I read and reflected on this article from the ITSE (International Society for Technology in Education) website and also used Citation Machine to cite the journal in APA format.
Lawlor, J. (2010). Let the kids do the work. Learning and Leading with Technology, 37(6), Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Publications/LL/LLIssues/Volume3720092010/MarchAprilNo6/Let_the_Kids_Do_the_Work.htm
A teacher from LA was debating on going to a Web 2.0 workshop. After much deliberation he decided to go and in the end he was so glad he did! He came back from the workshop inspired and ready to create his own classroom Wiki.
His first class assignment was to simply log on, read the posted poem, answer an essay question and respond to one other student's essay. He was surprised to see that a class of 25 students had a total of 472 replies! These replies turned out to be very interesting thoughts and ideas! He was pleased to see the outcome in participation as well as the effect it had in making poetry discussions more direct.
The online technology of Wiki met the students on their level. It was "meeting kids where they live- online." By doing this the kids responded better to this assignment than that of traditional homework.
This new technology created a community of writers that in turn helped each other with their assignments. One student wrote a quick, two sentence essay on a poem. When the other students in the class read this, they advised her to rewrite her response. She revised it three times before posting the final draft. The beauty of it all is that the teacher did not have to say a thing. This was all administered by her classmates. The instant feedback allowed her the ability to revise and re post in real time and still get full credit for the assignment.
There were several instances in which the students did the teachers work. When he forgot to create pages for a specific assignment one of the students figured out how to do this and created it for the class that night. By morning the teacher was once again surprised to see the work had already been done.
Another advantage to having a Wiki for your classroom is that it allows all students to have a voice. Those that may be more reluctant to speak up in class have no reserves when it comes to cyberspace. There seems to be a feeling that voices carry equal weight when projected through the web.
The whole idea of creating a Wiki for your class is that teachers do less and students do more. If we let the kids do the work, they will in turn create a very intriguing learning environment for themselves and for each other.
QUESTIONS: What is the definition of a Wiki?
Wiki is a Hawaiian word that means quick. A wiki web-based application allows a group of users to set up pages where they can edit, and contribute through a web browser in real time. It is a fascinating technology that is becoming more and more popular with organizations. The information on a wiki is available to anyone through the World Wide Web, which has made it very appealing to business as well.
In what ways will you incorporate Wiki in your classroom?
It seems very logical to create homework assignments through Wiki as well as post comments, notes,essays and edits. It would probably be wise to research the most effective ways to use Wiki in the classroom to get optimal use with it. I'm sure the students would be a great resource for navigating and updating the class Wiki as most seem to know more about the web than the average adult! :)
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