Wikis are a tool that teachers can used to be organized and to propose a constructivism approach in the classroom. Also, it requires teacher's effort to look for the correct material and steps to make a constructivism class as Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia's work (1994, 2002, 2003) cited in http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf states "on knowledge-building networks also looks at learning as essentially a social activity. Like the theory of communities of practice, knowledge-building networks take a constructivist view of learning, seeing learning as the result of acting on and in the world" So, wikis help students to participate and become more social. It would be an advantage for those students who are shy because they can use different tools to present their work.
Examples:
1- I divide the group in tree groups. Then, I post 3 links and those links have a list of vocabulary to each group. Next, they are going to create a presentation about the vocabulary they can use word processing, PowerPoint and videos.
2- I would post tree different journals about useful expressions. Then, students are going to be divided in teams and using the projects they are going to complete their journals. Finally, they are going to share their findings with the rest of the group.
Wikis are a great way to make students work in a collaborative manner. It is said that wikis are “… a group product rather than the initiative of one individual.” (CMC, 74) Besides, it is an internet tool that allows students to construct knowledge reorganizing and doing many things with the content in a group way. “Any participant can add, modify, rearrange, or even destroy text, images, and other multimedia objects from earlier contributions.” (CMC, 74) When teachers apply the usage of wikis in class, they have to adjust the content that is going to be developed according to the context of students. This makes students have a more significant learning process. “…to create an online text for your curriculum that you and your students can both contribute to. A co-construction of this type could make for a much more personalized text, one specific to your particular class.” (Wikis: easy collaboration for all, 61) Finally, students and the teacher have to negotiate what will be developed in the wiki and try to have a more students’ centered learning process. “…the more autonomy teachers give to students in terms of negotiating the scope and quality of the content they are creating, the better. It’s a very democratic process of knowledge creation.” (Wikis: easy collaboration for all, 61) As a future teacher I would like to use wikis in order to develop transversal topics. Topics like taking care of nature, health, sexuality and so on. The idea is that students are going to use the wiki to develop a project about a certain transversal topic, for example: taking care of nature. What students have to do throughout the wiki is to provide or create alternatives to take care of nature. Students make changes or provide suggestions to their classmates’ ideas. When the project is a solid one, students are going to develop or find a way to share the information they have with the school and the community. All the mentioned above is developed in the wiki. Just the spread of information is a putting hands on work!
Wikis make content easier to organize. Coordination is clearly achieved while using them. The most important feature of wikis is that they allow students to add and edit information. As stated in the reading, “Early implementations of wikis in educational settings have shown that the more autonomy teacher give to students in terms of negotiations the scope and quality of the content they are creating the better.” (p. 61) Students are really going to feel that they are a fundamental part of the process of learning and teaching. They are going to be able to discuss the information presented with all the members of their families as well as becoming teachers while aiding classmates to get the point of the learning by doing. Collaborating and explaining the main ideas to be developed within the wiki, students are going to improve their abilities and become active part of the teaching and learning process. 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.
Jhonser said... The use of a Wikis is an extraordinary way to create, organize, share and edit information. This video shows us how wikis work – it is simple and practical. Some of the benefits derived from using wikis in the class are related to collaborative learning. According to Grant (2006) “the essential to this model is an understanding that learning is intentional, that knowledge-building is a collaborative activity and that learners take responsibility for their own learning goals, identifying the problems and gaps in their understanding of a subject, and deciding how to solve these problems”. In other words, by using wikis in the class, students have the opportunity to resolve communicative and technological challenges by analyzing and getting solutions for a requested task. The good thing is that students’ participation is not delimited by space and time. Moreover, they can investigate, clarify concepts, get ideas and check spelling using the same tool: the computer. There are many ways to incorporate wikis to the teaching-learning process in the class. For example, teachers can assign a text or a video related to a controversial topic like “Animal experimentation”. Then, students are asked to answer the following question: What you think about the topic and what recommended actions you will propose? In this way, students are forced to read, analyze and then write. Next, students can view others students’ comments and post an opinion about it. Another way teachers can use wikis in the class is for example by assigning a project where students have to write a letter to an authority. By working in groups of three or four, students write paragraphs concerning to a local environmental problem. Each student writes a paragraph that then becomes the body of the letter. In this way, all the students come up with ideas and contribute with the script of the letter.
Grant, Lyndsay (2006). Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study. Restrived from http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf October, 30, 2011, at 2:00 p.m.
