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