When responding to a specific question, try to coordinate the color of the answer with the question to create a visual flow. Have fun!
1. Wikipedia is now the 8th most visited site in the United States. Is Wikipedia comparable to other encyclopedias, on-line and written? What are some advantages? What are some disadvantages? Would you let your students’ site from Wikipedia? Why or why not.
(Week 5, Reading #2 and Tidbit #3 and #4)
2. Compose a list of three differences between the learning styles of teachers and students. If today’s students truly are inherently different learners than those from earlier generations, how would you use Wiki resources to help bridge between your teaching style and your students’ learning styles?
(Week 5, Reading #1, Tidbit #3 and #4)
3. Lee Lefever in “Wikis in Plain English” (Week 5, Reading #1), shows people organizing their camping expedition. What kind of classroom activities (subject matter, age level, what the activity looks like, and purpose) could you implement using a class wiki?
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* I can't figure out how to post in different color, sorry! :(
ReplyDelete#3) I think using wiki in the classroom is a great idea if the resources are available. Wiki allows for communication and a collaboration of different people’s ideas in one organized site. It allows students to see other people’s views and helps teach them to value other perspectives. There are many different uses for wiki in the classroom with all the subjects. It could be used in social studies to implement a class discussion on a topic or a debate amongst students in the class. For high school students they could have a debate on who to vote for President during an election. It could also be used in ELA for posting responses to a story and allowing students to have an open ended discussion on the story’s ideas and concepts. We just read Shiloh in my class and my students could create a Wiki asking others how they would feel if they were in the same situation, and other questions pertaining to the story. Wiki would be a great tool as well for math review. Students can post their own mathematical questions and have other students answer them, then the student could correct or make comments on the other students’ responses. This will help the students practice their math skills while being fun and interesting. It also teaches them how to be critical and evaluate other people’s work. In science students can make a wiki site on a science fair topic. They could post their ideas on how to make a rainbow using certain material and other students could comment on their ideas or suggestions for the project. They could use it to share their experiment and their results with others. Wiki should be used more with older students, I would say depending on the students’ abilities 4-12, if you really want the students to be involved in the process of making their own wiki site and contributing to others. For the younger grades, k-3, a wiki site could be used, but the teacher would have to import the information and then show the class the site. The wiki site could be used with other k-3 classrooms, having the teachers put in the information the students say. Then the different classes could have discussions back and forth on the wiki sites with the teacher being the moderator and producing the site.
Great ideas tam52382!!
ReplyDeleteI liked how you used examples from every subject area. It is important to note that any teacher from any subject area can use wikis, including the math teachers (although it may be a little harder). I liked your idea about having students post their feeling in reaction to a book recently read and answering questions on the wiki as well. This could possibly be a way of going “green.” If the teacher is not giving out worksheet with these questions or students are not responding on notebook paper and handing their reflections and answers in, then trees are saved!
I also liked your idea of having students be critical and evaluating other people’s work. Although this can get tricky at times, we all know that students can be cruel to one another. How can we as teachers put up barriers to avoid cruelty in situations when we ask other students to be critical of others? Is there some kind of system we can set up? Any suggestions?!
PS - Sorry about the color problem, I guess that it only works when you are making the origional post!! So don't worry about it!
Tammy, I especially like your math idea. I hadn't thought of that, but I can see it as a great way for students to practice developing word problems. This is a very difficult skill for many students, but really helps them master the meaning of the math they do. As well as providing valuable practice, the Wiki might be a real incentive for many. As to which grade levels this is appropriate for, I'm wondering if we should get students started before 4th grade if for no other reason than to build fluency in the medium, maybe as early as 2nd? (1st?). As you point out, Tammy, the younger the students, the more teacher input will be required, though I think 2nd & 3rd graders at least could do quite a bit on their own. Do we have any primary teachers out there? What do you think?
