Using wikis in the classroom is an extremely useful tool which has become very popular nowadays. As it is seen in the video, the author describes this tool as an organizational and instructional instrument which guides students within the learning process. So, by using this tool the teacher reinforces the topics studied in class by creating different activities in which students develop them at school or at home, so we can say that students actively work in order to learn about different topics. Furthermore, as it is avowed in the reading Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom, “…, early implementations of wikis in educational settings have shown that the more autonomy teachers give to students in terms of negotiating the scope and quality of the content they are creating, the better” (page 61). In other words, when the teacher implements the use of a wiki in the classroom students are improving their knowledge by taking part in a variety of activities in which they have to work by themselves or in groups in order to better complete these activities. As a teacher, I have never used a wiki in my class because most of my students do not have internet access at home, but in the future I really want to implement this helpful tool in my English classes. As a teacher I will use my own wiki in the different ways, for example: • Individual work in which students have to participate in a discussion of a specific topic by writing their point of view about the topic and also they have to comment about their classmates’ point of view. • Group work in which students create a video about a topic studied in class in which they talk about the most important aspects of that specific topic. They are asked to present two advances of their work for the teacher to provide feedback.
Using wikis in the classroom is an extremely useful tool which has become very popular nowadays. As it is seen in the video, the author describes this tool as an organizational and instructional instrument which guides students within the learning process. So, by using this tool the teacher reinforces the topics studied in class by creating different activities in which students develop them at school or at home, so we can say that students actively work in order to learn about different topics. Furthermore, as it is avowed in the reading Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom, “…, early implementations of wikis in educational settings have shown that the more autonomy teachers give to students in terms of negotiating the scope and quality of the content they are creating, the better” (page 61). In other words, when the teacher implements the use of a wiki in the classroom students are improving their knowledge by taking part in a variety of activities in which they have to work by themselves or in groups in order to better complete these activities. As a teacher, I have never used a wiki in my class because most of my students do not have internet access at home, but in the future I really want to implement this helpful tool in my English classes. As a teacher I will use my own wiki in the different ways, for example: • Individual work in which students have to participate in a discussion of a specific topic by writing their point of view about the topic and also they have to comment about their classmates’ point of view. • Group work in which students create a video about a topic studied in class in which they talk about the most important aspects of that specific topic. They are asked to present two advances of their work for the teacher to provide feedback.
I consider that a wiki is an excellent tool to work with students because it allows an active participation between students and teachers. Also, a wiki offers variety of options for including information and I like it because it is easy to use for teachers as well as for students. Certainly, this tool helps teachers to facilitate to their students the learning process, makes it fun and real. Students can post their comments, doubts, advice and recommendations of the class. Similarly, teachers can reply their student’s comments. I will create a wiki page to have all my students divided by grades. If I am in charge of 5 groups, I will divide create a link for each group, for instance, 7-4, 6-2, 7-3, 8-2, 61. In this way, I can have the activities for each group in an order way. Students look for the information depending on their grade. Moreover, I will create a page to inform my students about a specific topic I consider it is difficult and my students need extra information to understand the topic. So, these extra exercises help students to clarify doubts.
Implementing the use of wikis in class is an innovative method that can be very helpful when orderly structured. We have to take into account the importance of allowing students to become an active part in the process of creating the wiki. The video was mentioning that students get to the point where they make “the content of the wiki become part of their lives” as they internalize all the processes required to understand how it works in order to accomplish the tasks stated on it. This is more likely to happen as far as teachers give “students editorial control” because this “can imbue in them a sense of responsibility and ownership for the site.” (p. 61). Students are going to feel identify with the content of the wiki and it is going to have more sense for them since it is real life and they are building it. Teachers are presenting new ideas not only isolated practices that are not relevant in real context. We are growing together through the learning-teaching process because opinions of both sites are taken into account. “Students are not only learning how to publish content; they are also learning how to develop and use all source of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance and more. Students begin to teach each other.” (p. 61). It is proved that this tool really increases students’ skills in many different areas. For instance, social and critical thinking skills are by large improved. The implementation of wikis within my teaching environment would be for example, making reviews of what was practiced in class as a way to reinforce the acquire knowledge. Another way to use wikis can be to let students propose topics about relevant contents for them, making them play a relevant role in the creation of it. In that way, they are going to show more interest on the wiki, since they are being the creators of it.
