May 12, 2014

Using Wikis for Teaching and Learning

The wiki is a tool that is useful for teaching, learning, and management in the classroom and personally. I am selecting resources to add to my current materials in an upcoming summer workshop (see last week's post) to help the workshop participants understand the value and benefits of using wikis.
Looking at the Wiki / Kathy Cassidy / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
I have used several wiki platforms (Wikispaces, PBwiki/PBworks, WetPaint, and Google Sites) in the classroom and personally. My students have contributed to my wikis and created their own. We have used wikis to collaborate, to organize, and to create.

I searched for appropriate resources in my Delicious account, my educational sandbox (a customized search engine for a select set of blogs... see How Do You Search for Information on a Topic?), LiveBinders, Pinterest, Scoop.it!, Twitter, YouTube, and on the web. At this point I have developed a list of resources that should be useful in four areas:
  • introduction to wikis
  • interesting wiki sites
  • wiki platforms / vendors and
  • resources for educators.

 

Introduction to Wikis
Obligatory Wiki Photo / Alan Levine / CC BY-SA 2.0


  • http://www.coolcatteacher.com/videos/teaching-students-about-wikis
    • Teaching Students about Wikis with a Wiki Sandbox Project... introduction to wikis for students... includes sandbox assignment, video, and other resources... use this to guide you (the teacher) as you create your own lesson because it uses an older version of the wiki software

 

Interesting Wiki Sites
Representing WikiHow / Dvortygirl / CC BY 2.0

  • http://www.wikia.com/Wikia
    • Wikia: Create. Collaborate. Be Original.… a network of games, entertainment, and lifestyle content… a collaborative publishing platform… more than 370,000 wikias (as of 5/11/2014)
  • http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page
    • Wiki How (to do anything)… a collection of how-to guides… step-by-step instructions… a collaborative effort… more than 170,000 how-to articles (as of 5/11/2014)… volunteer recent changes patrollers quickly revert poor edits
  • https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Wiktionary:Main_Page
    • Wiktionary, the free dictionary… a collaborative project… goal is to “describe all words of all languages using definitions and descriptions in English”… includes a thesaurus, a rhyme guide, phrase books, language statistics, and appendices… Wiktionaries are available in other languages

 

Wiki Platforms / Vendors
Google Sites / AJ Cann / CC BY-SA 2.0

Wiki Platform Comparisons

  • http://www.wikimatrix.org/
    • WikiMatrix… provides access to more than 140 wikis… some or all wikis can be compared based on features… matrices are also available for forums, podcatchers, and weblogs

Wikispaces

  • http://www.wikispaces.com/
    • Wikispaces and Wikispaces Classroom… wiki and social writing platform for education…. use for classroom management and project-based learning… pricing varies from free to $$$ and number of wikis varies from 1 to unlimited

Google Sites

 

Resources for Educators
"wiki was very good" / fin5bjh / CC BY 2.0



These sites should help facilitate some interesting and useful discussions. How do you help other educators discover the benefits of using wikis?
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May 4, 2014

Sharing the Benefits of Blogging for Educators

Teaching in a Digital World is a workshop for teachers that I will teach this summer. The themes are creativity, collaboration, communication, and the Common Core. Topics include blogs, wikis, podcasts, augmented reality, SMART Boards, Twitter and other social media. During the next few weeks I will explore ideas about these topics to complement my teaching materials.
Blogging / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0
My discovery of blogs several years ago made a major impact on my teaching and my learning. I will share that with the workshop participants. However, I also want to introduce them to the ideas and experiences of other educators who blog. Educators' use of Twitter for professional development may be new to some of the participants, so I will gently introduce that idea as I share some relevant tweets about blogging.


Following are some educators' tweets that I will use in the workshop.
These tweets and the posts they reference should help facilitate some interesting and useful discussions. How do you help other educators discover the benefits of reading blogs and writing and maintaining your own blog?
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April 28, 2014

Choosing Content for a Teacher Website


New Class Website / BarbaraLN / CC BY-SA 2.0
Why should you create and maintain a teacher website?

It's helpful...
·      for students...
o   who are absent due to illness, vacation, other activities, or even snow days and who want to stay "caught up"
o   who will have an authentic audience for student products through teacher (or classroom) websites
·      for parents...
o   so they can have another avenue for communication with their children's teachers
o   so they can see what you and your class are doing
·      for grandparents and non-custodial parents..
o   so they can see what's going on in the child's classroom
·      for administrators...
o   so they can see the teaching and learning you and your class are doing
·      for the community...
o   so they can see the engaging activities you and your class are pursuing


What content should be available on a teacher website?