ReplyDeleteStephanie, that was a great idea about the color - shame it didn't work out. I even tried writing in in color and cutting and pasting from Word, but it all turned black.
ReplyDeleteI guess people can just use numbers.
~Phil
Stephanie, you bring up an excellent point. How do we implement an environment of civility when implementing a classroom Wiki? Can we rely on the rules of our regular classroom community? Can we use similar techniques of enforcement? This is perhaps a side discussion to our main point about setting up a class Wiki, but remains an important consideration.
ReplyDelete~Phil
Stephanie, you are right, students can be real cruel to each other. A way to help prevent this would be to have a mini lesson on how to evaluate someone using constructive criticism and not being rude. The teacher could also use a rubric in grading the students' responses and showing the rubric to the students so they know what the teacher is looking for as well as know she/he is reading what they say. I think if students know that the teacher is reading what they say to each other and grading it they would be less likely to rudely criticize.
ReplyDelete2. Compose a list of three differences between the learning styles of teachers and students. If today’s students truly are inherently different learners than those from earlier generations, how would you use Wiki resources to help bridge between your teaching style and your students’ learning styles?
ReplyDelete(Week 5, Reading #1, Tidbit #3 and #4)
It is clear that students have changed throughout the years. The way they learn, teach, remember, take with, utilize, or throw away any material that runs into them. Technology, computers, television, cell phones, video games, are all a part of their lives and children are only getting smarter and better at using the technology. Today’s students think and process information differently than those of the previous years. Therefore, what we are used to, or what our parents have practiced may not be the same as the present or future generations of learners. How many times has a student asks for assistance from someone older and they did not know how to assist with the work? I agree with the quote "Different kinds of experiences lead to different brain structures, "says Dr. Bruce D. Berry of Baylor College of Medicine. Students are experiencing things at a very young age. The older generation compares learning styles from past to present and at times are completely shocked how young students are experiencing things. Wake up, times are different. Things have changed. Lets take something small outside of the classroom. Drugs and sex are two major issues that young kids are dealing with these days. So not only are students becoming more enhanced with technology they are also facing bigger and more sophisticated issues than perhaps we had to face. Theses hurdles were there but times have changed and now the old news may become the new news. Things we experienced as adults are now happening at a very young age. “Our students’ brains have physically changed - and are different from ours - as a result of how they grew up.” A child’s thinking patterns, their attitudes, strive for success, and emotions are different than they were 10 years ago, let alone 50 years ago.
After going off on a small tangent, three styles students are learning are: visual, auditory, and kinesthetic (http://www.chaminade.org/INSPIRE/learnstl.htm). Students may learn through visual experiences. This means students may need to take notes or need to see a demonstration. Or some students have to paint a picture in their head. Perhaps, draw a picture on paper or write down so they can see their work.
Another style of learning is through hearing. Listening to others and hearing what others have to say through lecture, tapes, videos, and music or writing down what is heard are other examples.
Finally, a third style is learning by doing. Physical involvement is needed to understand the material. The importance of all this is to understand these are only three major styles of learning. There are other ways that each and everyone of us learns that needs to be researched, demonstrated, practiced, or at least introduced so we as mentors can be aware of this to better our teaching strategies.
Wiki resources could be a valuable use to help teaching and students learning styles. It is important to understand the technological world we live in and utilize the instruments; because we all know now that today’s learners are becoming aware of things we were not aware of years ago. What’s the worst thing that could possibly happen if technology does not satisfy the teacher or enhance the students? We could always go back to the old traditional pen and paper, text books, and traditional exams. But if we focus on the future and enhance our abilities to adapt to the various learners and their abilities, it can only enhance what we already know and have in our expectations and styles.
Digital immigrants need to train their method of thinking that learners are not the same as they were previously and the same methods may not always work or be useful. Wiki’s can coordinate and organize information. It is form of communication rather than your traditional email. At times it is easier and better for students. It is important to adapt to the environment of the classroom. Are they capable of using technology in the classroom? Does it advance the students capabilities and comprehension? Teacher’s methodology need to adapt to the language our student’s speak in order to comprehend what we are working with. Appreciate the new skills students have acquired and interact or practice what learners have to give to other learners.
