BWP Chapter 4 — Let’s hear it for wikis!
Other than wikipedia, I had never been on wiki site before last semester, much less thought about how they work and how they might be used in education. In an education course last spring my classmates and I used a discussion board on a wiki to exchange our thoughts about material posted on the site. Interesting, but not really wikiing (is that the verb?). In another course we created group wikis to make a class presentation — an good learning experience, but still not wikiing, if I’ve grasped the essence of wikis.
As a wiki layman, this chapter really got me thinking about the potential of wikis in the classroom. The bit about the Georgia students who collaborated with kids in Bangladesh was really cool — so cool I immediately went to the livingroom to tell my wife (a second-grade teacher) about it. It was an example of how wikis, blogs and other internet tools can shrink the world for our students, helping them develop global perspectives on what they learn. As an English teacher, I get excited thinking about the opportunities wikis present to give students hands-on experience in producing and evaluating writing for public consumption — essentially experience as writers and editors.
June 14, 2009 at 10:18 pm
I really like the idea of getting kids involved in writing and editing for the public. The idea of editing Wikipedia is a great place to start. Kids can choose a topic they like, then edit it and track the changes. I think it could also spark some great classroom conversations on collaboration.
June 16, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Wikis really do open up content-creation in ways that transform the system. Seriously, who needs textbooks if we can assemble and create our own (and wouldn’t that be more educative as a process than reading pages 741-749 in some mass-produced tome?). There’s a shift here to students as responsible creators/stewards that is very appealing.
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