Wikis
To me, wikis are kind of like mini websites; one can share information and tools about a specific subject. While exploring different wikis, I noticed different organizational pieces about each one; some were similar and some were different from others I have seen. One of the wikis I visited was called Code Blue, which teaches sixth grade students about human body systems. This wiki gives many links to different websites to explore information about body systems and seems to be organized by a block system with different teachers; I felt this was a great way for teachers to collaborate and share resources through one source. During my examination of different wikis, I really liked one called FHS Wolves Den. This wiki stood out to me because of its organization; it includes information from what the students did in class that day, the day before, and so on. There’s also a menu on the side that divides information and links up by the books and literature read in class. This type of layout makes sense to me; however, I was disappointed to see that the class has moved to Moodle. I wonder what the reasoning behind their move was. I’ve used Moodle before, but I would like to know what it has to offer that a wiki cannot. One wiki that I visited, Grazing for Digital Natives, was more geared for professional development for teachers. I like the welcoming Voki on the homepage and the idea behind the wiki itself. The Table of Contents doesn’t seem fully developed, but there are some helpful resources connected to the topics listed.
The one thing I don’t see in a lot of wikis, including the ones mentioned above, is attractive graphic design. Because I am a visual learner, I feel the need to include visual aids and graphics to grab the attention of my students. I know some of the websites embedded within the wikis include graphics conducive to learning; however, I feel as though the actual homepages of the wikis don’t offer eye-catching graphics students are typically used to on a computer. I hope to capture a more inviting environment on the wikis in which I create.
I think I can use educational wikis in many different ways. Originally, I had planned on using a class wiki for announcements, assignments, and project information; although I feel I still want to use my class wiki for these things, I now would like to explore using wikis to teach professional development to other educators as well. I think creating one for technology uses for the teachers in my school would prove to be a useful tool for many. In addition, I will continue to explore wikis for my personal learning as well.
Productivity and Collaborative Tools
Productivity tools support student learning in my classroom. I love the fact that there are so many from which to choose; I feel as though the variety allows student use to occur across multiple learning levels and interests. It seems as though every time I explore a new tool, there’s always a kid I think of that would enjoy the particular tool. Students appreciate learning new tools, but also being able to choose from the multitude of options when using them.
Google is awesome. I cannot reiterate this enough to my fellow teachers who have yet to try the educational apps Google has to offer. Google Classroom, Drive, Mail, Calendar, Draw, and others work together seamlessly in and out of the classroom. The fact that other websites allow Gmail log-ins is also convenient and easy for students to use. For example, students can create a ThingLink account through their Gmail account as opposed to creating a whole new username and password. In my classroom, we collaborate through creating spreadsheets for the school store to determine wholesale prices, retail prices, the profit per item, the number of items sold (for the week), the weekly gross, and the weekly net. Prior to Google Drive, we created these spreadsheets through Excel; however, Excel didn’t give us the collaborative environment that Google Sheets does. Students can work simultaneously on the same document and learn from one another. We do the same for Google Docs, Draw, Google Forms, etc. With these tools, differentiation is easy to occur as long as you group your students accordingly. These types of tools also allow for students to work quietly and together, while you have a small group of students or provide individualized instruction when needed. On the Pedagogy Wheel, Google Apps for Education can easily fall in the stage of creation if given an assignment that allows for it to take place. I LOVE Google!
The example below is a Google Sheets spreadsheet that a fifth grade students shared with me and also turned in through Google Classroom as an assignment. The assignment was to determine the statistics of the weekly sales at our school store. Through this activity, students learned how their learning applies to real-life applications.
I explored 30boxes.com for a collaborative calendar tool. This website/tool is very easy to use; however, I believe I still prefer Google Calendar. This could be an alternative tool for students to choose to use if they do not find Google Calendar as user friendly as I do. This tool is more recalling facts, according to the Pedagogy Wheel.
Coggle is a new tool I learned to use; this tool is very easy to use and would be great for students who need to visually lay out ideas or concepts they are learning. This tool could fit under recalling or understanding on the Pedagogy Wheel.