Jacqueline's Wiki Reflection
This week’s assignment took much time and patience. I definitely liked the idea of collaborating with my learning group using another type of technology, the wiki, but it was very complicated considering I have barely used a wiki before and neither had the majority of my group members. I believe in the future it will be much easier to contribute to my group’s wiki since I know exactly what to do now. I learned much about wikis through the resources that were given and the tutorials I had watched in order to edit and save on a wiki. I am glad that there was a group member that had a little more experience than the rest of us and had put together and became the leader of our wiki. Now it is up to myself and the rest of the group in maintaining the collaboration on our wiki.
In the near future I believe it would be a great idea to introduce the wiki into my classroom. Our class wiki would be for student collaboration on group projects and/or discussions. Before I open my students up to wikis I must first introduce how to create and maintain a wiki, this is one area I found that our Learning Community had struggled in. After introducing, I would pick a leader for each group to help modify and assist in setting up the wikis. A leader that is tech savvy and one who is responsible. Depending on the topic of discussion I would grade every student based on the amount of collaboration and/or participation they had done for each particular assignment. I would also make known to my students that each wiki will not be open to the public and will only be used among the students in our classroom. Along with this, I will provide my students with a list of rules and guidelines all students must abide by while sharing in the wiki.
All in all, I think a classroom wiki would be a great idea. With much practice and much time I know using a wiki would be a great way to open my students up to other ways in which to collaborate with people. The technology in the future may change but the basis on technology stays the same and as always it is great to have some type of technology background. As a teacher it is important to prepare my students for the future and introducing my students to a wiki is one step further in preparing them.
Derico's Wiki Reflection This week’s assignment was an eye-opening experience in many ways. Rarely is there some type of technology that any of my Walden colleagues do not have extensive experience with. However, this seemed to be the case when creating our wiki pages. Needless to say, it made for some nervous, uncomfortable, and frustrating moments. It was also one of the best experiences I have had so far in my master’s program.
Initially, there was a bit of confusion as to what wiki to contribute to? I received several invites to join different wikis, but once the groups were clarified, it became clear as to what wiki I would contribute to. I found the wiki was extremely easy to edit, and the pages were easy to navigate to and from. I believe the hardest part about a wiki, is actually creating it. I am sure if each group had a member that had a wealth of experience using wikis, the process would have went a lot smoother in the beginning. In the future I think that is the approach to take, if possible, to take away some of the anxiety and nervousness for many of the people involved in this process. While viewing wikis created by other groups, it seemed that our wikis were very similar in how they were set up. Pages were set up in a similar fashion, resources were organized in a similar manner, and the rating systems were similar. Also, many of the teacher resources listed were similar across all three groups. That speaks well for the resources that were listed by multiple groups.
Perhaps the most profound insight I gained from this week’s assignment, was the knowledge on how I can implement wikis into my classroom instruction. I had no experience contributing to wikis, prior to this week, and usually steered my students away from them when searching for information for my class. However, I now realize that wikis certainly have a place in the classroom. They can be used to collaboratively work on projects, to gather resources, or as another outlet for discussions. I am certainly much more adept at teaching my students how to create and organize a wiki after this week, and will only get more knowledgeable the more I contributed to my groups wiki throughout this course. I will probably train a group of four to five students, and have them be the experts in each group. This way they can help their peers work through problems if I am not readily available, or helping another group. I would also set guidelines as for how much each person should be contributing to the wiki. I do not want one or two people doing most of the work, while other group members barely contribute. I would also establish a climate of respect and courtesy from all class members. Students will need to understand that any material posted on the wiki should be age and school appropriate. Lastly, I will remind students to be careful when working on a web based document such as a wiki. It is easy to delete another person’s work. Although this work can be recovered, it can be frustrating for the person that had his or her work removed. Students will also need to understand the importance of vetting the information they place on the wiki as well. It is crucial that this information be correct, and obtained from credible sources. I am excited that I get to keep contributing to my group’s wiki. However, I am even more excited about implementing wikis into my classroom after standardized testing this school year.