I recommend...
·      teacher information
o   your name
o   school email address (not personal email address)
o   teaching position
o   best times for parents to reach you by telephone (school phone, not your personal phone or cell phone) and email (school email address, not personal email address)
o   brief paragraph introducing yourself, teaching interests
·      school information    
o   school name
o   school telephone number
o   school address
GTD for kids / woodleywonderworks / CC BY 2.0
·      teaching information
o   calendar
o   reminders about upcoming school events and important dates or deadlines
o   class goals, daily schedule
o   classroom rules and/or procedures: what parents and students can expect in your classroom, basic expectations for students with, perhaps, a glimpse into what learning will be like in this classroom
o   newsletters
o   online lesson plans (current assignments, units, activities, spelling words)
o   resources provided: for students, parents, others… perhaps PortaPortal… perhaps links to learning games… recommended sites
o   web links (class-related resources, encyclopedias, dictionaries, learning games)
o   student projects (be sure you have signed permission slips!)
o   teacher Internet projects (webquests, scavenger hunts, …)


Where can I find some new suggestions for an effective teacher website?

Searching on the web for teacher (or classroom) websites brings up many well done but older articles. Many good ideas for these websites were shared around 2009. I would like to share some newer ideas with the teachers in my workshops. Accessing my usual sources wasn't as successful as I hoped it would be. Until one of my sources mentioned Pinterest. Teacher web page seems to be the best search phrase to use to find new ideas for teacher/classroom websites on Pinterest.
Pinterest Search / Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

Here are some teacher websites I found plus some ideas for adding to your own teacher website.
How do you use your teacher website? What content and/or functions do you provide on it?
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April 20, 2014

ePortfolio Containers


Portfolio / Christine H / CC BY-SA 2.0

Portfolios serve a variety of purposes:

  • working portfolio
    • contains current projects and/or ones recently completed
  • display portfolio
    • contains samples of the student's best work
  • assessment portfolio
    • contains work that illustrates that the student met learning goals.
The type of portfolio we use with our students depends on their ages and our purpose in using portfolios in the classroom. Once we have decided which type of portfolio our students will create we need to select the container (i.e., the application that will hold the contents).

 In the days of paper portfolios the containers were usually notebook binders. Today they are more likely to be websites.

The e-Portfolio Process / Jen Hegna / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

These containers have been recommended by teachers using portfolios in their classrooms:







 What applications have worked well for you as containers for portfolios?
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April 14, 2014

More Resources for Digital and Smartphone Photography

Trees in the Park / Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0
Photography Resources for Smartphones and the Classroom is the title of last week's blog post. After (of course!) I published that article I realized that I had omitted two blogs that I find quite useful. So, I want to be sure to share these photographers, their work, and their helpful advice this week.

 Gary is the first digital photographer and blogger. He shares his tutorials at Basic Digital Photography.

Photographer Emil Pakarklis blogs at iPhone Photography School: Take & Edit Better Photos with iPhone.

Both of these photographers share their knowledge and experience in a way that is very understandable and helpful. I have learned from both of them and I have used their recommendations as I help others.

Who do you follow to help you become a better photographer?

 NOTE: I am celebrating the posting of the 100th photo (Trees in the Park) in my Project 365/2014 for this year. Only 265 more photos to go!
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April 6, 2014

Photography Resources for Smartphones and the Classroom

Smartphone Shoot / itchys / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
  
"The best camera is the one you have with you."   Chase Jarvis

The cameras most of us have with us most of the time are our smartphones. While modifying a photography unit I decided that I should add some helpful resources for working with smartphone photography.

 




Each of these videos provides useful ideas for taking photos with smartphones.

Muck Farm / Phil and Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0

Photo Apps / Jo Schiffbauer / CC BY 2.0
Can we talk about smartphone photography without discussing apps? I think these recommendations are worth reviewing.
_____________________________________

 Of course, I want to include some ideas about using photography in the classroom. 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_oALYl_lC
Flickr Badges / Alexander Kaiser / CC BY 2.0

  • Using Flickr in the Classroom
    • Have students curate a gallery
    • Access Flickr's special collections
    • Photos taken on phones can be emailed to Flickr using Flickr mail

Pinterest has some good resources for using cameras in the classroom.
_____________________________________


The photography apps I am currently using are the following ones.

on my smartphone... 
on my computer...
online...
_____________________________________

What would you suggest that I share with teachers about photography and about cameras in the classroom?

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