Saturday, February 13, 2010
Article review: wikis in the classroom
Three teachers/TLs collaboratively review the article "'I DON'T CARE DO UR OWN PAGE!': A Case Study of Using Wikis for Collaborative Work in a UK Secondary School" by Lyndsay Grant on this wiki.
Applying wikis in the classroom
I love the idea of using wikis for the creation of rich classroom experiences, but I haven't done it yet, and I really haven't seen it done very effectively by any teacher in my District yet.
The most effective way in which I've seen a wiki used in my District thus far is like this: setting up a single page on a single topic that students are then required to research and make their own personal comments on (or research and add more facts or summations of the research on the topic that already exists). In this way, the end result is a rich document of corporate knowledge that serves as a nice artifact of student work; this can be referred back to again and again, and students tend to be more intimately knowledgeable of the content because they had a hand in creating it. This can then become a regular method by which to build up classroom content around any topic, and once students are familiar with the process and the technology it can actually happen quite quickly. This is one way to replace the old method of teaching whereby the teacher works hard behind the scenes to dredge up and photocopy and distribute content knowledge that students then engage with; in the wiki model as outlined above, the students are involved from the ground floor in creating a pool of classroom knowledge around a topic. This is not to say, however, that the teacher doesn't need to do some careful planning around topic selection and guiding questions that form a framework for students to refer to throughout the process.
I am interested in learning more about possible ways in which to apply wikis in the classroom, but need to read more case studies and witness some more real-world, positive uses of wikis before I'm comfortable laying out a plan to use one myself.
The most effective way in which I've seen a wiki used in my District thus far is like this: setting up a single page on a single topic that students are then required to research and make their own personal comments on (or research and add more facts or summations of the research on the topic that already exists). In this way, the end result is a rich document of corporate knowledge that serves as a nice artifact of student work; this can be referred back to again and again, and students tend to be more intimately knowledgeable of the content because they had a hand in creating it. This can then become a regular method by which to build up classroom content around any topic, and once students are familiar with the process and the technology it can actually happen quite quickly. This is one way to replace the old method of teaching whereby the teacher works hard behind the scenes to dredge up and photocopy and distribute content knowledge that students then engage with; in the wiki model as outlined above, the students are involved from the ground floor in creating a pool of classroom knowledge around a topic. This is not to say, however, that the teacher doesn't need to do some careful planning around topic selection and guiding questions that form a framework for students to refer to throughout the process.
I am interested in learning more about possible ways in which to apply wikis in the classroom, but need to read more case studies and witness some more real-world, positive uses of wikis before I'm comfortable laying out a plan to use one myself.
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