Wikis - classroom applications

Another Hedron chapter that gives practical ideas on using technology in the classroom - yay! The very first suggestion talks about having a class or even an entire school project in which students create their own version of wikipedia - their own encyclopedia of knowledge. I'm not sure about this idea. I like it to an extent - it would be kindof cool to have a class encyclopedia of the vocabulary words or something. And...it certainly would be an outstanding lesson to students on the evaluation of information. ANYONE can put information on the web. Hedron offers several examples of possible topics for a school knowledge base. It does sound like a great project - imagine the entire school collaborating on one project. However, there are challenges. How do you get every teacher to agree to be a part of it? And maintaining the site would be a huge challenge.





The second idea clearly illustrates that Hedron is a MAN. He suggests using a wiki to keep track of personal nutrition choices - food choices, exercise, body weight. Are you kidding me? Those are things girls or even grown women would not want to publicly broadcast. Yikes, Mr. Hedron!





Idea 3 - Using a wiki to showcase writing. A good idea, as long as the writing is not too personal. Writing with the end goal of publication would make a student do his/her best. Plus there is the bonus of feedback.





Idea 4 - developing a classroom constitution. Middle school kids would eat this up!





Idea 5 - using in a math class. Students create a real life situation that includes a math problem. Then students post the math problem on one page and the solution on another. I think this is wonderful. First, it gets a math class to use wikis. Second, students will understand word problems much more when they practice developing their own.





Idea 6 - Creative writing. Students write a story with several possible twists and endings. Great creative writing idea - even better for cooperative learning.





What I like about the Hedron text is that not only does he give practical applications of the technology, but he also offers procedures and assessments for each lesson.





Another thing I like about this Hedron text is that it seems to exemplify many of the ideas we read about in the Ashburn and Floden text. In chapter 1 of that text, Ashburn (2006) points out six characteristics of meaningful learning using technology. Without really even giving it much thought, all of Hedron's ideas from this chapter can show most of those characteristics. For example, content centrality asks that the task relate to the big ideas of the class, to clearly relate to the class' goals. All of these ideas would do that. They would also involve authentic work. Even the math idea asks students to come up with a real life situation. All ideas involve active inquiry. The students are using the wiki as a tool to actively examine something about the subject area. And lastly, most projects were designed for collaborative work. Awesome!

Ashburn, E. & Floden, R. (Eds.). (2006). Meaningful learning using technology: What educators need to know and do. New York: Teacher’s College

Hedron, J. (2008). RSS for educators: Blogs, newsfeeds, podcasts, and wikis in the classroom. Eugene, OR: ISTE.