Wikispaces

It is amazing to think of the vastness and hugeness of the world wide web. The number of valuable resources that can be easily accessible and yet the majority of the population chooses to ignore. The Internet for teacher and students is almost an infinite resource that if managed correctly can improve the authenticity of teaching and motivate students into learning. It allows students to gather information from all over the world, with a click of a finger students can have the current weather in Rome and just as easily actually see many images of cities around the world. This is why it is important to harvest all these tools and include them in the curriculum.

In the second week of the course we were introduced into a number of new ICTs that can be implemented in the classroom. I will be focusing on wikispaces and their advantages and disadvantages in the education.

Advantages of Wikis

• Easy to follow as it guides students step by step in every step of creating, managing and commenting on the wiki


• Allows students to discuss with peers


• It is easily accessible from home


• Student have the opportunity to create their own wiki and hence they feel like authors


• Teachers can track the students work easily


• Can be used as part of formative assessment
  

Disadvantages of Wikis

• If not managed properly it can be vandalised and spammed


• Students could bully each other as it is an open account and anyone can add comments
  

Although spamming and bullying are serious problems, they can be controlled by a teacher who can manage the account. The number of advantages that wikispaces offer show that wikispaces are a valuable tool and should be used in education.

The link will lead you to a Wiki space discussion on De Bonos 6 Thinking Hats: http://sixhats.wikispaces.com/6+Hats

Bubbl_us

Coming into E Learning I felt I was competent at using the computers and Internet. I believed that with the knowledge I had accumulated over my high school and university years I would be able to successfully teach students. After just one tutorial I was made aware that there is still a lot to learn and that there are many useful tools on the Internet that allow a learning manager to teach students in a more meaningful and authentic way.

In the first tutorial we were introduced to Bubbl_us and Text2MindMap. Both of this websites allow students to create concept maps. I found this to be very useful tools for students that are visual learners and need to organise their thoughts in a very simple organiser which makes better use of their visual memory. Blogs were also introduced as a way to allow students to reflect, it is also a way for the LM to keep track of students learning as a way of formative assessment. While brainstorming students also have the opportunity to access their prior knowledge and if working collaboratively in allows students the change to peer tutor.

Bubbl_us

Bubbl_us allows students to create mind maps, by allowing students to make the mind maps on the computer it allows the students to be able to add, remove and change aspects of the mind map more effectively then pen and paper. This tool also encourage students to have participate in classroom discussion outside of school. "From a teacher's perspective, this tool can be another option to stimulate students involvements with classroom topics" (Sawchuk, P. 2009. p.1). The mind maps created on Bubbl_us can also be shared easily and quickly via email and printing.

Mind map using Bubbl_us

References

Sawchuck, P. (2009). Bubbl.us: A tool for mind-maps. Retrieved from http:://assett.colorado.edu/post/570