“Using a blog truly promotes an interactive learning experience. With a blog, teachers are able to create content for students to think about and respond to immediately or over a long period of time. Additionally, a blog creates a great place for teachers to post student work for review by an authentic, world-wide audience” (p. 43).
Wikis, on the other hand ,are websites that can be edited by anyone who has been granted access (Every, 2011). Wikis are excellent tools to use when creating assignments that require collaboration or cooperation between students. Using a wiki students can collectively contribute to and manipulate a website. Wikis lend themselves perfectly to the following NETS standard:
2. Communication and Collaboration. Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. (ISTE, 2007)
Wikis and blogs are similar because they both give students the opportunity to post information on a website. The main difference between the two is that wikis are more collaborative than blogs. In a blog, there is a lot of control for the teacher. The teacher can dictate what type of information is shared on a blog by creating prompts for students to post too. Also, blogs are not always viewed by anyone. A teacher can control who is using a blog. On some sites a teacher can even control what is posted on blogs. The site will notify the teacher by email when something has been posted but the site will not actually post the response until the teacher deems it appropriate. In this sense a blog is very directed. A wiki however, gives a group of authors the same amount of control over what is being posted. They can work together to create and revise the content that is posted. There are control setting that can limit public access to wikis as well, similar to blogs.
Children can begin to interact on blogs and wikis as soon as they have the technology skills necessary or the help of an adult with the necessary technology skills. For example, Pre-K students could participate in a digital story that could be posted on a blog (Pre-K Now, 2008). Or elementary students could contribute to wikijunior or wikibooks (Wikibooks, 2011). Students at any age can utilize blogs or wikis. It is very important to note that children’s activity on the Internet, especially younger children, should be closely monitored by an adult. In most educational setting teachers are present for guidance and support. It is crucial that when students participate in collaborative work via the Internet they have guidance and support necessary to do so. This responsibility falls under the following NETS standard:
5. Digital Citizenship. Students understand human, cultural, and societal issues related to technology and practice legal and ethical behavior (ISTE, 2007).
Every, V. (2011) Web 2.0 Applications: Blogs, Wikis, Web Sites, and Google Docs. Retreieved from: http://www.vanessajoyonline.com/EDUC584_files/EDUc584_March24_BlogWiki.ppt#256,1,Slide 1
International Society for Teachnology in Education. (2007) NETS for Students 2007. Retrieved from http://www.iste.org/standards/nets-for-students/nets-student-standards-2007.aspx
November, A. (2010). Empowering Students with Technology, Second Edition. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.
Pre-K Now. (2008). Inside Pre-K, Digital Storytelling. Retrieved from: http://blogs.preknow.org/insideprek/2008/03/digital-storyte.html
Wikibooks. (2011). Welcome to Wikijunior. Retrieved from: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikijunior
No comments:
Post a Comment