Journal 7: Wiki

I decided that I was going to research Wiki's because I have heard it talked about in this class alot and also I want to become more familiar with with them since i use one. A wiki is defined as a page or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content and they are often used to create collaborative websites.

After reading what other educators wrote on Classroom 2.0, I learned alot more about the benefits of them. Some educators are saying wiki is the way of the future for students. Teachers have already implemented the use of them from middle school through college. I am sure some elementary school classes use them, but I did not notice any postings from teachers in that age range. Alot of educators use them for writing purposes and they agree that it is nice to have a place where students can go to put up their work and comment on their peers work.

From the couple of days I have used a wiki I noticed the benefits of being able to look at other people's comments on certain subjects and how nice it is to be able to ask advice from other people from around the country instead of the small circle of people we used to be able to ask. It could improve education everywhere for the better by sharing what works and what does not. Some other teachers also use it for extra credit projects for students to create their own couple minute lesson on how to do a math problem or something like it and then make a video and post it for other students to utilize. A class of gifted students uses it to make pen pals from other places and learn how to interact with other people about issues that are pertinent to our society today.

After looking at some of these kids work I am amazed at how advanced they are in technology and how this is the future. I do not give them enough credit for what they can produce with technology. This is so useful for teachers because I could create as a teacher a wiki for each of my classes to post questions they have about assignments or things they don't understand of about things they think are interesting and learn more about them and have them interact with others through technology. This would help build their technology skills. I like the idea of having a student create a video on a lesson. As a teacher it would also reduce the costs of paper supplies if writing assignments were turned in on the wiki. I also like the idea of making it a social network to learn about other areas on the country or the world through pen pals. That would definitely be something I would like to implement in a class is becoming informed about other cultures.

I think that Wiki's are a must have now and in the future for students and teachers.

Journal 6A

1. I really liked this program. I thought it was really cool and a great organizer for me and could be for students also. I also liked the variety of the pictures to choose from and how they were so easily inserted. Another cool aspect of this program is the choice of layout. I could either choose to enter the information through a outline format (which is what I chose to do) and then click on diagram and it would have one made for me to edit as I would like or I could choose the diagram tab and then look at it in a layout format if that was what I preferred. It was very easy to navigate through and the pictures were amazing. I felt like this was a really well designed program.

2. I could incorporate this program into the classroom very easily. In front of the class when we are brainstorming I could use this tool on the big screen so the who class could view it or I could organize it into an outline for everyone to see. It would be nice for the kids to have an input on what goes into the brainstorm and choose cool pictures for it. It makes the process more interactive which is always a plus.

3. I did not have to access Atomic Learning much throughout this project because it was so simple to use (which is amazing coming from a weak technology background). As stated before, Atomic Learning is a great tool for support for questions about these programs.

Journal 6B

1. I was really stressed out when I started working on the imovie project and thought it was going to be more difficult than it was. Now don't get me wrong, it was still a bit hard for me to do with my technology skills not being as good as they should be yet. Once I calmed my fears about my inadequacy to create a movie and jumped in to the project, I actually enjoyed it. I thought it was fun to choose the clips and add music to go along with it. I never realized how much work had gone into making movies before. I thought imovie was straightforward to use. I like the tabs located at the top for choosing sounds and different transitions and tiles, etc. I thought it made it very easy to navigate through the program. I was definitely glad I was taught how to use it.

2.I could incorporate this software into a classroom easily. We could make a class movie together or if we want to create a drama production for a class this would be a perfect program to demonstrate the hard work put forth by the students. I could create year end videos on this program or from field trips and present it to students and parents at the end of the year as a memory that they can keep forever. I could end up using this program for just about any class and use it to apply to something we are studying.

3.I did not end up using atomic learning that much as a resource. I used the teacher and my friend who is good at making videos as my main resources. Atomic Learning was a good step by step guide if there were no other resources there for me to use. I work better in a hands on with somebody instead a of a program telling me how to create something so I prefer a person rather than this teaching tool, but for instances when no one is available Atomic Learning would be very helpful!