Jhonser said... The use of a Wikis is an extraordinary way to create, organize, share and edit information. This video shows us how wikis work – it is simple and practical. Some of the benefits derived from using wikis in the class are related to collaborative learning. According to Grant (2006) “the essential to this model is an understanding that learning is intentional, that knowledge-building is a collaborative activity and that learners take responsibility for their own learning goals, identifying the problems and gaps in their understanding of a subject, and deciding how to solve these problems”. In other words, by using wikis in the class, students have the opportunity to resolve communicative and technological challenges by analyzing and getting solutions for a requested task. The good thing is that students’ participation is not delimited by space and time. Moreover, they can investigate, clarify concepts, get ideas and check spelling using the same tool: the computer. There are many ways to incorporate wikis to the teaching-learning process in the class. For example, teachers can assign a text or a video related to a controversial topic like “Animal experimentation”. Then, students are asked to answer the following question: What you think about the topic and what recommended actions you will propose? In this way, students are forced to read, analyze and then write. Next, students can view others students’ comments and post an opinion about it. Another way teachers can use wikis in the class is for example by assigning a project where students have to write a letter to an authority. By working in groups of three or four, students write paragraphs concerning to a local environmental problem. Each student writes a paragraph that then becomes the body of the letter. In this way, all the students come up with ideas and contribute with the script of the letter.
Grant, Lyndsay (2006). Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study. Restrived from http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf October, 30, 2011, at 2:00 p.m.
Wikis provide us an important place to help our students to learn how to work as a team or to get an idea about cooperative language learning approach. We as professors must help them to achieve this important process, because the students in the real world they will have to work in this way. Wikis lend a hand to students, BUT we have to be aware about the possibility that a student could sabotage the exercises (consciously or unconsciously), so we have to check the page some times in the day.
We, teachers, nowadays can say that we are really lucky to have the chance to access such a great tool as the wiki. In the past, the learning process had to be based on a textbook, the blackboard and a lot of imagination from the students. Today the learning process can be coordinated, as in the wiki, a way to share information, perspectives, doubts, questions, answers, and almost everything. Its relevancy lies on the fact that we can construct the knowledge socially; therefore, learning will be also "a social activity" (Bereiter and Scardamalia,2006, p. 3). With the wiki we can almost switch roles with the students, since both of us can post information and generate discussion from it, this interaction enhances the learning process by making it more significant and attractive.
The main purpose of using technological tools in classrooms is in to enhance the learning process and to take that process beyond the classrooms. For that reason it is important to use the available tools as much as possible. In the specific case of wikis they are mean to share information with other people, also they give the opportunity to add more information and edit what have been posted. In the case of teaching English we have seen that teachers can do a lot using the web as resource for implementing different strategies of addressing contents. For me the use of wikis allows the teacher to build confidence in the students permitting them to work and share their knowledge with the rest of the class via a website. Besides when students really interact with the teacher in the construction of the page (in terms of the work they are providing) makes them feel like an active part of the learning process. In classes I would use wikis to assign group projects, first because it encourages students to work with different classmates, and because they can work online from their own places editing the information which make the process easier. The project can consist in interviewing people in order to find out facts about animals, one they gathered the information they present the facts they found in comparatives and superlatives sentences. For example: Maria believes that the fastest animal in the world is the cheetah.
Using wiki we may find lots of possibilities of expanding our student’s knowledge. It is known that students learn more when they are motivated, and letting students work together as a team might be a way of motivating them to give their best in a collaborative way. In fact, this is one of the main advantages we may highlight with the usage of this tool, as it is stated in the reading: “The additional challenge with Wikipedia is that each of its entries is, in fact, a collaboratively written research report.” (p.60). considering this fact of working cooperatively, students may have the chance of creating their own knowledge by sharing information with their classmates. While teaching, we can create a Wiki, for letting students build their knowledge about certain topics, sharing their ideas and feelings to have a better understanding of what they are learning. We can also assign projects in which through the usage of wikis, students create their own summary for a test, by sharing their notes.
Nowadays, teachers are looking for opportunities to have students participating actively in classroom assignments. I consider Wiki as one of the best ways to do so because of its simplicity. As it is shown in this video, students can easily access to WIKI and add or change information and take part in it with their opinions, projects and proposals. This will also give them the opportunity to form a students’ community where they can interact and establish functions for each member, as well as learn to be respectful and take into consideration others’ participation. Lyndsay Grant in her work “Using Wikis in Schools: A Case Study” states that, “As members of a community pursue a shared enterprise, people participate in a range of practices. It is through engaging in such practices that the group negotiates meanings of what it is to be a member of this community. This is the case whether the community is engaged in an explicitly learning-directed activity or in going about their daily tasks as part of a work community.” Work communities are of great importance since they help each of its members to look for the best actions in any activity, and Wiki allows students to get together in communities to obtain the best results in their learning process.
