[MOSAIC] Blogs and Wikis

[Janice Friesen]

A wiki is a collaborative web page.  You can sign up for a free one at
http://www.wikispaces.com.  As the owner of the Wiki you have a lot of
control in how it is set up.  You can set it up so that no one except for
members that you designate can see it, or edit it.  You can invite who is a
member.  I think that a Wiki used in a classroom as a tool for collaborative
research and writing is a great idea.  One teacher I know of used a Wiki to
create a "Choose Your Own Adventure" story.

I have created a wiki for a workshop on digital literacy
(http://designspaces.wikispaces.com) and one for a response to a WebQuest on
Greece. (I think it is http://greecewebquest.wikispaces.org, but I can't
remember and am not online at the moment.

For anyone wanting to learn more about Wikis and Blogs there is a terrific
resource that was created by many teachers who are using these tools in the
classroom http://k12onlineconference.com.  If the URL doesn't work I might
be remembering it wrong.  I am sure it will come up if you search for K12
Online Conference. 

Janice Friesen
janicef at jfriesen.net

On 3/7/07 12:35 PM, "Valinda Kimmel" <vkimmel at esc11.net> wrote:

> Karen,
> You asked about blogs and wikis. The first thing that is important to note is
> that many people are using blogs simply as another version of a webpage. Blogs
> or weblogs are really intended to be website where the author writes in
> journal style. Multiple posts with links are typical.
> People use blogs to provide commentary or information on a specific subject.
> There are some great educational blogs out there where teachers are talking
> about their instructional practices. Check these out:
> http://readingyear.blogspot.com/index.html
> http://medinger.wordpress.com/2007/02/23/teaching-with-blogs-amistad-poetry/
> As for teachers using blogs with students here are a couple of examples:
> http://tellraven.us/  the teacher's site is found here
> http://borderland.northernattitude.org/category/commonplaces/
> Also, at Educating Alice she talks about her upper elementary students
> blogging so go back to her site from more info.
> http://medinger.wordpress.com/2007/02/23/teaching-with-blogs-amistad-poetry/
> Wikis are really online collaborative authoring sites (Wikipedia being the
> biggest and some think the best) Here is an example of a class creating their
> own wiki in response to a novel they read:
> http://wiki.woodward.edu/hannalee/doku.php
> There are some great things teachers are doing out there to prepare our kids
> to be competitive in today's global marketplace by teaching them how to be
> creators on the internet, not just consumers. Blogging and creating wikis
> gives kids opportunities to read and write in an innovative way (kids are more
> motivated and engaged, as you can imagine). Email me offline if you would like
> more info.
> 
> Valinda Kimmel
> vainda.kimmel at sbcglobal.net
> 
> 
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