Moving forward to embrace it!

I found an article while I was looking for a journal article that outlined the different ways to use a wiki. Last week, I didn’t like wikis, but after reading this article I have discovered a new respect for them as tools for building a learning community.

I had always thought of wikis as a tools best used for building a resource bank. That was the first way I was introduced to them and after a few years of use, that was the only way I could see this tool. The article I found listed five purposes for wikis and two of these concepts sparked ideas for further potential. Presenation wikis were defined as a way to share a draft of a document; this format would provide an inwardly focused toward the construction of an individual project. I can see this form being a great way for students to offer peer review of essays. Students seem to wait until the end of the assignment period to write their essays and then once you have a rough draft, they don’t make half the changes I suggest. I think it may feel too much like starting over when I give them feedback on what they may need to change.

If they were part of a collaborative process with other students making suggestions on their draft documents, I think they would be more likely to make changes. By getting feedback from other students in real-time as they write, it would build community in the classroom without having to carve out the extra time from class hours. We have so much material to cover while in class that it often feels that we can’t really take the time for students to read and then comment on one another’s papers. The other wiki format that they mentioned also allowed students to interact in different way to share ideas for problem solving.

In essence, what this pointed out to me was that even though we may have ideas about what tools can do within the classroom, there are always ways that the tools can be re-interpreted to fit a new purpose. I think that it is these pre-conceived ideas of the tools are, how they can be used, and the ways we can use them in the classroom are the same notions that affect the adoption of the new technologies themselves. What I am realizing is that no teaching form can be stagnant. No teacher can grow without changing to meet the adapting needs of students and that includes constantly looking for new tools and different tools to do a better job. If I had a magic wand, I would change the idea that any one school of thought had it “right” when it came to education and technology. By embracing new technology, we are just as likely to get stuck in our ideas of what effective teaching might be as those who are still photocopying worksheets. Both ideas have valid points, but neither can remain the same indefinitely.

With all these tools available, what are the implications for changing the way we work, teach and learn? What is preventing us from such changes? If you could wave a magic wand, what would you change and why?

Those Wacky Wikis

Wiki’s are not really my favorite tools. While they have a lot of flexibility and options for collaboration and growth, I think I’m just too much of a control-freak to feel comfortable with all the freedom other users have.

A lot of my friends and co-workers are very comfortable with technology, so a wiki has worked well for our Web projects at the office and I think a wiki about book reviews will be good for the group I invite. Some of my friend, well one, keeps a database of all the books she has read so that she doesn’t buy the same books again and again. She should be able to just import most of that information to the wiki if she wants to share. Wikis are a great place to share digital information in any format with a large or small group.

You’d think I’d like wikis since so much of my life happens in digital spaces, but that’s not really the case.

I work with a wide variety of ages and skill-levels in my job and I’ve found that the same is true in my classes. While it seems like a wiki is really straight forward and easy to use. One of the articles on eLearning Tools Wiki, also highlights the fact that some people will not feel at ease operating in this kind of environment. I’m working on a project right now with a group of other employees from across the district and we have tried out a number of online tools to help us collaborate. There are a few members of our group who have given-up using a few of the options and won’t do anything but e-mail.

A wiki would have been a great way to share ideas and work in progress, but if everyone isn’t comfortable with technology, I think it would be a scary proposition for them. I especially think the idea that they could delete or over-write someone else’s idea would freeze these people out of the process.

For those who are natives to the digital world, a wiki can be an engaging and creative environment. For those who are still making the emigration to the digital world, and there are many who are bring forcibly moved there, wikis are more likely to be frightening overwhelming than inspiring.

Assessment for Learning

I’ve had potential employees’ send me links to their ePortfolios as part of their résumés. Some really highlighted their talents and skills, but the ones that stand out in my mind are those that REALLY turned me off a potential employee because of misspellings or grammatical errors. This was when hiring for a position where writing was a key function and requirement for the job.

My husband administers a digital imaging program at one of the DCCCD’s other colleges and I could see where this kind of ePortfolio would be a great opportunity for his students. Right now he uses a club web site to give students to highlight their design work. Student’s look forward to finding pieces for the site. Motivation, that was the potential piece of the ePortfolio and assessment for learning ideal that interested me the most.

Working with developmental writing students, motivation can be a very real challenge. The student’s don’t get college credit for the course, but still have to pay college tuition and it may take them several levels before they can move on to reach their goals. Finding ways to keep them motivated is one of the key reasons I work to mix lectures, assignments and activities and technology is one of the tools we are working into the mix to keep students moving forward. I don’t think that portfolio assessment would work for students at this level.

I think that ePortfolios are much better suited to students who are at a higher level in their learning. For those who aren’t already in a technology field and those who are at a development level, could be easily overwhelmed by the scope of such a large project. I do think that the ePortfolios would be a great tool for use in service-learning projects. Too often in the reflection sessions for service-learning there are those who don’t want to speak out, so the portfolios would give all students the same level of anonymity so that they could speak freely about their experiences.

So far, personally, I really like the potential that the online portfolio offers for putting my learning into practice. In putting this information “out there” on the Web, you have to think clearly and concisely about the image that you will put forward.

Reflections #3 - Matter of trust

This week on Facebook everyone has been passing around the “definition” of their name that they found on Urbandictionary.com. That exercise seems to fit well with this week’s reflection. The definitions are very obviously input by those who bear that name or those with a grudge against someone by that name.

I knew that it was pretty easy to put anything that you wanted out on the Web. As someone who works with design, I had often used that as a simple clue when I looked at the ‘legitimacy’ of a Web site, but this week’s exercises proved that’s not a valid test. If someone has a lot of time, a lot of talent, and just the funds needed to buy a domain name, he or she can build a site that looks like a reliable source.

I usually stick with well-known sources for any of my Web searches, looking within library sites and trying to find lots of sources for comparison. More than anything else, I use the Internet for entertainment. I do spend time reading about media trends and advertising ideas, and I use sites for teaching tools that I use in my class. Most of the sites I use though are recommended by people that I trust and I never use just one source. Today’s students are using searches in their schoolwork in elementary school, but I had to tell my daughter that Wikpedia wasn’t the only source she should use for research even if it was the only one her teacher recommended.

For a critical look, I took a site that I’ve used a lot in the past. Mousesavers.com is a site that I’ve used to prep for our last two family vacations to Disney World. It’s a great site for trip planning, money saving ideas, and reviews of places to stay. It even keeps up-to-date on attractions that are closed for repair. It was one of the first sites that came up in Internet search for Disney discounts and many of the other sites I visited referred to MouseSavers.com as a good research source. The history shows the site growing from 8 Pages in 2001 to 224 pages in 2005, and shows how often the site is updated throughout each year. It is a personal Web site, but Mary Waring, the site author tells you that up front.

As for the de.li.cious, I’m not sure yet how helpful it will be. I have my home computer, but the kids take that over most of the time. I have both a PC and Mac for work, but I use my Mac laptop 80 percent of the time and take it home most nights. I use it most as the computer that I love so most of my bookmarks are on that machine, so it may take a while to see if there’s a benefit for using the outside source for bookmarking my own favorites. I think the networking is more likely to be useful but I haven’t been able to play with it much as yet.