Classroom Blogs and Wikis provide many opportunities for student collaboration and creation. This page will highlight a few examples.
Begin by reading the February (Creating a Classroom Blog) and April / May (Wiki, Wiki!) 2010 Science 2.0 columns from The Science Teacher (on D2L).
Additional blog and wiki resources are available on this wiki.
Blogs and wikis provide a great "space" for students and teachers to enter into discussions about course content outside of normal classroom time. They can also be used to bring in web-based resources. Blogs generally provide for more controlled (and discussion-based) interactions, while wikis provide a lot of flexibility.
A bit of research...
I gave this presentation with a colleague at the 2010 Wiscnet conference in Madison, Wisconsin. Slides 5-17 show research related to (1) how a classroom blog impacted a high school biology class and (2) my students' perceptions of online discussions in addition to traditional face-to-face course. Both show a strong value in encourage online discussions.
This journal article describes the high school bio blogging in more detail.
Classroom Examples
Physics teacher, Dale Basler (@basler), and Biology teacher, Elissa Hoffman (@ehoffman), use classroom blogs to bring in content experts and real-world connections.
Another e-portfolio example. This one includes a student created "Prezi" about the eye.
Two elementary teachers in Ottawa combine a class blog with podcasting to have students make meaning of current events. Their blog is called PortableRadio.Ca Some of their student podcasts have been featured on local radio stations! Here is an example of a student podcast for Earth Hour.
Ben Wildeboer (@willyb) created the /We Are Scientists/ project to allow his 9th students to do independent research related to climate change. Student groups were given wide latitude to explore their interests and questions. Students chronicled their learning using group blogs. In addition, students created multiple videos and presentations to express their learning.
This video was created by a student to illustrate some of the work she did in her project:
A variety of classroom wiki examples are located here.
However, I wanted to showcase TALONSSocials. Ninth and tenth grade students chronicled their learning in a social studies class throughout the year. They created an excellent supplement to their textbook. The front page for the wiki describes how it was used and created. Additionally, the "example assessments" section shows how blogs were used for individual student reflections. Although this is a social studies example, I think it provides a great model for an extensive use of wikis in the classroom. If this is your first time using a wiki with your students, it may make more sense to start with a smaller project -- perhaps having students (individual or small group) create resource pages for one topic (like the "standard" create-a-poster project).
I have been thinking about how to use blogs as a type of portfolio for students. I love the idea of portfolios but we aren't very good at doing it in the sciences in my experience. So I'm excited about the eportfolio links. For me, this kind of brings it all together in how to use these tools in my classes. Now, to plan....
Comments (2)
Kelly Burke said
at 12:44 pm on Jul 14, 2010
I have been thinking about how to use blogs as a type of portfolio for students. I love the idea of portfolios but we aren't very good at doing it in the sciences in my experience. So I'm excited about the eportfolio links. For me, this kind of brings it all together in how to use these tools in my classes. Now, to plan....
Kelly Burke said
at 12:47 pm on Jul 14, 2010
BTW, prezi's make me dizzy!
You don't have permission to comment on this page.