Today my tute was all about wikis and weebly and how they can be used in a meaningful learning context. "A wiki is an online space where users and guests can edit, modify, add, remove information with intuitive editing tools.
Wiki has turned out to be much more than I'd imagined! That is not to say that I didn't imagine a lot. These are the design principles I sought to satisfy with the first release of Wiki. -- Ward Cunningham
Key features of a wiki: (from http://wiki.org )
My understanding of a wiki, is that it is an online tool that can be added to, changed, enhanced and modified to suit the desired outcome of the user. To me wikis seem like a very valuable tool whenit comes to children and learning. However I do believe that in the Early Phase of learning it would not be as successful, unless there was alot of support and a high level of literacy ability involved. I believe that wikis could be used from possibly grade three and higher. With this in mind I start to wonder how I could alter it to cater for younger learners.....
Then it struck me!!!Younger students can gain alot from the use of wikis, it would just mean more teacher interaction and leadership. I believe that with planning and exploration this tool would be great in the classroom, and would be a great way to engage learners in their learning journey. View my contribution to peer learning and reflection about wikis.
As well as wikis I was introduced to another learning tool - weebly.com , weebly.com is similar to a wiki however with a weebly account noone else can edit the posts of the user. A weebly account is also very similar to a blog where it allows you to enter text about a given topic and add links that other users can read and view.
I believe that both of these tools are great when it comes to thinking collaboratively and related to the engagement theory - a framework for technology-based teaching and learning by Greg Kearsley & Ben Shneiderman.
Their theory states that the engagement theory is that students must be meaningfully engaged in learning activities through interaction with others and worthwhile tasks. I believe that this theory matches the wikis and weebly tools that I have experienced in this tute.
Hi Kirsti,
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to say that I agree with you with how you related the engagement theory to the use of wiki's and weebly tools in the classroom. These days there are so many more ways students can be engaged with learning compared to when I was at school. Great ideas!!
Thank you Laura!! And yes I agree!!!I was oftenly 'bored' and un-engaged throughout my school experience. I also believe that if we can ENGAGE these students and they are learning through technology = wikis we are also creating an environment for constructivist learning (social learning). Technology + Peers = Engaged Learning!!!!
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