How will I use Wiki with my students?
1. Get in groups of 3 or 4 people, assign each member a function and work on a project where their classmates can participate, e.g. a workshop to enhance their school performance.
2. Participate in a course wiki through adding links to articles, and all type of information that can help the course to improve.
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.
This video clearly illustrates the way that Wikis enable students to work collaboratively and efficiently while developing a writing task. In this regard, word processing software is another resource that has made a significant contribution to facilitate writing. In fact, word processing software allows students to brainstorm, exchange ideas, receive feedback and write collaboratively more easily, electronically via email (Let’s Go into the Classroom Constructivist Teaching with Technology). However, Wikis indeed maximize all the benefits learners might derive from word processing software by making it possible for them to work together without needing to email one another. This way, students can save a lot of time and synchronize their efforts. This reminds me a writing project I assigned to one of my groups during the first term this year. Students were asked to research on the Internet about safety at work in order to prepare a written report. They worked in groups of four and each student had to research individually. Then, they were asked to compare and summarize their findings so that their written report was really concise and accurate. Unfortunately, students ended up undergoing unnecessary rounds of editing their information since they revised their works through emailing to one another. Moreover, sometimes they realized they used exactly the same websites, which in turn was not an efficient way of using their time since they had only two weeks to develop their projects and they had to include at least ten different websites. At the end, the content of their works was not really concise but more a choppy collection of facts and procedures. Nevertheless, now I think I cannot blame them. They should have had a Wiki to develop their project! Needless to mention a way of using Wikis in the classroom. Another use might be to keep a notes-from-class Wiki as suggested in Wikis: Easy Collaboration for All (page 66). This can be implemented as a class assignment not only to evaluate students but also to provide them with a learning tool they can use to reinforce certain topics.
Wikis are a tool that teachers can used to be organized and to propose a constructivism approach in the classroom. Also, it requires teacher's effort to look for the correct material and steps to make a constructivism class as Carl Bereiter and Marlene Scardamalia's work (1994, 2002, 2003) cited in http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf states "on knowledge-building networks also looks at learning as essentially a social activity. Like the theory of communities of practice, knowledge-building networks take a constructivist view of learning, seeing learning as the result of acting on and in the world" So, wikis help students to participate and become more social. It would be an advantage for those students who are shy because they can use different tools to present their work.
ReplyDeleteExamples:
1- I divide the group in tree groups. Then, I post 3 links and those links have a list of vocabulary to each group. Next, they are going to create a presentation about the vocabulary they can use word processing, PowerPoint and videos.
2- I would post tree different journals about useful expressions. Then, students are going to be divided in teams and using the projects they are going to complete their journals. Finally, they are going to share their findings with the rest of the group.
Wikis are a great way to make students work in a collaborative manner. It is said that wikis are “… a group product rather than the initiative of one individual.” (CMC, 74) Besides, it is an internet tool that allows students to construct knowledge reorganizing and doing many things with the content in a group way. “Any participant can add, modify, rearrange, or even destroy text, images, and other multimedia objects from earlier contributions.” (CMC, 74) When teachers apply the usage of wikis in class, they have to adjust the content that is going to be developed according to the context of students. This makes students have a more significant learning process. “…to create an online text for your curriculum that you and your students can both contribute to. A co-construction of this type could make for a much more personalized text, one specific to your particular class.” (Wikis: easy collaboration for all, 61) Finally, students and the teacher have to negotiate what will be developed in the wiki and try to have a more students’ centered learning process. “…the more autonomy teachers give to students in terms of negotiating the scope and quality of the content they are creating, the better. It’s a very democratic process of knowledge creation.” (Wikis: easy collaboration for all, 61) As a future teacher I would like to use wikis in order to develop transversal topics. Topics like taking care of nature, health, sexuality and so on. The idea is that students are going to use the wiki to develop a project about a certain transversal topic, for example: taking care of nature. What students have to do throughout the wiki is to provide or create alternatives to take care of nature. Students make changes or provide suggestions to their classmates’ ideas. When the project is a solid one, students are going to develop or find a way to share the information they have with the school and the community. All the mentioned above is developed in the wiki. Just the spread of information is a putting hands on work!