The inclusion of technological elements in the classroom engages students in the learning process. Therefore, wikis are great educational tools that help students and teachers to have an interactive and innovative class where everybody is part of and interested in. Besides, wikis are for free (not in the case of college) what allows many teachers to take advantage of this resource that provides opportunities for students to collaborate with other students and share what they have learned since wikis let all their users to edit the information found there. According to the reading Wikis: Easy collaboration for all the fact that everybody can monitor the content of the wiki is good and bad; it is good because giving students editorial control can imbue in them a sense of responsibility and ownership for the site and minimize the risk of someone adding something offensive; however, no one can assure that a person can go onto a class run wiki and vandalize it by erasing content or by adding profanities. (pp. 60-61). As is mentioned in the video, a wiki is both, an organizational and instructional tool. Effective wiki use turns students into great collaborators, synthesizers, and explainers and more important, the content of the wiki becomes part of students’ lives since they work on the wiki at home and discuss the content with their parents. These aspects are really relevant when teaching a second or foreign language because one of the problems that people who are learning a new language face is that they do not practice what they learn outside the classroom, so wikis give us the possibility of practicing at home and share our knowledge with others. After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using the wiki in the classroom, I would use this resource in two different ways: -Extra material and detailed information about the topic being studied would be provided for students to practice and study at home. -Projects: Mini or final projects can be assigned in order to put into practice what they have learned in class. For example: A project about presenting the human evolution by doing an essay explaining all the ancestors, their names, their lives, etc. Also, it could be presented as a role play where some students perform what another student is reciting.
Wiki Absolutely, it comes to fill teachers and students needs when talking about an organized way to come up with topics that need more attention due to difficulty or complexity in vocabulary. Following a guide, and adding links that offer a easy continuity when studying a topic. Moreover, students get involved when it Is used to complement any work they have to accomplish during English classes. Wiki offers possibility to combine levels of difficulties from the easiest to the hardest according to students’ needs. Thus, teacher has the option to complement and to add information including extra activities to be finished as out of class and then students give a report of their process by an evaluation included in the same wiki, so, there is a good option to avoid misunderstandings related to grades. One way I use Wiki as teacher could be by complementing class work at home. It is a reality that teachers sometimes do not have enough time to include all topics. However, Wiki brings with an option to reinforce not only listening or speaking but also writing and reading. So, taking into consideration students’ diversity, Wiki can be used to elaborate personalized tasks in which students practice and review material studied in class. Other example of the use of Wiki is by showing Wikis as a way to include technology in traditional classrooms. It seems to be that some teachers forget to include creativity even when they constantly encourage students to have it. Thus, students and teachers feel pleasant when studying and teaching a foreign language since adding Wikis to our lessons gives away plain and complicated explanations. Wikis facilitates teacher’s work and students’ understanding in further lessons.
According to Let’s go into the classroom, new technologies meet their real promise when are used as tools by the students to help them in the process of difficult, complex, but meaning learning. Also, using wikis we encourage students to learn by themselves when they evaluate information that they usually take from internet for example Wikipedia. Also, when we assign our students a written report, a big challenge for them is to post it a wiki and make others evaluate their own work. A collaborative class work is the main goal, work as a group and create a constructivism learning class is very important aspect in the use of wikis in the classroom.
Definitely, using wikis to boost our teaching is ascertain to success. As we can see in the video wikis became an interactive platform for our educational purposes as teachers. Since many students nowadays are interested in technological approaches rather than conventional, wikis can help them to explore their capacities as well to advise himself, or in groups, about how work is doing. Also, wikis can help parents to assess what his or her children are doing, in my own opinion, by this allowing to rescue some parental interest and support to reinforce education. Specifically wikis let students to work "by their own" having just a little teacher participation as well to also providing a system to know, if the wiki work is in group, if others contribute or not to the wiki project (very useful for the teacher evaluation as well). Some examples of wikis valuable usage in class are: * By working throw step or indications throughout a project, wikis became chronological and organized for teachers as well to students in order to learn interiorize learning outcomes. * The wikis register allows again, students and teachers to watch over who, when and how are classmates contributing to the process and by this also let the teacher evaluation became even more fair.
In a classroom there are many different types of students: those who participate orally, and those who do not, for example. It is sometiomes difficult for a teacher to know whether a student is truly involved in the course or not if he/ she does not show participation during class time. In my opinion, Wiki can provide the teacher with a tool to have a vision of how those specific students work and find out their potential. In addition, there are even more advantages of using Wiki. According to Grant (2006) “Looking at the functional affordances of wiki software and considering the multiple uses of wikis in educational and wider contexts, it can be seen that wiki software could have the potential to support knowledge-building networks, and to be a useful tool in the shared repertoire of communities of practice engaged in collaborative learning.” For these reasons, a Wiki can be great complement of a course. Therefore, if a teacher decides to use it, he/ she needs to be well-informed in order to take its maximum potential to benefit students.
