After reading the articles I really liked how the teachers used each others blogs to connect lessons, plan and share curriculum and blog social events happening. I believe someone else in this class mentioned using it for that purpose and I feel that is a great idea. Also I like that students are able to see each others work which creates conversation between them and gets ideas rolling. This creates real world learning. I thought that creating study guides on student wiki pages was an excellent idea. I'm constantly telling my students that they need to start learning how to use the resources they have to study. A study guide isn't always going to be handed to them. Creating their own study guide would help them learn how to use those resources and better prepare themselves for tests.
On the opposing side there were some negative things I felt. I think that receiving assignments in blog format would not be a great idea. There is always someone who the assignment would not be accessible to them. I also feel that having "wiki teams" would not work because one person would end up doing the majority of the work. I'm sure you could monitor in some way who was doing what but from experience there is always going to be that one person who will not contribute. This goes back to "thing 3" where I think today's students are lacking work ethic and teamwork.
The article is showing how beneficial using a blog can be and showing that our kids are ready to use this technology. It is up us to show them how it can be done!
I agree that students lack the skills you cited, but how will they ever learn about teamwork if they don't get to work as a team? I know teachers are frustrated by group projects that end up being completed by only 1 person. At least with a blog or wiki, the teacher has electronic evidence of who did what.
ReplyDeleteA study guide might be an easy, non-threatening, and maybe an optional or ungraded activity to allow students to get their proverbial feet wet, and to show them the power of the team.
I also see in my classroom students working in groups and certain ones doing the bulk of the project.
ReplyDeleteHowever, Jim does have a point that if you did do this activity electronically then you would have the evidence to decide what their grade should be.
I know that maybe the parents may get upset the first time an assignment is completed this way, but you can try to do this a couple times every quarter. That way the students and the parents get used to the new concept. You could also create a rubric and send it home a few days in advance.