ReplyDeleteWikis make content easier to organize. Coordination is clearly achieved while using them. The most important feature of wikis is that they allow students to add and edit information. As stated in the reading, “Early implementations of wikis in educational settings have shown that the more autonomy teacher give to students in terms of negotiations the scope and quality of the content they are creating the better.” (p. 61)
ReplyDeleteStudents are really going to feel that they are a fundamental part of the process of learning and teaching. They are going to be able to discuss the information presented with all the members of their families as well as becoming teachers while aiding classmates to get the point of the learning by doing. Collaborating and explaining the main ideas to be developed within the wiki, students are going to improve their abilities and become active part of the teaching and learning process.
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.
Jhonser said...
ReplyDeleteThe use of a Wikis is an extraordinary way to create, organize, share and edit information. This video shows us how wikis work – it is simple and practical. Some of the benefits derived from using wikis in the class are related to collaborative learning. According to Grant (2006) “the essential to this model is an understanding that learning is intentional, that knowledge-building is a collaborative activity and that learners take responsibility for their own learning goals, identifying the problems and gaps in their understanding of a subject, and deciding how to solve these problems”. In other words, by using wikis in the class, students have the opportunity to resolve communicative and technological challenges by analyzing and getting solutions for a requested task. The good thing is that students’ participation is not delimited by space and time. Moreover, they can investigate, clarify concepts, get ideas and check spelling using the same tool: the computer.
There are many ways to incorporate wikis to the teaching-learning process in the class. For example, teachers can assign a text or a video related to a controversial topic like “Animal experimentation”. Then, students are asked to answer the following question: What you think about the topic and what recommended actions you will propose? In this way, students are forced to read, analyze and then write. Next, students can view others students’ comments and post an opinion about it.
Another way teachers can use wikis in the class is for example by assigning a project where students have to write a letter to an authority. By working in groups of three or four, students write paragraphs concerning to a local environmental problem. Each student writes a paragraph that then becomes the body of the letter. In this way, all the students come up with ideas and contribute with the script of the letter.
Grant, Lyndsay (2006). Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study. Restrived from
http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf October, 30, 2011, at 2:00 p.m.
Jhonser said...
ReplyDeleteThe use of a Wikis is an extraordinary way to create, organize, share and edit information. This video shows us how wikis work – it is simple and practical. Some of the benefits derived from using wikis in the class are related to collaborative learning. According to Grant (2006) “the essential to this model is an understanding that learning is intentional, that knowledge-building is a collaborative activity and that learners take responsibility for their own learning goals, identifying the problems and gaps in their understanding of a subject, and deciding how to solve these problems”. In other words, by using wikis in the class, students have the opportunity to resolve communicative and technological challenges by analyzing and getting solutions for a requested task. The good thing is that students’ participation is not delimited by space and time. Moreover, they can investigate, clarify concepts, get ideas and check spelling using the same tool: the computer.
There are many ways to incorporate wikis to the teaching-learning process in the class. For example, teachers can assign a text or a video related to a controversial topic like “Animal experimentation”. Then, students are asked to answer the following question: What you think about the topic and what recommended actions you will propose? In this way, students are forced to read, analyze and then write. Next, students can view others students’ comments and post an opinion about it.
Another way teachers can use wikis in the class is for example by assigning a project where students have to write a letter to an authority. By working in groups of three or four, students write paragraphs concerning to a local environmental problem. Each student writes a paragraph that then becomes the body of the letter. In this way, all the students come up with ideas and contribute with the script of the letter.
Grant, Lyndsay (2006). Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study. Restrived from
http://rhazen.edublogs.org/files/2008/01/wikis_in_schools_futurelab.pdf October, 30, 2011, at 2:00 p.m.
Wikis provide us an important place to help our students to learn how to work as a team or to get an idea about cooperative language learning approach. We as professors must help them to achieve this important process, because the students in the real world they will have to work in this way. Wikis lend a hand to students, BUT we have to be aware about the possibility that a student could sabotage the exercises (consciously or unconsciously), so we have to check the page some times in the day.
ReplyDeleteWe, teachers, nowadays can say that we are really lucky to have the chance to access such a great tool as the wiki. In the past, the learning process had to be based on a textbook, the blackboard and a lot of imagination from the students. Today the learning process can be coordinated, as in the wiki, a way to share information, perspectives, doubts, questions, answers, and almost everything. Its relevancy lies on the fact that we can construct the knowledge socially; therefore, learning will be also "a social activity" (Bereiter and Scardamalia,2006, p. 3). With the wiki we can almost switch roles with the students, since both of us can post information and generate discussion from it, this interaction enhances the learning process by making it more significant and attractive.
