Meg’s EduPedia objectives

Your EduPedia objectives

What are you hoping to learn from this module? Your objectives can be the same as mine, but is there anything else you are expecting to learn? Write down your thoughts, discuss with a partner or small group in the class, or discuss it on this module's discussion forum.

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Introduction

Wikis are really starting to take off in the educational arena, and not just amongst ‘tech-savvy’ teachers. Why? What potential do they have for use in education? This module outlines some of the pedagogical and practical arguments for using wikis in the classroom, as well as providing some links to real-life classroom wikis. In this module you will learn about:

• The education benefits of using wikis
• How others are using wikis in their classes

Focus questions: Educational benefits of wikis

Given that you now know something about the 'wiki interface’ from the What is a wiki module, what do youanticipate the educational benefits of wikis to be in terms of 1) pedagogy, and 2) classroom management? What do wikis force the student to do in terms of writing? Thinking? Communicating? What is it about wikis that might appeal to students? Can using a wiki interface make your life easier in the classroom? How would you use wikis to communicate with parents and students? How would you use a wiki to run a class or course? Write down your thoughts, discuss with a partner or small group in the class, or discuss on this module's discussion forum.

Discuss it on the discussion thread for this topic


Benefits of wikis With the right educational design, and with good teaching, wikiing has many benefits in the educational setting:

Intellectual and writing

Communication, collaboration, participation, socialisation

Motivation and organisation
Classroom Management
Classroom benefits (Oradini and Saunders 2007, in the context of e-portfolios, but also applicable to wikis)

Exercise: Search for wikis

Search for some (Aussie) wikis on the web to get a sense of how teachers of your year level are using wikis in their classrooms. Try to identify the purpose of the wiki: Is it for communicating with students or parents? Is it posting assignment or class info? Do students have their own wikis for the class? Discuss what you find by providing links and observations in this module's discussion forum.

Discuss it on the discussion thread for this topic

Exercise: Evaluate wikis

Next, evaluate the effectiveness of the wiki enterprises you come across: Are the students engaged? Are they responding to others’ work on the web and elsewhere? Are they creating their own material? Are pages focused and on-topic? Are the pages interesting? What is the quality of the writing like? What about the thinking? Is the wiki easy to navigate? Discuss your evaluations in this module's discussion forum. Have you found any dodgy examples of classroom wikis? What makes them dodgy?

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Summing up …

Wikis are

Reflection

Write down your thoughts, discuss with a partner or small group in the class, or discuss it on this module's discussion forum.

• What have I learnt?
• What is still unclear?
• What do I need to follow up on?
• Where to from here?
• What other stuff I have read or accessed to help me make sense of it all?

Discuss it on the discussion thread for this topic

Links and resources

Wikis in the classroom (DET, WA)

Blogs and wikis, Bemidji State University

Victorian Education Teacher Channel -- wikis

For teachers new to wikis

Teaching with Technology wiki