Kim’s Ventures in Educational Technology

I knew it wouldn’t be long before Google somehow combined resources with Wikipedia. Sure enough, there is now a search tool called ‘Googlepedia’ for Firefox/Mozilla browser users. I use Flock exclusively and added the Googlepedia add-on to my browser and gave it a trial run.

After performing a search for Googlepedia , I received the following search results:

Links to sites resulting from my search are listed on the left and on the right side of the page is a Wikipedia entry on the keyword used in the search. Often times I have wanted a definition as well as sites that used a term I was searching for and with this add-on I am able to have links to websites featuring the searched term as well as any related Wikipedia entries. I will definitely use this feature often and so excited about this time saving feature in search results. Thanks Google!

A few minutes ago I was reading an email containing my daily Diigo update and a bookmark from my Project Based Learning Group that submitted the blog site, “Wikis for Everyone“. The post, “A Classroom Wiki Webquest“, caught my attention featuring a teacher conducting a wiki webquest with her students about rock and roll musicians.

“For their first project, they created a Webquest about the 1980’s rock and roll scene. “Students were required to research about music in the 1980s and design a rock exhibit for a rock and roll museum. Students worked in groups to create various products – feature articles, press releases, teaching and student guides, and museum calendars – explaining the exhibit highlights.”

This project led to a project on the 50 greatest rockers resulting in the creation of a project wiki. The “RockWriteListen” wiki is laid out well with an introduction to the project, a webquest and student products. This was so awesome to see the extent and detailed length the wiki was utlized to facilitate this project. Initially, instruction on how to use the wiki and communicate expectations to the students took place.

“There had to be an entire mini-lesson on what was an appropriate response in the discussion section. The experience was useful. Looking though the discussions you will find that a lot of the students had great insights to add. And this insight went beyond `great page, cool graphics.”

Laying the foundation with clear expectations communicated is essential to the success of any project and as elaborate as this project became it was a necessary component that had to be woven into the instruction of the content as well. The teacher featured commented how the students had to work together to complete the components of the webquest project. Eventually, the teacher structured the 50 greatest rockers project so that each student was responsible for editing his/her own page.

Using wikis to their fullest potential is like venturing into new territory. You blaze a trail and learn from trial and error of ways to better facilitate and structure group projects such as those mentioned in the post. The teacher commented that using the wiki really expanded the learning opportunities and she also participated in the learning process.

“As for photobuckets and other widgets, the students really showed me how to do that. Once one student started it, I asked how to do it, then taught other students. We were learning from each other – myself included.”

That comment really struck with me. Students look to us to know all of the answers to their every question. Many teachers feel insecure about saying that they don’t know the answer but this is real world learning. This teacher took a risk, her students took risks and an outstanding project resulted that focused on content but provide so many rich, real learning experiences that is greatly needed for the 21st century flattened world.

It’s about time! Crazy things have happened and I am now able to devote some time to posting to this blog. Keep checking in or even suggest a topic or question that you would like to see discussed in this forum. I am currently investigating the use of an wiki set up by professional educators to discuss current topics in technology education and the framework “Understanding by Design” to reform and promote positive change in schools.

Taken from the Wiki defining Understanding by Design is:

Understanding by Design is a method for planning using backward design — visualizing the end result (what students should understand) before selecting learning activities.

The link to the wikispace is: http://ubdeducators.wikispaces.com/. Check it out and experience a different form of professional discourse and collaboration. What are your thoughts?