ReplyDeleteThe main purpose of using technological tools in classrooms is in to enhance the learning process and to take that process beyond the classrooms. For that reason it is important to use the available tools as much as possible. In the specific case of wikis they are mean to share information with other people, also they give the opportunity to add more information and edit what have been posted. In the case of teaching English we have seen that teachers can do a lot using the web as resource for implementing different strategies of addressing contents. For me the use of wikis allows the teacher to build confidence in the students permitting them to work and share their knowledge with the rest of the class via a website. Besides when students really interact with the teacher in the construction of the page (in terms of the work they are providing) makes them feel like an active part of the learning process.
ReplyDeleteIn classes I would use wikis to assign group projects, first because it encourages students to work with different classmates, and because they can work online from their own places editing the information which make the process easier. The project can consist in interviewing people in order to find out facts about animals, one they gathered the information they present the facts they found in comparatives and superlatives sentences. For example: Maria believes that the fastest animal in the world is the cheetah.
Emily Quintanilla Morán
Using wiki we may find lots of possibilities of expanding our student’s knowledge. It is known that students learn more when they are motivated, and letting students work together as a team might be a way of motivating them to give their best in a collaborative way. In fact, this is one of the main advantages we may highlight with the usage of this tool, as it is stated in the reading: “The additional challenge with Wikipedia is that each of its entries is, in fact, a collaboratively written research report.” (p.60). considering this fact of working cooperatively, students may have the chance of creating their own knowledge by sharing information with their classmates. While teaching, we can create a Wiki, for letting students build their knowledge about certain topics, sharing their ideas and feelings to have a better understanding of what they are learning. We can also assign projects in which through the usage of wikis, students create their own summary for a test, by sharing their notes.
ReplyDeleteNowadays, teachers are looking for opportunities to have students participating actively in classroom assignments. I consider Wiki as one of the best ways to do so because of its simplicity. As it is shown in this video, students can easily access to WIKI and add or change information and take part in it with their opinions, projects and proposals. This will also give them the opportunity to form a students’ community where they can interact and establish functions for each member, as well as learn to be respectful and take into consideration others’ participation. Lyndsay Grant in her work “Using Wikis in Schools: A Case Study” states that, “As members of a community pursue a shared enterprise, people participate in a range of practices. It is through engaging in such practices that the group negotiates meanings of what it is to be a member of this community. This is the case whether the community is engaged in an explicitly learning-directed activity or in going about their daily tasks as part of a work community.” Work communities are of great importance since they help each of its members to look for the best actions in any activity, and Wiki allows students to get together in communities to obtain the best results in their learning process.
ReplyDeleteHow will I use Wiki with my students?
1. Get in groups of 3 or 4 people, assign each member a function and work on a project where their classmates can participate, e.g. a workshop to enhance their school performance.
2. Participate in a course wiki through adding links to articles, and all type of information that can help the course to improve.
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.
This video clearly illustrates the way that Wikis enable students to work collaboratively and efficiently while developing a writing task. In this regard, word processing software is another resource that has made a significant contribution to facilitate writing. In fact, word processing software allows students to brainstorm, exchange ideas, receive feedback and write collaboratively more easily, electronically via email (Let’s Go into the Classroom Constructivist Teaching with Technology). However, Wikis indeed maximize all the benefits learners might derive from word processing software by making it possible for them to work together without needing to email one another. This way, students can save a lot of time and synchronize their efforts.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me a writing project I assigned to one of my groups during the first term this year. Students were asked to research on the Internet about safety at work in order to prepare a written report. They worked in groups of four and each student had to research individually. Then, they were asked to compare and summarize their findings so that their written report was really concise and accurate. Unfortunately, students ended up undergoing unnecessary rounds of editing their information since they revised their works through emailing to one another. Moreover, sometimes they realized they used exactly the same websites, which in turn was not an efficient way of using their time since they had only two weeks to develop their projects and they had to include at least ten different websites. At the end, the content of their works was not really concise but more a choppy collection of facts and procedures. Nevertheless, now I think I cannot blame them. They should have had a Wiki to develop their project! Needless to mention a way of using Wikis in the classroom. Another use might be to keep a notes-from-class Wiki as suggested in Wikis: Easy Collaboration for All (page 66). This can be implemented as a class assignment not only to evaluate students but also to provide them with a learning tool they can use to reinforce certain topics.