Using this document, I'm going to choose Wikis as an online learning experience that our students could use.
What content could this help you teach?
I haven't had the opportunity to use Wikis with elementary school students yet but I hope to sooner rather than later. At the recent Flat Classroom conference in Beijing the word "wiki" was used more than any other platform for use in global collaborative projects.
Wikis could be used in a number of different subjects and the ideas are endless. Some examples include collaborative storytelling, student e-portfolios or global projects.
I'm in the initial planning stages of connecting our classes with other schools to create a reading group wiki where our students read the same books and discuss and take part in activities on a wiki.
What type of pedagogical strategies might you use with your students?
With the use of wikis the natural pedagogical strategies that occur are cooperative learning. Students will naturally join in group discussions and group planning throughout the course of activities on the wiki. It is also a great introduction to distance learning for our young students whose future may involve more distance learning than we ever faces in ours.
Working with other students on the wiki on global projects also creates a scope for cross-disciplinary teaching on themes as they tend to be problem based projects that require a wide range of learning and investigating.
What technologies do you think would be harder to use with your students? Why?
As I'm involved with elementary school students the use of a career planning tool would not be appropriate or effective to use even with upper primary. The majority of the tools on the document above can easily be used with elementary students. The career planning tool would be very effective for seniors though. Students in elementary could get into this style of activity by starting an e-portfolio to keep evidence of their learning.
Interesting about Wikis. I thought they were dying out here in the states. We have a lot of schools who block them which I think is ludicrous. I think they are ultimately blocking wikipedia therefore blocking other wiki sites. It is just a website template in my opinion that allows for collaboration. Schools have to adjust their thinking!
ReplyDeleteI know kids at the elem level still have career lessons here in Michigan. Off the top of my head, I cannot remember the sites we usually recommend. We purchase Career Cruising for our middle schoolers.