The Effective Use of Blogging and Wikis Chris Chandler “Do not confine your children to your own learning, for they were born in another time.” - Chinese Proverb

“Students today depend too much upon ink. They don’t know how to use a pen knife to sharpen a pencil. Pen and ink will never replace the pencil.” - National Association of Teachers, 1907

“The Internet is not a great tool for teaching. The Internet pales in comparison to the hype surrounding it. People think that children can think of any topic and pull up a wealth of information on it, but that is not the case. The information in a library is what people seem to expect, but nobody has the time to transcribe entire libraries onto computers. There is nothing on the Internet that is incredibly beneficial to education, yet we continue to waste money on it.” -The Monterrey County Herald, 1999

Definitions Blog – a web publishing tool that allows authors to quickly and easily self publish text, artwork, links to other blogs or websites, and a whole array of other content. They can be similar to a diary or journal and feature comments from people other than the author. Wiki - a Web site that allows visitors to make changes, contributions, or corrections. Wikipedia is an example of a wiki.

Why should teachers use blogs and wikis? To help develop 21 st century skills. Students are comfortable with technology. Can promote a higher level of engagement. Neither blogs or wikis take a lot of technological skill. Video

Why use blogs/wikis continued

Instructional Strategies for blogging/wikis 1. Classroom management – they can be used to inform students of assignments, to post handouts, or to act as a question and answer board. (example)example 2. Collaboration – students can benefit from feedback from teachers and from peers as well as collaborative learning projects.

Instructional Strategies continued… 3. Discussions – creates an opportunity for students to discuss topics outside of the classroom. Can also be used to create a study group. (example)example 4. Student Portfolios – developing skills and progress can be analyzed. Students can also be more motivated because their work will be published. (example)example

Other ways to use wikis and blogs Pen Pals around the world Collaborative story writing Whole class projects Group projects (differentiation!) Curriculum planning

Advantages simple technology Promotes “real world” collaboration skills Pools strengths of many Assessable (easy to track) Promotes higher quality writing Disadvantages Security/safety issues Work load of teacher to monitor Fighting “copy and paste” Potential inequitable work distribution of contributors

Where to make one? Blogs Wikis

Linked sites