Thing 22

My brand new love....wikis. I was happy to see I could spend Thing 22 exploring a bit more. I have a lot of work to do now, because I have so many ideas running in my mind about the possibilities for classroom wikis. I just hope there are no IT issues in my way!

First, I enjoyed reading all the other participants' plans for wikis. It is motivated and reassuring to hear so many others ready to move on and catch up with these young digital learners! There is so much potential with wikis, just as there is with blogs. The difference is that with blogs, you can only comment, you can really edit and add. Someone posts, you comment. With wikis, the ideas and knowledge of a topic can just keep growing and growing. Students can realize what true collaboration can really have amazing results. The examples I explored in Thing 21 demonstrated this clearly.

I started to create my own wiki to help assist students with technology questions and make them feel empowered and more confident. I am also hoping they will choose to share cool discoveries and knowledge of technology as well.

Thing 21

Before completing Thing 21, I must admit that I was pretty "anti-wiki"...mostly because my experience with them has been with students trying to use wikipedia for their number one source for information during research (simply because it always seems to come first in a Google search I believe). Granted, there is much good information there, unfortunately we have encountered quite a bit of incorrect information too.

But looking at wikis in a different light, using my students as the authors, suddenly gives wikis much more appeal. I took a lot of time to browse through the list of wikis listed on Web 2.0 Thing 21's post. I enjoyed seeing two hemispheres of students come together on a wiki to share their findings about weather and seasons. Very cool!

I also found the wikiHow (largest how-to-manual) to be a pretty cool idea. I thought that this might be a great idea for my students. I could require every student to add a "How To" to our own Computer Education wiki. They would have to provide step by step instruction and commentary on one computer related skill/activity. I really like this idea.

Looking at other examples of Educational Wikis, I came across a wiki from a Pennsylvania school that had some really cool ideas on using technology with kids (similar to what I have learned in this workshop) and lots of great examples, videos, and help links. I came across another great wiki that a class was doing using video, audio, illustrator to do some awesome projects. I bookmarked a load of items while searching these wikis. I found so many useful things!

Finally, I even set up my own wiki for my class that I am going to test out. It was from PBworks.com. I cannot wait to get to work experimenting with it. I have truly enjoyed Thing 21. I have benefitted tremendously from what I've just learned and seen here.

Thing 20

Books..books...books...it is so nice to be able to streamline your book search online over and over and do such quick previews and see reviews online. Technology has brought us a long way. I remember, in college, I thought it was so fabulous that journals and documents were just starting to be available online. Now, I can have access to complete reference materials, textbooks, required reading novel and leisure reading online at the click of a button. I love this.

I searched through quite a few of FriedBeef's "Best Places to Get Free Books". I found some cool computer reference materials...even downloaded a whole one (PDF File) on Windows 7 shortcuts. A few items I looked at were no longer available for request, but overall, I could see myself spending some time searching here.

Google Books was quite helpful and I added a good number of Windows 7 reference books (anticipating many questions at the start of school) to my library. There were some great illustrated books I think could be excellent for middle school students. The previews were really great. I don't have the time to wander around book stores and go through materials like this. I appreciate the large previews available online. I found some good material on video editing as well.

The reference collections at the NHS library were fabulous. I have a 7th grade project that involves research and website building that could really be helpful in assisting them with this. It would keep them focused on credible sources and still allow them to be utilizing technology!

Students need to see all that is available from the library online and the fact that they can cross-search databases. What resources! Just the experience of exploring the options that are out there could open up students (and teachers!) eyes and minds. I found some great ebooks on American History that would tie right in to the Grade 7 and 8 curricula. I also found some good books on inventions and animals too, which would work for my lower grades. I am wondering why Wallace has NO ebooks available to its students!!!?!?

The biggest benefits of ebooks for my students would probably be that it opens up much more access to books and puts the excitement of technology in reading. When a teacher gives a booktalk in class about amazing books that are available, and the student can go home and download that book instantly without leaving his/her room (I realize devices are needed here, but this is where we are headed quickly!), reading becomes even more exciting, especially for those who may not have been as enticed before. As a teacher, I have so many more references available to me and opportunities to explore texts before I purchase.

For myself as a reader, I am ready to head to the Apple store again for the second time in 2 weeks, and purchase myself a fabulous new Ipad. Books, magazines, and papers look amazing on these! Now I just need to find more time in a day to sit down and enjoy what technology has so graciously brought to the world of literature and information.