3. Lee Lefever in “Wikis in Plain English” (Week 5, Reading #1), shows people organizing their camping expedition. What kind of classroom activities (subject matter, age level, what the activity looks like, and purpose) could you implement using a class wiki?
ReplyDeleteI enjoy this question very much because I am sure all the answers that our class comes up with can be used and implemented into our classroom. Other activities that I could implement using a class Wiki are as follows:
1.) Creating a blog or wiki project with your EDU 551 classmates.
2.)Introduction to your classroom. Getting to know the students and teacher. You could set up some type of questionnaire sheet for the students to answer. Name, favorite things to do, likes or dislikes about school, ect.
3.)Group projects for any subjects. For example, a social studies project for the American Revolution.
4.)In science using an organic or inorganic project.
5.)Math journals. Adding and subtracting material learned such as counting, addition, subtraction, and problem solving.
6.)English projects such as writing stories, poetry, note taking, practice multiple answer questions for the ELA exams.
7.)Finally a finished product to the year’s success. What students have learned? What did they enjoy most about the year? What did they not understand and need more assistance? What could change or better for next years experience as a teacher or student? You could also do this weekly or monthly. The great thing about this is that it brings the class together in order to strengthen their minds using technology. It’s far more advanced than your standard lecture or text book assignments. You could also use it for anything a student may want to share with the teacher or class. Something about a lesson, something personal, or a reminder of dates or schedule.
I am certain that anything you could possibly teach to a class could be demonstrated or used by a Wiki. Whatever the material may be, a teacher could create a lesson that could be introduced on a Wiki. Wiki's could be the next greatest technological advancement to use to enhance communication and work to students in our technological ongoing world.
Since coming to college at Cortland I have heard from several professors that Wikipedia is not a legitimate source to use when researching a paper. However, I personally use this web site very frequently, especially if I am looking for information on something quickly. Wikipedia is certainly comparable to other encyclopedias because it has such a wide array of information on it. The advantages of Wikipedia are that it when looking for information on something; it is almost always going to be found there. (This includes an array of information like where a musician was born to what the climate is like on an Island in the pacific.) Also, the web pages are broken up in a way that are easily accessible and can help the user find exactly what they are looking for.
ReplyDeleteSome disadvantages of using Wikipedia are that any one has access to editing the page. Although this, in a way is also a positive thing, it also means that people who do not have correct information can put it on the site. Even though there is reviewing done on pages that are updated, they are not as thorough as other encyclopedias.
I have often let my student’s use Wikipedia but always ask them to find information from other sources that can back up their findings. As long as it is not the only site used I do not see a problem with it.
I agree with Bridget that wikipedia is an easy way to get useful information. Another advantage is that it is instant. Your students can easily get onto wikipedia and have answers in seconds compared to going to the library. Although I feel that it is still important for students to learn how to do research the "old fashioned" way. I don't think that you can find all of your answers online, students need to learn how to use the library as a research resource.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a good source, but should not be the only source.
3. Lee Lefever in “Wikis in Plain English” (Week 5, Reading #1), shows people organizing their camping expedition. What kind of classroom activities (subject matter, age level, what the activity looks like, and purpose) could you implement using a class wiki?
ReplyDeleteI think using wiki pages in the upper grades is a great way to get students interacting on projects. When in class it isn't always easy to find enough time to do projects. With wiki pages you could create a project and work on it at school and also work on it at home. you could have a large or small group and the teacher could monitor progress. It seems like easy enough technology to teach to today tech savvy students. I think that teacher need to embrace more technology and that will get more students engaged in learning. Students are used to being on the computer on a regular basis, why don't we, as teachers, use this to our advantage?