How to apply a Wiki in the language classroom?
1. Form a teachers’ community to research about wiki to become experts in its proper use. Of course, a wiki can complement this proposal. 2. After using a wiki, have students’ opinions on how this tool enhanced their learning process and what they think needs to be improved.
Grant, Lyndsay (2006). Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study. Restrived from http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf on November 04, 2011.
I found the video very realistic. Some teachers tent to remain attached to traditional and boring techniques when teaching a foreign language,this is one of the reasons why students end up feeling unmotivated and uninterested towards the subject, consequently their learning process transforms into a chaos. Throughout this course we have received little workshops in which we have learned about how to use the different tools we may implement in class for teaching english. Such tools become a great support for teachers who are convinced that aquiring innovative techniques is necessary to achieve a fourishing and succesful teaching-learning process in which students may develop a high proficiency of the language. The implementation of such tools has not only the purpose of creating an attractive environment for students during their learning process but also to allow them exploring the multiple options thay have when it comes to participate in the classroom activities. Students may feel interested and really engage, very different from what we have seen in the video. One example of a great multimedia tool for educational purposes is the wiki, a page in which students not only may receive feedback and information about an specific topic, but also, they may be assigned with different tasks and projects in a very organized and clear way. The wikis may be implemented in the classroom for teaching or reviewing an specific topic, later, students will complete different excersises based on the contents they have received. Teachers may add different links of useful web pages, videos, word docs, articles, etc.
According to Richardson (2010) the collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort (Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom, pp 69). Taking that into consideration, we as teachers know that teaching is not only restricted to class environment but to social background. It means that we also need to respond to a globalized reality. As it is mentioned in the video, a wiki is an organizational and instructional tool, so teachers can use it to show students how to organize themselves while working in a project in teams; for example assigning teams with different tasks for students to accomplish them so at the end they can present a final project as a group. Another way to use wikis in the class would be by posting all homework assignments for the term with its corresponding due dates in a class wiki where they can upload their homework and get feedback from the teacher, as wee as see the work from other classmates for them to download what they need to study for exams.
Undoubtedly Wikis foster cooperative learning. When students use them, they learn “how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on the correctness, meaning, relevance, and more” concerning the content they are dealing with. (Wikis: Easy Collaboration for All, page 61) However, it’s very important that we try to keep a balanced view of what it means cooperative learning. More specifically, it is essential that we teachers guide students on how to help each other so that a truly cooperative and not competitive environment is kept in the class. We certainly do not want that “participants enter into constant revisionist war over content and form” (Computer-Mediated Communication) Therefore, we should instruct students on how to provide tactful feedback and focus on relevant aspects of content. We might provide students with clear rubrics that help them to have peer-corrections. Also, we should monitor closely their interaction and act immediately when situations of possible conflict may arise. On the other hand, concerning ways of using Wikis in class, I think that one that might be really productive would be among teachers for particular subjects such as English for telecoms, English for accounting, English for administrative assistants. We might share sources of information and together evaluate them. We might share teaching materials and get feedback about their effectiveness and accuracy. So, both students and teachers can get plenty of benefits from this tool.
The use of a wiki in English lessons encourages teamwork because it gives opportunity to collaborate , add information and edit entries among different groups of participants. It also enhances learner´s autonomy, self- criticism and proper feedback. Students are involved into real tasks for real audiences. As mentioned in Chapter 2 (Wikis and Blogs) page 14, “… students create a wiki that serves as a way to post homework, assignments and notices to parents and also serves as a classroom community resource .” Therefore, I would use a wiki in my lessons by assigning students to develop different tasks based upon readings, videos and audio recordings. These assignments will favor the use of the target language as a tool for original contributions while practicing the use of technology. For instance ,I could ask students to watch a video about recycling and then to enlist the top ten recycling actions suggested in the video additionally I´d ask them to add three more not mentioned in the video , just to check their comprehension of the topic as well as their management of vocabulary .
