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Wikis in the classroom
Well, I just completed my Masters in Educational Technology. I went through the ceremonies about two weeks ago and saw my final grades yesterday. I am still awaiting the actual diploma. Here is my e-portfolio
So, its time to take my research to the next level. I did my final project on wikis. I used them in my AVID class, since they need to practice 21st c skills and have a more flexible schedule for my experimentation. Now, I want to try this in my classroom.
One of the cool ideas I found in my research is students creating a wiki as an online textbook. The students contribute, edit, update, etc. It becomes a class resource. Since I find my "approved" textbook limited (It was approved by the district, not me) I think this might be a great way to have a resource for my students that has more information available.
As I work on my wikis, I'll post my progress here. I look forward to advice on how to handle the logistics of wikis with 160+ students. 30 seemed hard enough!
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I had a meeting with my academy. I tried to explain to them about wikis, although I don't think they will get it until they see it. One of the things my academy suggested was to only use the wiki with one class, the GATE class, as part of the differentiation. This might be a way to refine my technique and management systems before I turn 160+ onto the system. Something to consider...
We are also going to spend more time emphasizing Root Words, since those are a component for understanding content and academic vocabulary. That seems like a great wiki to start with. We can make a rootword library, perhaps cross-referencing by part (prefix, suffix, etc), language (Greek, Latin) or teacher (Mr Hales, Ms Smiley, etc).
At this point, I am leaning towards a simple alphabetical list that grows throughout the year based on the weekly assignments. It will include all the components of the weekly assignment: root, language, meaning, examples of content terms, and a picture. Since the academy will have four roots for the week, each week I will have a different four students responsible to add to the wiki. That is feasible with my limited in class computers. I will probably bring my scanner to school for the kids to scan their drawings to post. As the year progresses, we will have an online root word library. That would be a useful reference library for students, in our academy and others.
So, its time to take my research to the next level. I did my final project on wikis. I used them in my AVID class, since they need to practice 21st c skills and have a more flexible schedule for my experimentation. Now, I want to try this in my classroom.
One of the cool ideas I found in my research is students creating a wiki as an online textbook. The students contribute, edit, update, etc. It becomes a class resource. Since I find my "approved" textbook limited (It was approved by the district, not me) I think this might be a great way to have a resource for my students that has more information available.
As I work on my wikis, I'll post my progress here. I look forward to advice on how to handle the logistics of wikis with 160+ students. 30 seemed hard enough!
-------
I had a meeting with my academy. I tried to explain to them about wikis, although I don't think they will get it until they see it. One of the things my academy suggested was to only use the wiki with one class, the GATE class, as part of the differentiation. This might be a way to refine my technique and management systems before I turn 160+ onto the system. Something to consider...
We are also going to spend more time emphasizing Root Words, since those are a component for understanding content and academic vocabulary. That seems like a great wiki to start with. We can make a rootword library, perhaps cross-referencing by part (prefix, suffix, etc), language (Greek, Latin) or teacher (Mr Hales, Ms Smiley, etc).
At this point, I am leaning towards a simple alphabetical list that grows throughout the year based on the weekly assignments. It will include all the components of the weekly assignment: root, language, meaning, examples of content terms, and a picture. Since the academy will have four roots for the week, each week I will have a different four students responsible to add to the wiki. That is feasible with my limited in class computers. I will probably bring my scanner to school for the kids to scan their drawings to post. As the year progresses, we will have an online root word library. That would be a useful reference library for students, in our academy and others.
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Comment by Karolee Smiley on June 14, 2009 at 12:31pm
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Well, my research regarding other teachers use is all on pdf form. My AVID students created a wiki on careers. It was my first exploration of wikis, and we had some technical and time problems. And as the nature of student work, some products are of higher quality and are more reliable sources than others.
You can see what the AVID students did at: http://avid08.pbworks.com/. Unfortunately, what was going to be an ongoing project, with the next generation of AVID students adding and refining the site isn't going to happen since I am not teaching AVID next year.
I am hoping my science kids can start a science wiki and each year we can add and refine the site.
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Comment by Jessica Fries-Gaither on June 11, 2009 at 3:23pm -
Karolee - I think this is a fabulous idea! I shared some resources that I know of on the discussion page. Keep us posted on this!
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Comment by Mary Henton on June 11, 2009 at 3:07pm -
Interesting to think about students creating their own online textbook. Is the idea that they create a textbook for another group of students? To help them organize their own learning? To reflect their own process of learning? Do you have any links or examples to share?
M
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