Looking at all of the different ways to utilize the internet in the classroom has made me start to think about how I want to use the internet in my own classroom. I have come up with a few different ideas.
1. Course Wiki- I have never even seen a course wiki before this semester but now it is something I can definitely see myself using in my future classroom. At a first glance I thought that using a course wiki was going to be more cumbersome than useful; however, after only a few short weeks I have come to appreciate the benefits of using a course wiki and could never imagine looking at a paper syllabus again! One of the benefits of using a course wiki is to being able to use an interactive syllabus ( In this way the students are able to access it at all times and will not have the opportunity to lose or misplace a paper syllabus. Also, the teacher can add items or change items so the student can have an up to date copy of the syllabus at all times. The course wiki is also a great way for the class to compile information. There is a discussion tab, which allows different members of the course wiki to post questions about an assignment or to share resources with other members of the course wiki. Course wikis are also an efficient way of relaying a message quickly to students if ever there was a change in an assignment or something needed to be brought to the attentions of the students. Overall course wiki is a great way to communicate with students and for them to be aware of up to date information about a class.
2. Photo Sharing- I could definitely see myself using this in my classroom. Photo sharing allows the teacher to share photos with the students via a website such as Flickr where people need permission to view the photos (Schrum & Levin, 2009). In this way, it is protected from unwanted viewers and is limited to only those who are allowed to view them. I lived in Spain for five months and I traveled all over Spain and I of course took pictures of everything. I always hoped that I would be able to share my pictures with my students someday and hopefully be able to create an activity from it. I was never able to think of any creative ideas to do so. The reading helped me realize I could create an activity based upon the history and sights that I photographed. This can be utilized during a map exercise for example and the students would have to place the pictures in the correct place on the map.
3. Google Earth- This is another interesting way to make an activity more interactive for the students. Google Earth allows people to zoom in on different places in the world to actually see what places look like. It is one thing for me to show my students where different countries are on an atlas, but it totally takes it to the next level by being able for the students to get an eagle eye view of what the country looks like at this very moment. This tool allows the students to make a more meaningful connection to different places they are studying because it gives them a better picture than just looking at a map. This is a tool I can also see myself using the classroom especially when learning about different Spanish speaking countries.
References
Schrum, L., & Levin, B. (2009). Leading 21st century schools: Harnessing technology for engagement and achievement. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin.
A course wiki is definitely a great "tool" for the classroom. However - you kept referring to an interactive syllabus - that could be modified regularly and where students did not need to print out a paper copy... In this instance, you a really talking about Google Docs, correct? I have a course wiki for EDCI5825 - but the actual syllabus was created on Google Docs - and I simply posted a link to the syllabus on the course wiki... if that makes sense? Or were you actually considering creating your syllabus directly on the wiki?
ReplyDeleteI like your ideas of using photo sharing in the classroom - did you know that you could add a slideshow of photos from flickr directly onto your wiki (using the Widget button)?
A question to consider... when reading through your post it seems like the only "collaborative" element is when you mention student's adding to the discussion forum on the course wiki... Will you have students create pages on the wiki? Collaboratively add content to a single wiki page? How will students "collaborate" in flickr? Or on Google Earth? What is the collaborative element?
Great job with the APA citation and reference. The only minor issue I see is the book title in the reference needs to be italicized.
I was actually thinking of putting it on the wiki itself, but after I thought about it some more I think it probably will be better to have a link to the google document.
ReplyDeleteI did not know that about flickr but I will definitely look into that more!
As for the wiki I definitely will have students be able to add content to certain wiki pages. I kind of like the idea of having each student have their own page and they could use this to upload their work and be able to share their work with their classmates. I was thinking that the students could share pictures through an online pen pal program with students from a Spanish speaking country. In this way, the students can see where the other students are from and see what it is like to live in another country. As for Google Earth, i found some great collaborative projects online such as creating interactive posters online via a site called glogster. The posters can be promotional travel poster for a particular Spanish speaking country and the students can use images from google earth. They can share them with each other through the course wiki.
I will change that citation I forgot to italicize the title.