wiki and blogs

WIKI AND BLOGS

By Lindsay Skidmore

Technology in Education

Menu --- Click on the arrow next to the Article

The Hyper-Connected Classroom By Will Richardson

Learning with Blogs and Wikis By Bill Ferriter

Exploring educational use of blogs in U.S. education By Wang Hong

Conclusion By Lindsay Skidmore

Click here to read the article

The Hyper-Connected Classroom

Next

“The Hyper-Connected Classroom” is an article written by Will Richardson. The main purpose for this article is to show how reading and writing has changed and is changing. The author refers to the internet as the “read/write web”. He talks mostly about all of the ways the internet has changed out reading and writing. He talks about how the internet allows us to write for an real audience. He explains that this audience is able to respond back to writer through blogs, wikis, and other internet sources. Will Richardson also explained people read items differently when using the internet. He talked about how everything is linked to some thing else. He explained how easy it is for him to start on one reading and quickly be diverted to another thing. Before he knows it he is reading something on a completely different topic.


He also goes on to say that the internet allows people to publish their works easier. He names sites like blogs, wikis, and YouTube as just a few areas to publish ones work. The author also takes time to explain the benefits of using such sites in the classroom. He talks about how group projects can easily be done on wiki sites. These sites allow all of the group members to have a voice in the project. In fact he states, “ Wikis are an amazing tool for allowing groups of authors to co-construct content, and there’s no better example of that than Wikipedia.” (Richardson p. 44) He also talks about how he thinks that teachers should be taught more of these technologies, so that they are able to use them successfully in their classrooms. Overall, this article was about how technology is affecting the way people are reading and writing; and how teachers should adapt to these new ways of thinking and learning.

Next


I really enjoyed this article. I know and realize that the internet is rapidly becoming a every day essential in today's society. However, I have never really sat down and thought about how much is changing because of it. Without reading this article I would have never thought about the impact it has on reading and writing. When the author talked about how a person’s writing skills were less professional and more casual due to the increase in wikis and blogs. This made me think back to a time where I was reading a rough draft for one of my friends. While I was reading through it there were little things like @ in place of at. After I brought it to her attention she explained how she is in a habit of shortening words to slang words because of her use in messaging and e-mailing. On a positive note, this article also made me realize how easy it is to access so many reading materials via the internet. It also made me think about how easy it is to communicate with people from all over the world. My main thought while reading this article is that there are some downsides to the internet, laziness for example, the good things outweigh them by a lot.

Menu


Learning with Blogs and Wikis

Next

The article, “Learning with Blogs and Wikis” was written by Bill Ferriter. In this article the author talked mostly about the importance of using blogs and wikis as learning devices for teachers. He talks about how teachers must take furthering education classes. The author states, “The few moments we can steal for professional development are usually spent in sessions with experts pitching the latest silver bullet. Teachers rarely get to self-select learning opportunities, pursue professional passions, or engage in meaningful, ongoing conversations about instruction.” (Ferriter p. 34 and 35) He goes on to say that the way this could be done is through reading and writing wikis and blogs.


When he first brings this point up with some of his colleagues the first thing that is always said is that they do not have enough time. The author goes on to explain RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feed readers. This is a tool that allows the reader to shift through all of the information at a quick rate. Bill Ferriter then goes into how to get started reading blogs. He suggests that one starts by using a feed reader, dedicate a few minutes a day to look through the changing information, tell others how much one enjoys reading the blogs, and share the blogs that intrigue a person the most with their friends and colleagues. He then goes on to explain how to start writing blogs. The biggest tip he has in doing this is to explore the different blog services. The ones he list are typepad, blogger, and edublogs. The author then talks about how to start writing Wikis, and how they can be used in a work environment. He states, “Work with your peers to create a collaborative writing wiki.” (Ferriter p. 37) He also list some good sites to get started using; PB wiki, Wikispaces, and Wet Paint. The authors main purpose to writing this article was to show how blogs and wikis can be used as a learning tool for teachers in their professional growth.

Next


I found this article very interesting. While reading the other two articles I thought mostly about how wikis and blogs could be used for teachers. After reading this article I realized that blogs and wikis could also be used as a learning tool for teachers. I was very interested after reading this that I went and looked up some of the blogs and wikis that were mentioned in the article. I found these sites very helpful. Several of them were filled with ideas on a variety of topics; classroom management, craft ideas, lesson plans, and even seating arrangements. I was also impressed with some of the wiki sites I came across. Some of them were of teachers who worked in the same school. These teachers were bouncing ideas off of each other, and coming up with concepts that the school could work on together. One of the schools were planning a school wide medieval month. During this month the all of the activities for the students did revolved around medieval activities. After reading though this I realized how easy it was for these teachers to plan this activity using the wiki site. Overall, this article has taught me the importance of furthering my education. It has also made me realize how easily this can be done by using blogs and wikis.

Menu


Exploring Educational use of Blogs in U.S. Education

Next

The article “Exploring Educational use of Blogs in U.S. Education” was written by Wang Hong. This author wrote this article with the intent to compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of blogs being used in the United States education. I have bulleted out the advantages and disadvantages on the next slide. Wang Hong also gives different examples of the types of blogs. The two main types that he hit on were Edublogs (Education Blogs) and LibLogs (Library blogs). He also talked about video blogs, text blogs, and photo blogs. He also went on to tell some examples of how blogs are used in education. One example was of a teacher on a trip to China. This teacher used the blog to let her students know where she was and what she was doing. She used it as a geography lesson.


Makes people engaged Makes students and other

want to learn Blogs are simple to do Blogs can be permanent Blogs allow for a sense of

ownership “Blogs allow users and

readers to respond, create, and to connect.” (Hong p. 34)

Blogs can allow for inaccurate information.

Blogs can be biased. If not cited correctly blogs

can cause intellectual property issues.

Bloggers have the ability to delete their blogs. This will make it difficult to go back to ones work.

Advantages Disadvantages

Next


While reading the article, “Exploring Educational use of blogs in the U.S. Education” I thought of several different things. I thought of the truth behind the idea that a blog allows people to be engaged. While we did our blogs in our class I found it easier to sit down and read what my classmates wrote then to read an article over the same topic. I also found that my classmates tended to explain things in a less wordy way. Which made it easier to pay attention to in the long run. I also agreed with the author when he said that it was quite simple to make a blog. When I first started the class I was a little worried about the blog, posting, making attachments, and links. I soon found out that it really was not that hard. The one thing that I found the most interesting in the article was the example of the teacher using blogs in her classroom when she was vacationing in China. It made me think of lessons that could be taught through a blog like this one; geography, math, history, spelling, and the list just goes on. I would have never thought to use a blog in this way. Thanks to this article I have several ideas on how to use blogs in the classroom.

Menu

Conclusion

Bill, Ferriter (2009, Febuary). Learning with blogs and wikis. Education Leadership, Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational_leadership/feb09/vol66/num05/Learning_with_Blogs_and_Wikis.aspx

Hong, Wang (2008, October). Exploring educational use of blogs in U.S. education. US-China Education Review, 5, Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/42/fb/cc.pdf

Richardson, Will (2008). The hyper-connected classroom. Retrieved April 14, 2009, from http://www.nais.org/publications/ismagazinearticle.cfm?ItemNumber=150494

I learned a lot from these three articles. I learned that wikis and blogs have effected the way I am going to teach in the future. I have learned that wikis and blogs can be used to teach my students several subjects in several different ways. I also learned that wikis and blogs can be used for my professional learning. In the future I do believe that I will use blogs and wikis in my professional carrier in the future as a teacher. I will also recommend them both to my colleagues.