Using wikis in the classroom is an extremely useful tool which has become very popular nowadays. As it is seen in the video, the author describes this tool as an organizational and instructional instrument which guides students within the learning process. So, by using this tool the teacher reinforces the topics studied in class by creating different activities in which students develop them at school or at home, so we can say that students actively work in order to learn about different topics. Furthermore, as it is avowed in the reading Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom, “…, early implementations of wikis in educational settings have shown that the more autonomy teachers give to students in terms of negotiating the scope and quality of the content they are creating, the better” (page 61). In other words, when the teacher implements the use of a wiki in the classroom students are improving their knowledge by taking part in a variety of activities in which they have to work by themselves or in groups in order to better complete these activities.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, I have never used a wiki in my class because most of my students do not have internet access at home, but in the future I really want to implement this helpful tool in my English classes.
As a teacher I will use my own wiki in the different ways, for example:
• Individual work in which students have to participate in a discussion of a specific topic by writing their point of view about the topic and also they have to comment about their classmates’ point of view.
• Group work in which students create a video about a topic studied in class in which they talk about the most important aspects of that specific topic. They are asked to present two advances of their work for the teacher to provide feedback.
Using wikis in the classroom is an extremely useful tool which has become very popular nowadays. As it is seen in the video, the author describes this tool as an organizational and instructional instrument which guides students within the learning process. So, by using this tool the teacher reinforces the topics studied in class by creating different activities in which students develop them at school or at home, so we can say that students actively work in order to learn about different topics. Furthermore, as it is avowed in the reading Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom, “…, early implementations of wikis in educational settings have shown that the more autonomy teachers give to students in terms of negotiating the scope and quality of the content they are creating, the better” (page 61). In other words, when the teacher implements the use of a wiki in the classroom students are improving their knowledge by taking part in a variety of activities in which they have to work by themselves or in groups in order to better complete these activities.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, I have never used a wiki in my class because most of my students do not have internet access at home, but in the future I really want to implement this helpful tool in my English classes.
As a teacher I will use my own wiki in the different ways, for example:
• Individual work in which students have to participate in a discussion of a specific topic by writing their point of view about the topic and also they have to comment about their classmates’ point of view.
• Group work in which students create a video about a topic studied in class in which they talk about the most important aspects of that specific topic. They are asked to present two advances of their work for the teacher to provide feedback.
I consider that a wiki is an excellent tool to work with students because it allows an active participation between students and teachers. Also, a wiki offers variety of options for including information and I like it because it is easy to use for teachers as well as for students. Certainly, this tool helps teachers to facilitate to their students the learning process, makes it fun and real. Students can post their comments, doubts, advice and recommendations of the class. Similarly, teachers can reply their student’s comments.
ReplyDeleteI will create a wiki page to have all my students divided by grades. If I am in charge of 5 groups, I will divide create a link for each group, for instance, 7-4, 6-2, 7-3, 8-2, 61. In this way, I can have the activities for each group in an order way. Students look for the information depending on their grade.
Moreover, I will create a page to inform my students about a specific topic I consider it is difficult and my students need extra information to understand the topic. So, these extra exercises help students to clarify doubts.
Xinia Ledezma A32788
ReplyDeleteImplementing the use of wikis in class is an innovative method that can be very helpful when orderly structured. We have to take into account the importance of allowing students to become an active part in the process of creating the wiki. The video was mentioning that students get to the point where they make “the content of the wiki become part of their lives” as they internalize all the processes required to understand how it works in order to accomplish the tasks stated on it.
This is more likely to happen as far as teachers give “students editorial control” because this “can imbue in them a sense of responsibility and ownership for the site.” (p. 61). Students are going to feel identify with the content of the wiki and it is going to have more sense for them since it is real life and
they are building it. Teachers are presenting new ideas not only isolated practices that are not relevant in real context. We are growing together through the learning-teaching process because opinions of both sites are taken into account.
“Students are not only learning how to publish content; they are also learning how to develop and use all source of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on correctness, meaning, relevance and more. Students begin to teach each other.” (p. 61). It is proved that this tool really increases students’ skills in many different areas. For instance, social and critical thinking skills are by large improved.
The implementation of wikis within my teaching environment would be for example, making reviews of what was practiced in class as a way to reinforce the acquire knowledge. Another way to use wikis can be to let students propose topics about relevant contents for them, making them play a relevant role in the creation of it. In that way, they are going to show more interest on the wiki, since they are being the creators of it.
