Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Wiki

After wathcing the Common Craft video about Wiki's I seemed to understand the concept better. The example about the camping trip made sense and I liked the way it was used to share ideas. The wiki worked well for changing that camping list and getting 4 people involved.
I read a few of the wiki articles as well. I was interested in what people had to say as to how wikis are benficial in a classroom. The ideas given were connections, creativity, engagement, interpersonal skills (developing team work), and writing. I feel that as an educator of young children they need to write with paper and pencil. Next, the children could edit their work, or work with an adult or peer to edit their work. Discussion would be needed and the child's imput can be used. Children are still learning how to write so I would not want them to edit each others work independently incorrectly on a wiki page.
Another acticle states that wikis are great for team building. In my opinion children need to work with one another face to face rather than on a computer to pracrtice cooperation and collaboration. I see this idea working for older children who have to collaborate on a project. If I were to give a group project the children would do it in class not on a computer.
Wiki's are new to me and I feel that with more hands on experience I will have a better understanding. I would like to see more elementary examples in action so I could have more ideas...

2 comments:

  1. I agree with you about wanting to see more examples of elementary wikis. I think they are great tools to use with older students as well as for teachers to use with things such as, lesson plan ideas and best practices.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Megan I certainly understand where you are coming from. The idea seems great for older kids, but to use IN any elementary classroom may be difficult. We work so much on working appropriately in groups, etc. The kids need the face to face contact. I do think its a great tool for an at-home project as long as there were clear guidelines and expectations for the students to follow.

    ReplyDelete