This week has been interesting. I learned more about how to use blogs in the classrooms. I was really enlightened on Wikis. I have not had any experience with Wikis. I did not realize how valuable they could be in an academic setting. I found a short article in Education Week (Sept. 12, 2007) that discussed the popularity of Wikis in some school districts like Pennsylvania, California, and (suprisingly) Georgia (my home state). The article even mentioned that a for-profit organization in San Francisco offers free wikis to teachers. The author, Davis (2007), contends that the creators of wikis generally limited the number of viewers, but educators prefer to have public wikis so teachers across the country can contribute or collaborate.
I am exploring other features for blogs, as well. The icons on this particular blog make it easy to add videos and images. See the picture of my son's horse? I am still trying to figure out how to use the whiteboard in the MSN Messenger Live chat forum. I played around with it, but it doesn't appear to be user-friendly.
I am really excited to be learning about these new technologies.
Reference:
Davis, M.R. (2007). Wiki wisdom: Lessons for educators. Education Week, 27, 3.