The inclusion of technological elements in the classroom engages students in the learning process. Therefore, wikis are great educational tools that help students and teachers to have an interactive and innovative class where everybody is part of and interested in. Besides, wikis are for free (not in the case of college) what allows many teachers to take advantage of this resource that provides opportunities for students to collaborate with other students and share what they have learned since wikis let all their users to edit the information found there. According to the reading Wikis: Easy collaboration for all the fact that everybody can monitor the content of the wiki is good and bad; it is good because giving students editorial control can imbue in them a sense of responsibility and ownership for the site and minimize the risk of someone adding something offensive; however, no one can assure that a person can go onto a class run wiki and vandalize it by erasing content or by adding profanities. (pp. 60-61).
ReplyDeleteAs is mentioned in the video, a wiki is both, an organizational and instructional tool. Effective wiki use turns students into great collaborators, synthesizers, and explainers and more important, the content of the wiki becomes part of students’ lives since they work on the wiki at home and discuss the content with their parents. These aspects are really relevant when teaching a second or foreign language because one of the problems that people who are learning a new language face is that they do not practice what they learn outside the classroom, so wikis give us the possibility of practicing at home and share our knowledge with others.
After discussing the advantages and disadvantages of using the wiki in the classroom, I would use this resource in two different ways:
-Extra material and detailed information about the topic being studied would be provided for students to practice and study at home.
-Projects: Mini or final projects can be assigned in order to put into practice what they have learned in class. For example: A project about presenting the human evolution by doing an essay explaining all the ancestors, their names, their lives, etc. Also, it could be presented as a role play where some students perform what another student is reciting.
Wiki
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely, it comes to fill teachers and students needs when talking about an organized way to come up with topics that need more attention due to difficulty or complexity in vocabulary. Following a guide, and adding links that offer a easy continuity when studying a topic. Moreover, students get involved when it Is used to complement any work they have to accomplish during English classes. Wiki offers possibility to combine levels of difficulties from the easiest to the hardest according to students’ needs. Thus, teacher has the option to complement and to add information including extra activities to be finished as out of class and then students give a report of their process by an evaluation included in the same wiki, so, there is a good option to avoid misunderstandings related to grades.
One way I use Wiki as teacher could be by complementing class work at home. It is a reality that teachers sometimes do not have enough time to include all topics. However, Wiki brings with an option to reinforce not only listening or speaking but also writing and reading. So, taking into consideration students’ diversity, Wiki can be used to elaborate personalized tasks in which students practice and review material studied in class.
Other example of the use of Wiki is by showing Wikis as a way to include technology in traditional classrooms. It seems to be that some teachers forget to include creativity even when they constantly encourage students to have it. Thus, students and teachers feel pleasant when studying and teaching a foreign language since adding Wikis to our lessons gives away plain and complicated explanations. Wikis facilitates teacher’s work and students’ understanding in further lessons.
According to Let’s go into the classroom, new technologies meet their real promise when are used as tools by the students to help them in the process of difficult, complex, but meaning learning. Also, using wikis we encourage students to learn by themselves when they evaluate information that they usually take from internet for example Wikipedia. Also, when we assign our students a written report, a big challenge for them is to post it a wiki and make others evaluate their own work. A collaborative class work is the main goal, work as a group and create a constructivism learning class is very important aspect in the use of wikis in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely, using wikis to boost our teaching is ascertain to success. As we can see in the video wikis became an interactive platform for our educational purposes as teachers. Since many students nowadays are interested in technological approaches rather than conventional, wikis can help them to explore their capacities as well to advise himself, or in groups, about how work is doing. Also, wikis can help parents to assess what his or her children are doing, in my own opinion, by this allowing to rescue some parental interest and support to reinforce education. Specifically wikis let students to work "by their own" having just a little teacher participation as well to also providing a system to know, if the wiki work is in group, if others contribute or not to the wiki project (very useful for the teacher evaluation as well).
ReplyDeleteSome examples of wikis valuable usage in class are:
* By working throw step or indications throughout a project, wikis became chronological and organized for teachers as well to students in order to learn interiorize learning outcomes.
* The wikis register allows again, students and teachers to watch over who, when and how are classmates contributing to the process and by this also let the teacher evaluation became even more fair.
In a classroom there are many different types of students: those who participate orally, and those who do not, for example. It is sometiomes difficult for a teacher to know whether a student is truly involved in the course or not if he/ she does not show participation during class time. In my opinion, Wiki can provide the teacher with a tool to have a vision of how those specific students work and find out their potential. In addition, there are even more advantages of using Wiki. According to Grant (2006) “Looking at the functional affordances of wiki software and considering the multiple uses of wikis in educational and wider contexts, it can be seen that wiki software could have the potential to support knowledge-building networks, and to be a useful tool in the shared repertoire of communities of practice engaged in collaborative learning.” For these reasons, a Wiki can be great complement of a course. Therefore, if a teacher decides to use it, he/ she needs to be well-informed in order to take its maximum potential to benefit students.