Reading Jkittles posting brought up an interesting point about researching and the usage of internet. Even though we all agree that teaching our students to use the technology effectively is very important, students still need to know how to research in libraries and through books. When student teaching I brought students to the library to research court cases and not one of the 80 students on the first day of research used the library catalog or tried to find a book. All of them waited for access to the 6 computers that were in the library. After the first day I realized how obsolete researching in libraries can really become when information is so much easier to find on the internet. I asked the students why they were not looking for/taking out books and they all said it took too long and they weren’t really sure how to research that way. It was somewhat upset about it and decided to change their project so they had at least one source in their bibliography that came from a book. Are other people experiencing similar problems with their middle/high school students??
ReplyDeleteI wanted to respond to a question that Stephanie asked; How can we as teachers put up barriers to avoid cruelty in situations when we ask other students to be critical of others? Is there some kind of system we can set up? Any suggestions?!
ReplyDeleteI think it would be extremely beneficial for all students to learn to critic and communicate with their classmates in a productive and constructive way. Using wiki pages is a great way for students to have access to other classmates work however, I was also thinking that some students may be intimidating when they know they are completing work for not only their teacher to see, but for their peers. A teacher would need to be very clear about the expectations for a wiki page and give students examples of ways they can help their students improve their skills (whether they be writing, analyzing, creating something) in a way that won’t hurt feelings. One of the biggest lessons that students will take away from this is how to communicate with others in a non-challenging way.
1. Wikipedia is now the 8th most visited site in the United States. Is Wikipedia comparable to other encyclopedias, on-line and written? What are some advantages? What are some disadvantages? Would you let your students’ site from Wikipedia? Why or why not.
ReplyDelete(Week 5, Reading #2 and Tidbit #3 and #4)
Wikipedia can be a valuable tool for research if used carefully. I think that showing students how to scan wikipedia and use it for finding other resources would be an excellent skill to teach students. There are definately flaws to relying on the information found on the wikipedia pages. Anybody has access to edit or post pages on the website, positives about this are some of the posts have citations which you can can go check for yourself. I personally feel that wikipedia is over used and it is an easy way for students to "research" a topic. I think that we are slowly losing the ability (or ambition) to really research a topic and use professional journals or other published works. I would have to say that wikipedia does not truly compare to other encyclopedias such as encarta for the computer or using real set of encyclopedias. I would recommend to my students not to use wikipedia unless they were have trouble finding anything else, even then I would promote them to use the sources used in citing on the page.
Responding to what Tam52382 said about the use of wikis.
ReplyDeleteI really like the idea as using a wiki page as a resource to the classroom. If a student is having trouble with the homework, they can post questions or comments on what is happening. THe only downfall is what happens if you are really relying on someone to answer your question on your wiki and nobody responds back before the assignment is due? Delays such as this I think are a downfall to technology without person to person interaction. When posting a question on the wiki page no one gets notified that a question has been posted, so you are hoping that someone is going to check the page for questions in order for your help.
Marcus I like the idea as using a wiki page as a "journal" of the school year. This truly is a creative way of documenting what has been accomplished throughout the school year. This could be a very fun project for the students as they would have the ability to edit the pages as they go. I think that This would be a great way for parents to be able to keep up with what is going on in the classroom also. This could also possibly help with the classroom getting "started" to going paperless. No more sending home 23 reminder notes about classroom updates, no more spelling lists sent home to practice, no more notes asking for parent help with projects in the classroom. I know this is just a long shot for a classroom to go "paper less" but it is a great idea!
ReplyDelete1. wikipedia-
ReplyDeleteI believe that the greatest attribute of wikipedia is also it greatest weakness.
That is it puts the "control into the hands of users, who decide what topics are covered and at what depth." I have found in my own use that some topics are really well done with thoughtful and based on research. For example, if you search Arron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, there are discriptions of every aspect of the historical encounter. The topic is well organized and complete with other links about the topic. It would be a great site for beginning research, to gain a general idea about the topic and the discussions about the topic. However, I have also searched some topics with limited results. That is most likely the was not enough intrest in the topic to genereate changes and edits. It is a great resource for my students to gain a general idea to launch more research about a topic, but I would not rely on it completely. I allow my students to use wikipedia as a source , but they must also provide three other sources in thier research papers. Hopefully, if they initially cite an error, by cross checking sources they will correct thier own error, and perhaps go back to edit the wikipedia. I suppose that would be the ultimate use of wikipedia, to get the encorage the entire community of learners to discover/edit topics. Overtime, I suspect that wikipedia will grow, and become more and more reliable as theis "editing" process developes.
Q#2-indirectly
ReplyDeleteI wanted to comment on an aspect of your question,which is centered on learning styles. A great question that deals with the ever changing style of the learner. I picked something up from the reading that would perhaps motivate an educator(me) to use this technology. Many times technology is viewed as "bells and whistles" but with out added value or skills. In the artlice-tidbit # 3- it states: "Beyond these simpler uses, wikis can build on the strengths of orality for focused discussions and for
changing the individual focus of traditional instruction to a focus on collaboration. For instance, wikis can be used for forum discussions that are open to anyone interested in the subject."
For me, building skills of the learner is my prime responsibility, and if by using wiki it would tap into various learning styles to help teach skills such as discussion and collaberation that would be ideal
1. Wikipedia is now the 8th most visited site in the United States. Is Wikipedia comparable to other encyclopedias, on-line and written? What are some advantages? What are some disadvantages? Would you let your students’ site from Wikipedia? Why or why not.
ReplyDeleteI don't think that Wikipedia is true source to use when doing research. It it very resourceful but I'm not sure most teachers accept it as a source. I wouldn't list it. I will use this if I need brief infromation. Wikipedia and other encyclopedias are pretty silimar but the information will vary. The advantages of Wikipedia are that it is easy to access when doing research and your information will most likely be there when looking but this can't be used as an offical source. So therefore, keep looking but its a good starting point.
I agree will Dan about ques. #1 that over time Wikipedia will become much more reliable and more topics will be covered. Our technology and lives are all moving faster and faster, so I think Wikipedia will improve as well. It's a great starting point for all learners both young and old. Using current encyclopedia software or a real book set of encyclopedias would be your best bet...
ReplyDeleteMarcus - I like your list of good, concrete ieas for Wiki use. The year-end assessment piece (#7) particularly caught my imagination. I'm not so sure about your statement "that anything you could possibly teach to a class could be demonstrated or used by a Wiki." I think some things are better taught hands-on. For example, I teach electricity & magnetism to my third graders. I wouldn't want to take the batteries, wires, magnets out of their hands. I can , however, see Wikis as a good medium in which to respond to the experience of figuring out how to put a circuit together. Now, where to find that time?
ReplyDeleteWow you guys are doing great on here!! Sorry I was not able to respond yesterday, I was up in Oswego without a computer. But I am going to start from the toppish…
ReplyDeleteTam52382 – I totally agree with your idea of a mini lesson on how to evaluate someone. I think that would be very helpful in curbing students’ hurtful comments. Could you possibly construct some kind of reward system instead of making it negative (for example, the teacher will take off points if you are mean…) but make it that they get points for being nice or constructive. Has this ever worked in anyone’s classroom? I have always wondered.
Marcus makes a great point in his response to question number 2 “How many times has a student asks for assistance from someone older and they did not know how to assist with the work?”
ReplyDeleteThis is so true. I see this subbing a lot, especially with people in the computer lab. Why hire people that have no idea how to use programs on the computer, and then put them in the lab to be a helper?
Marcus makes another great point. That we need to APPRECIATE students for their new skills. I think that’s how we as teachers need to look at it, instead as a personal obstacle.
Marcus I also like your ideas for question number 3 and I’m glad you liked it! I like the wrap up idea. I know some teachers do ask their students at the end of a year their opinions and this would be a great idea. Although, I wonder if you could make something on the anonymous because that’s how most students answer more truthfully. Does anyone know if you can make things anonymous?
Bridget --- I totally agree with you with your feelings toward Wikipedia. And I think it’s a great idea to have students back up where they get information with other resources, especially by having them make one of their sources a paper one which many struggle with. But why not use Britannica on-line? People do not have access to changing the information on there?
ReplyDeleteOn the side note of the paper sources: Some people in my seminar class had trouble with the paper sources too which is sad. Yes this technology is good but we do need to teach the old ways too, because if we are not going to, we should just take out the library in all our schools and put a giant school computer lab.
Jkittle I agree that we can learn for our students’ sake. That’s pretty much what we are doing in this class! And we do need to use technology to our advantage. Also we can learn from our students. Don’t think that we as teachers need to take a class or a workshop and then need to know everything about a certain technological tool. I am sure if we show are classes that there is going to be some tech savvy student that knows just a little bit more, and maybe that student can help you during a class, which in turn helps everyone!
ReplyDeleteDStarr Like I stated earlier I agree that students need to research in other areas such as paper sources. But a road block that I found (even back in high school) is that libraries do not let you sign out encyclopedias. Thus, the students do not want to use them because they need to actually sit in the library to get the information. How can we cater to this rule, so that students are not intimidated by sitting in a library to pull information out of an encyclopedia?
ReplyDeleteAlso – it is a problem about the delays with interaction on the wiki. Its demanding an individual person to respond immediately like in an e-mail, im, or phone conversation. But I guess that’s one of those things that come with the territory.
And again – Dstarr makes a great point about going “paper less” and interacting parents within the classroom. But I think that it would have to be something addressed during open house or private parent teacher conferences, to show parents how to use the wiki, because as we know it can be a little confusing at first.
Dan – You had a great point about that over time Wikipedia will grow and become more reliable, and I totally agree. Wikipedia is still in the baby stages, I would say, as an encyclopedia and over time I think personally it will be a greater source. Any one else’s two cents?
ReplyDeleteAlso – Your tidbit that you put in here is so true. I do believe that wikis go beyond, I mean we all talk about the weak writing skills that students have at times (come on you know you do), and I think that a by having them respond IN WRITING to each other on a class wiki would help this skill!! I never thought of that until I read your post.
sorry i made so many posts at one time... just trying to catch up!!
ReplyDeleteI remember, as a kid, back when dinos roamed, first learning to do any kind of research, and being told that encyclopedias were a good starting point - a good place to get ideas - a tool to point you in a direction. They weren't, however, to be used as a main source. Does this sound a lot like the current Wikipedia debate to you?
ReplyDelete3. Lee Lefever in “Wikis in Plain English” (Week 5, Reading #1), shows people organizing their camping expedition. What kind of classroom activities (subject matter, age level, what the activity looks like, and purpose) could you implement using a class Wiki?
ReplyDeleteOne could easily use a Wiki to construct a science activity. Students could set up their Wiki by the scientific process. Students could be broken up into different groups and each group be given a different topic to study. They could then post their information to their Wiki. This could be set up to do a long time experiment because the students would not really have to store the info anywhere because its on the Wiki. Then at the end they could use their Wiki to present their project to the rest of the class.
1. Wikipedia is now the 8th most visited site in the United States. Is Wikipedia comparable to other encyclopedias, on-line and written? What are some advantages? What are some disadvantages? Would you let your students’ site from Wikipedia? Why or why not.
ReplyDeleteLike most others have said, Wikipedia is not the most reliable source for research out there and it does have its positives and negatives. I agree with Dan that wikipedia is a great place to start researching. It is a very instant and is often the very first result in a google search of any topic. Wikipedia is also better than many other websites, that students use to find information. Elementary school students do use only online encyclopedias when they are researching online. Many times they use regular .com websites to find their information. The information on these websites can be very biased, and the students do not know how to properly distinguish that. Wikipedia does have it's biased information, but the it is not nearly as great as some other websites.
Again, like many have said, anyone can input, and edit information on wikipedia. This definately challenges the validity of the information on this site. I agree with Dstarr how we are losing the ability to research using journal articles and proper research techniques.
Wikipedia is a great way to start research, and to be used along with many other sources that validate the information on there. It is a great site for quick information, and is the most convenient tool for finding information.
I think I see some common themes running through many of the responses above. Let me see if I can sum up. (Feel free to make additions, to agree or disagree). I'll do this in 3 separate posts.
ReplyDelete1.) on WIKIPEDIA: We find Wikipedia to be very useful for its easy access and its immediacy, but are uncomfortable about its use as a main source in research because we don't completely trust its accuracy. (Great starting point, though) We also expect accuracy to improve over time.
I think I see some common themes running through many of the responses above. Let me see if I can sum up. (Feel free to make additions, to agree or disagree). I'll do this in 3 separate posts.
ReplyDelete2.) on GENERATIONAL LEARNING DIFFERENCES: Fewer reponses were posted on this subject. Are we unsure about how we feel? Do we believe that the absolute differences in learning style between "digital natives" and "immigrants" as outlined by Mr. Prensky actually exist?
Marcus' interesting point that "... students ... are also facing bigger and more sophisticated issues than perhaps we had to face," makes me think about how much more information today's students need to assimilate. Eleventh grade math today is more sophisticated than the college math I took in the mid-seventies (yes I am that old!). Maybe parallel processing is needed simply to deal with the enormous glut of information to which people are now presented.\?
Phil is right. Wikipedia is not to be trusted. Who is checking to see if the information on it is correct? Are we to monitor it? It's free. it's easy and is accessible to everyone. I use it knowing that the info is correct (as long as it is properly cited).
ReplyDeleteWould I use it in my classroom. No.
As the Educase article states, "Students can see how knowledge is created, participate in that process,...and make a valuable contribution." If I can have students create a post on Wikipedia after doing extensive research...ok I would try that.
ReplyDeleteI think I see some common themes running through many of the responses above. Let me see if I can sum up. (Feel free to make additions, to agree or disagree). I'll do this in 3 separate posts.
ReplyDelete3.) on IMPLEMENTING A CLASS WIKI. This question wasn't designed to develop a consensus. Stephanie and I were looking for concrete ideas about using a Wiki in your class. You gave us quite a few. Thank you especially to Tammy, Marcus, and Brandon for your thoughtful ideas on the subject.
Mark, good point on the Baised point of view on all websites. Look at the news, it's all baised (Fox News, MSNBC, The Wall Street Journal). But Wikipedia is a great way to make the internet personal for its users. An encylopedia which you are an author of, thats pretty personal.
ReplyDeleteGuy, I didn't mean that I don't trust Wikipedia at all. I was trying to convey my sense that the class as a whole uses Wikipedia, but has reservations about it. In fact I use the site quite a bit myself. When researching for myself on a serious subject, I often use Wikipedia for initial exposure to information, and its citations as a jumping off point for further exploration. When doing research with my students, I allow them to use Wikipedia, but they must also use other sources, both online and in print. We (teachers) use discrepencies between sources as an opportunity to teach critical skills. (How do you determine which is correct?)
ReplyDeleteGuy - Well in one of the articles for the week, it explained the dynamics behind Wikipedia and how there is a large list of people behind the program. How some monitor what is said, how others are designated posters, how there is a committee to debate if things should be deleted or not etc. Therefore it’s not just people in the web community posting whatever they feel on Wikipedia, but to some extent there is.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your thoughtful & thought-provoking contributions to this week's questions. Stephanie & I will have quite a bit to digest for Tuesday's class.
ReplyDelete~Phil