This week’s assignment took much time and patience. I definitely liked the idea of collaborating with my learning group using another type of technology, the wiki, but it was very complicated considering I have barely used a wiki before and neither had the majority of my group members. I believe in the future it will be much easier to contribute to my group’s wiki since I know exactly what to do now. I learned much about wikis through the resources that were given and the tutorials I had watched in order to edit and save on a wiki. I am glad that there was a group member that had a little more experience than the rest of us and had put together and became the leader of our wiki. Now it is up to myself and the rest of the group in maintaining the collaboration on our wiki.
In the near future I believe it would be a great idea to introduce the wiki into my classroom. Our class wiki would be for student collaboration on group projects and/or discussions. Before I open my students up to wikis I must first introduce how to create and maintain a wiki, this is one area I found that our Learning Community had struggled in. After introducing, I would pick a leader for each group to help modify and assist in setting up the wikis. A leader that is tech savvy and one who is responsible. Depending on the topic of discussion I would grade every student based on the amount of collaboration and/or participation they had done for each particular assignment. I would also make known to my students that each wiki will not be open to the public and will only be used among the students in our classroom. Along with this, I will provide my students with a list of rules and guidelines all students must abide by while sharing in the wiki.
All in all, I think a classroom wiki would be a great idea. With much practice and much time I know using a wiki would be a great way to open my students up to other ways in which to collaborate with people. The technology in the future may change but the basis on technology stays the same and as always it is great to have some type of technology background. As a teacher it is important to prepare my students for the future and introducing my students to a wiki is one step further in preparing them.
Derico's Wiki Reflection
This week’s assignment was an eye-opening experience in many ways. Rarely is there some type of technology that any of my Walden colleagues do not have extensive experience with. However, this seemed to be the case when creating our wiki pages. Needless to say, it made for some nervous, uncomfortable, and frustrating moments. It was also one of the best experiences I have had so far in my master’s program.
Initially, there was a bit of confusion as to what wiki to contribute to? I received several invites to join different wikis, but once the groups were clarified, it became clear as to what wiki I would contribute to. I found the wiki was extremely easy to edit, and the pages were easy to navigate to and from. I believe the hardest part about a wiki, is actually creating it. I am sure if each group had a member that had a wealth of experience using wikis, the process would have went a lot smoother in the beginning. In the future I think that is the approach to take, if possible, to take away some of the anxiety and nervousness for many of the people involved in this process. While viewing wikis created by other groups, it seemed that our wikis were very similar in how they were set up. Pages were set up in a similar fashion, resources were organized in a similar manner, and the rating systems were similar. Also, many of the teacher resources listed were similar across all three groups. That speaks well for the resources that were listed by multiple groups.
Perhaps the most profound insight I gained from this week’s assignment, was the knowledge on how I can implement wikis into my classroom instruction. I had no experience contributing to wikis, prior to this week, and usually steered my students away from them when searching for information for my class. However, I now realize that wikis certainly have a place in the classroom. They can be used to collaboratively work on projects, to gather resources, or as another outlet for discussions. I am certainly much more adept at teaching my students how to create and organize a wiki after this week, and will only get more knowledgeable the more I contributed to my groups wiki throughout this course. I will probably train a group of four to five students, and have them be the experts in each group. This way they can help their peers work through problems if I am not readily available, or helping another group. I would also set guidelines as for how much each person should be contributing to the wiki. I do not want one or two people doing most of the work, while other group members barely contribute. I would also establish a climate of respect and courtesy from all class members. Students will need to understand that any material posted on the wiki should be age and school appropriate. Lastly, I will remind students to be careful when working on a web based document such as a wiki. It is easy to delete another person’s work. Although this work can be recovered, it can be frustrating for the person that had his or her work removed. Students will also need to understand the importance of vetting the information they place on the wiki as well. It is crucial that this information be correct, and obtained from credible sources. I am excited that I get to keep contributing to my group’s wiki. However, I am even more excited about implementing wikis into my classroom after standardized testing this school year.