Nik's Learning Technology Blog: Using wikis for teacher development

Nik's Learning Technology Blog: Using wikis for teacher development

Wikis

• From what you have already seen about authority and coverage from websites, what issues do you need to consider when using wikis for research?
• Why would you want students to be able to publish online and then be able to edit each other's work?

Wikis are useful for different purposes.If we want to learn about a certain topic, a wiki can help.

Of coruse that not all wikis are equally reliable. We should consider who writes it, how often it is edited, and who supervises it before the content is published.

Wikipedia works in this way, and it is quite reliable.

Another purpose a wiki can serve is providing a safe environment, it can become a virtual classroom where teachers and students meet, by sharing resources and activities. 

Giving students editing rights, makes wikis meaningful as participants can take an active role, being involved in their learning process.

Blogging

Our web 2.0 has made it possible to make writing meaningful, i.e. having the possibility of writing for a real audience, being highly motivated for this reason.
There's still so much to cover, we are just beginning to explore these unknown paths, with satisfactory results. Blogging should be encouraged at school for kids to get better at reading and writing, feeling that they are not writing to the teacher, but to a real audience. We, adults, should keep on blogging, as a way to reflect on several issues, or simply to share information, learn from each other. We should get into the habit of feeding our blogs regularly because once we achieve it, we can see we've done a wonderful job!

Passion

This is what I feel about the web 2.0, which I never stop exploring. It is packed with such incredible resources to be used in class, to help deliver meaningful lessons, keeping students' motivation high.
There's no doubt the web 2.0 has changed Education, giving us the possibility of participating in this radical change, at the same time, having to adpat to this new society of kids, born in the cyberworld.
What a challenge! But I enjoy it so much!
I am delighted when I can incorporate some of these awesome web 2.0 resoucres in my lessons, and feel that my students learn in a meaningful way, taking pleasure in what they are doing.
And what does the future hold? Web 3.0? 
Looking forward to it! 

Cyber well being

No doubts we are living times of constant change, and this has to do with the sudden existence of a parallel world that I'll call the cyber world.
If we want to be good citizens there, we must know our roles as educators, duties and responsibilities. 
Educating kids in this other world is not easy at all, but we need to take the plunge and go for it. They should know rules of appropriate behaviour so as to avoid cases of cyber bullying or inappropriate us of the new technologies.

Copyright

Copyright is definitely a big issue. I have learnt quite a lot about Copyright, but still some things remain unclear to me. I hope that as I learn more about the topic, my doubts will be clarified.
In the meantime, I believe that we should raise people's awareness on the importance of copyright. As the law, at least in my country, doesn't appear to penalize infringement, why should we bother to respect copyright?
Of course we have to, but most of us must be "forced" to do it.

Searching

• What can I do to better inform my students?
• Why are searching skills important?

Although I knew that searching required certain skills, I was absolutely unaware about important issues such as the importance of questioning the validity of a website. Depending on who owns or writes it, the information can be biased or not, which means that we need to be careful about the information we select and how we use it.

Searching skills are definitely important. Without appropriate guidance, our students can surf the net trusting everything they find there, without questioning anything. 

Integrating the Web

Integrating the web is something new I've learnt. By doing this effectively, we can make our lessons appealing and meaningful for our learners. Appealing in the sense that they will be studying a topic using technology, which has become part of their every day lives; meaningful as they will have access to "live" information. 

We simply need to revisit the syllabus and decide, based on our students' needs, which websites can help meet our objectives.

Integrating the web to our lessons is crucial if we want our 21st century language learners to be motivated as they learn, and to become part of their learning processs.

Learning by sharing makes all the difference!

Websites

Eavluating and Selecting Websites

     I have just begun this unit in my course, and I'm finding it quite interesting since I was forced to pay attention to things I had never looked at, whether a site belongs to a company or organization, whether the material is copyright or not. There's so much out there we don't know.

     I would never have explored sites in such detail to choose the best one to meet my objectives. From now on, I'll try to do so as I can see there are many aspects that should not be neglected.

Reflections Units 1-2

• Why should I be using technology in the first place?
• What can I do in my own teaching situation?
• What do my students already use technology for?
• How can I meet my students' needs?

 Interesting questions to answer, indeed!

     Luckily, I've already started using Learning Technologies, and let me tell you it makes a huge difference as students' motivation levels are high, and learning becomes alive thus making it more meaningful to them.

     My kids use technology mainly to have fun, surf the net, social networks, etc. I must find the way to encourage them to use technology for academic purposes as well, and not so much for entertainment. With some of them, I'm succeeding, with some others, I have work to do.

     No doubts my students need input to come in several ways, learning has to become alive and be meaningful, and once they are given the right tools, they become active participants of their learning process and this is the way in which they learn best. Not just being passive recipients of knwoledge, but being fully involved.

Learning Technologies

I started a blended course on Integrating Learning Technologies launched by the British Council.
To start with, I learnt that we should call Learning Technologies rather than ICT to refer to those technologies that can be used in the classroom.
I must admit that I'm really lucky to be working at a school that has a wide variety of learning technologies and offers the training we need to use them in a wise way. However, in most school, implementing learning technologies is a huge challenge that we all face. What with teachers' reluctance to change, what with the acceptance of today's reality, a change of paradigm in education.
My first reflections begin with my awareness of the reality I live, being an active participant of this radical change in education, 
re thinking it. 
Let's go for it!