ReplyDeleteHow to apply a Wiki in the language classroom?
1. Form a teachers’ community to research about wiki to become experts in its proper use. Of course, a wiki can complement this proposal.
2. After using a wiki, have students’ opinions on how this tool enhanced their learning process and what they think needs to be improved.
Grant, Lyndsay (2006). Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study. Restrived from
http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf on November 04, 2011.
I found the video very realistic. Some teachers tent to remain attached to traditional and boring techniques when teaching a foreign language,this is one of the reasons why students end up feeling unmotivated and uninterested towards the subject, consequently their learning process transforms into a chaos. Throughout this course we have received little workshops in which we have learned about how to use the different tools we may implement in class for teaching english. Such tools become a great support for teachers who are convinced that aquiring innovative techniques is necessary to achieve a fourishing and succesful teaching-learning process in which students may develop a high proficiency of the language. The implementation of such tools has not only the purpose of creating an attractive environment for students during their learning process but also to allow them exploring the multiple options thay have when it comes to participate in the classroom activities. Students may feel interested and really engage, very different from what we have seen in the video. One example of a great multimedia tool for educational purposes is the wiki, a page in which students not only may receive feedback and information about an specific topic, but also, they may be assigned with different tasks and projects in a very organized and clear way.
ReplyDeleteThe wikis may be implemented in the classroom for teaching or reviewing an specific topic, later, students will complete different excersises based on the contents they have received. Teachers may add different links of useful web pages, videos, word docs, articles, etc.
According to Richardson (2010) the collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort (Blogs, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classroom, pp 69). Taking that into consideration, we as teachers know that teaching is not only restricted to class environment but to social background. It means that we also need to respond to a globalized reality. As it is mentioned in the video, a wiki is an organizational and instructional tool, so teachers can use it to show students how to organize themselves while working in a project in teams; for example assigning teams with different tasks for students to accomplish them so at the end they can present a final project as a group. Another way to use wikis in the class would be by posting all homework assignments for the term with its corresponding due dates in a class wiki where they can upload their homework and get feedback from the teacher, as wee as see the work from other classmates for them to download what they need to study for exams.
ReplyDeleteUndoubtedly Wikis foster cooperative learning. When students use them, they learn “how to develop and use all sorts of collaborative skills, negotiating with others to agree on the correctness, meaning, relevance, and more” concerning the content they are dealing with. (Wikis: Easy Collaboration for All, page 61) However, it’s very important that we try to keep a balanced view of what it means cooperative learning. More specifically, it is essential that we teachers guide students on how to help each other so that a truly cooperative and not competitive environment is kept in the class. We certainly do not want that “participants enter into constant revisionist war over content and form” (Computer-Mediated Communication) Therefore, we should instruct students on how to provide tactful feedback and focus on relevant aspects of content. We might provide students with clear rubrics that help them to have peer-corrections. Also, we should monitor closely their interaction and act immediately when situations of possible conflict may arise. On the other hand, concerning ways of using Wikis in class, I think that one that might be really productive would be among teachers for particular subjects such as English for telecoms, English for accounting, English for administrative assistants. We might share sources of information and together evaluate them. We might share teaching materials and get feedback about their effectiveness and accuracy. So, both students and teachers can get plenty of benefits from this tool.
ReplyDeleteThe use of a wiki in English lessons encourages teamwork because it gives opportunity to collaborate , add information and edit entries among different groups of participants. It also enhances learner´s autonomy, self- criticism and proper feedback. Students are involved into real tasks for real audiences. As mentioned in Chapter 2 (Wikis and Blogs) page 14, “… students create a wiki that serves as a way to post homework, assignments and notices to parents and also serves as a classroom community resource .” Therefore, I would use a wiki in my lessons by assigning students to develop different tasks based upon readings, videos and audio recordings. These assignments will favor the use of the target language as a tool for original contributions while practicing the use of technology. For instance ,I could ask students to watch a video about recycling and then to enlist the top ten recycling actions suggested in the video additionally I´d ask them to add three more not mentioned in the video , just to check their comprehension of the topic as well as their management of vocabulary .
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete