Blogs
Having used blogs for a few weeks now, we were asked to reflect on the uses of blogs in our teaching context.
Using blogs to write up my reflections of each week’s activities has proven to be a very useful tool. By reflecting on the activities in a blog, I have been encouraged to use higher order thinking. As reflecting is a complex process requiring significant skill in analysis, evaluation and synthesis, my learning has extrapolated over the previous 5 weeks! As a teacher I know blogs could become very useful to use not only for myself but also for my students to reflect on their own learning. However for me to ask students to journal in a blog I need to consider ways to scaffold their thinking to reflect the learning they are required to demonstrate. From the way ICT's is constructed, I've discovered that this can be achieved through thinking tools (PMI's, DeBono's etc) and also carefully constructed question sequences.
"By using a thinking routine, you are not only supporting your students in developing the kinds of thinking you are expecting, and scaffolding it for them, but you are providing them with tools that should become second-nature, and therefore genuinely routines for thinking for life." (ICT's reading; Group 1 Technologies, 2011)
Another use for blogs in my teaching is that students could post their assignments on blogs, which would allow their peers to comment and analyse their assignments. A SWOT analysis on the use of blogs I participated in can be found here. SWOT analysis of BLOGS in Teaching
Wiki's
Over the past 3 weeks, I've become more familiar with the concept of the wiki. I can see the potential for them to be used as a learning tool as it promotes collaboration and constructivism. I participated in a SWOT analysis regarding the use of wiki's on Jullienne Morrison's wiki page.
"Key features of a wiki have been identified by wiki.org: (from http://wiki.org )
Open - Should a page be found to be incomplete or poorly organized, any reader can edit it as they see fit.
Incremental - Pages can cite other pages, including pages that have not been written yet.
Organic - The structure and text content of the site are open to editing and evolution.
Universal - The mechanisms of editing and organizing are the same as those of writing so that any writer is automatically an editor and organizer.
Observable - Activity within the site can be watched and reviewed by any other visitor to the site.
Convergent - Duplication can be discouraged or removed by finding and citing similar or related content.
Trust - This is the most important thing in a wiki. Trust the people, trust the process, and enable trust-building. Everyone controls and checks the content. Wiki relies on the assumption that most readers have good intentions.
Fun - Everybody can contribute; nobody has to.
Sharing - of information, knowledge, experience, ideas, views...
Interaction - This enables guest interaction.
Collaboration - A good collaboration tool, both synchronously and asynchronously.
Social Networks - Its power for supporting collaboration is great."
(ICT's reading; Group 1 Technologies, 2011)
I believe that a wiki would be a great eLearning tool in my classroom, especially for Biology. A well constructed wiki space would benefit my students greatly as they could log on and collaborate ideas on a given topic, the wiki could have different pages for different topics and throughout the term, the students will create a great online resource for themselves to utilise for assignments and exam preparation. By using a suitable thinking tool I will promote higher order thinking as well as a broad, collaborative and in depth view of a given topic.
Below is a SWOT analysis found on Juliennes page linked above, and a PMI analsysis on wiki's
Website
Unlike wikis and blogs that are owned by students who can add content and ideas, content on a website is exclusive to the creator. For that reason, the students can be assured that the content is from a reliable source and suitable for use in assignment work, as it has been added by me, the teacher. It was asked that we reflect on using website creation in our own teaching context as well. We used a website called Weebly to create our own educational website and get a feel for how we could use it in our own teaching context. As with the blog and wiki, I participated in a SWOT analysis of using websites in education as a teacher. Found at the bottom of this page. SWOT Analysis of Websites in Education
After participating in the SWOT I believe that as a teacher, creating a website dedicated to my students and my subject would be of great benefit. I could provide links to all the expert knowledge I know, and make it readily available to my students. I could also put up interactive games for students to play to increase their knowledge of the subject matter. I had a play with weebly and created a very basic web page I called Rosey's Corner;
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As you can see it is very basic but it gave me an idea of how I could present activities for my students, I feel if I dedicated time to creating a fully operational and in depth website, I could transform the way my students learn. However I would not use weebly as a problem I encountered was that I couldn't log back in to edit my website after I logged off. I even tried having my user name and password sent to me and it failed everytime! I've used iWeb for Macintosh before and it is a great way to create very engaging and good looking websites. When I become a teacher I would definitely consider buying a domain name and creating my own website in iWeb for my students to access and gather knowledge and resources from.
Michael
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