story, this factor will provide motivation to do a good job. "

Christine explained, "I agree! I found the site to be really fun. I am also excited because I can definitely apply wikis in my classroom. This lends itself perfectly to an ELA classroom. The fact that students can add on to each other?s stories really increases engagement. We currently do a similar assignment in my classroom, but the stories created are generated on poster board. This system would allow for easy edit and students access to the stories! I think I may attempt this before Christmas!"

One classroom application I found on the Internet recommended wikis as a team based management tool. For example, teachers can create a wiki to document a student?s behavior, progress and goals. The wiki can be accessible by all of the student's teachers, as well as, the student?s parents. The wiki will also provide an ongoing log of behavior documentation, modifications and interventions made on the behalf of the teachers, as well as, providing a log that demonstrates on going parent ? teacher contacts.

This feature will be great in meeting the demands of No Child Left Behind.

"I had never heard of wikis before this week's readings so it has been very interesting to me to discuss this new concept. I can definitely see possible applications in my own classroom."

Conclusions

Overall, wiki technology was new to our group. Our team members all expressed "excitement" regarding the implementation of wikis to support the writing process. The role-play integration helped member achieve a clear understanding regarding the classroom uses for integrating wikis. Our group agrees that wikis are usful in the classroom and can be used in the writing process.

Posted at 10:20AM Dec 07, 2006 by SIMMONS, AMBER in Internet  |  Comments[0]