Michelle’s Weblog

9/21/08

Sources:

Richardson, W. (2009). Blogs, wikkis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms (2^nded.). In H. Perigo (Eds.), Wikis: Easy collaboration for all (pp.55-69). Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

7 things you should know about wikipedia (2007, April). Retrieved Sept. 21, 2008, from  http://connect.educause.edu/Library/ELI/7ThingsYouShouldKnowAbout/44397. pdf

Purpose:

The purpose of both ot the texts was to inform the reader about what wiki’s are, how you use them, and show them the many ways that they can be benificial in the classroom.

Question:

How can I tell them about wiki’s, their pros and cons, and also make them want to use them in their classroom?

Information:

Both articles tells that wiki’s are a free encyclopedia and that anyone can add or edit the information. It also states that many people do not like it especially schools because you never know if the information is accurate or not. It also examens and explains that there are many people that want to help edit and make the information correct than there are people that want to harm the site. Another way that it says that you can help keep the sites accurate is by editing them yourself, because as it states in the book many people are better then just one person alone. It also has many uses you can look up lyrics, recipes, join a math wiki, or science wiki, and you can even have discussions about the topics on the discussion board. This allows students to not only have access to this information but also learn more by talking to other people that are interested in the same topic.

Inference/ Conclusion:

The authors of both of the texts want you know what the wiki is and how to use it but they also want you to use it in the classrooms. There are a variety of topics that you can engage in on the wiki, but you also have to take into consideration that anyone can edit the pages and they may not always know what they are talking about jeopardizing the reliability of the information.

Concepts:

They want you to know what it is, how to use it, that it can be inaccurate, it should be used as an information source, but not he primary one, and that there are many types of wiki’s that you can use.

Assumptions:

The authors assume that you do not know what a wiki is and that you want to know, that you use the Internet and you want to learn new ways that you can use it, and that you think that it is not a good idea to use the wiki, because they are trying to convince you that it can be reliable and that it should be used to enhance the learning experiences.

Implications:

Following the information in these texts will allow you to become more competent in the area of the wiki, and will allow you to engage students in a classroom using a wiki. It also will allow, according to the text, students to learn how to work together to get things accomplished, and how to work with the group in a growing technological word. If you do follow the information from the text you could also find yourself getting inaccurate information, because of how hard it is to see if the information is reliable or not.  Not following the information will still result in you becoming more competent about the wiki, but will also not allow the students or you to experience the benefits of the wiki. It may also lead you to still find accurate information in other places on the web, but it may actually may be more accurate if it is written by authors/sites that are creditable.

Point of view:

The first line of this chapter says the point of view exactly sayint that if you did not use the wiki then you should start now because it is that important, and it is also stressed several times that the author loves this feature and the authors are sure you could use the information. The other article is more based off of giving you a more unbiased view of the  information about the wiki.