Tracy+Craker

Tracy's Page

I am not sure if I am suppose to put my reflection here or if I am to reply to your post (Emily). I replied to your post.

My initial thoughts are that I am certainly behind the times! I was fascinated by Richardson's Web 2.0 thoughts. I earned my MEPD from UW-L in 2007 and as we talked about technology, we did not even begin to talk about this. I really need to start rethinking the way I teach. While I respect his vision, I am not confident that education can move forward in the way he feels necessary. Cindy, I don't think it will be able to move forward at the present time. One reason is the economic difficulties which we are facing right now. School districts are facing deficits in their budgets and parents are having difficult times, too. Also, I feel we need to move away from the standardized tests and teaching to them. Really thinking about the idea of writing for "connective" purpose is new to me. I can see that this could be really motivating for students while expanding content and resources. I also agree with Richardson's comments that students need to be taught how to read in a "hypertext environment." I know that I need to learn this skill as well! It seems as I start to read and follow hpertext I am suddenly far removed from my original path. My mind is beginning to think about ways that I could use wikis to expand discussion in my classes - but I know that I am still stuck in how to blend this into my current teaching style. I am not prepared to change my whole pedagogy for the 21st century. I thought the YouTube video on Wikis in Plain English was a great overview. My initial thought is that it would be somewhat scary to have the "content" changing all the time - in a classroom setting. The Teaching with Wiki youtube did clarify some things for me - I like that she mentioned establishing some clear rules and instructions upfront. The idea of each student having his/her own page was also interesting to me - so I am glad that we are seeing that in this class. It seems a little time consuming to me to have to open everyone's page though. I can see having my Practicum students using Wikis to record their daily reflections/journaling.
 * Tracy, yes, put your reflection on this page. Check the assignment page of BlackBoard, where you will find all the directions for where to post, etc. In the past we just used the Discussion Board of BlackBoard, but the teachers all liked the wiki better, so most of the responses will be put here. **

Cindy, I like the idea of using the wiki for daily journals. Less papers to keep track of and you don't have to lug the journals home to check, just get on your wiki at home. Jenny: What a great idea to have students use the wiki for journaling! Emmy: Interesting reflection, Tracy. I want to assure you that you are not alone in your initial thinking. Seeing a new technology always presents the immediate challenge of how to fit into present practice and/or re-think present practice. Wea re all understandably reluctant to abandon what we know has worked and leap to something that has not been proven ove the years. There are small ways to start. Group projects, such as small groups in charge of vocabulay words - representing their meanings in multi-media ways, or small grouos problem-solving collaboratively on a shared page, small groups using a page as a forum for reflection on a given question, etc.

Tracy: Wikipedia in the classroom -- A couple of random thoughts -- Will Richardson -- while I have liked reading his works for this class ( I had not heard of him before), I do get a little concerned that he has been referred to in other articles as well as his own works. My questions for further research -- do other people disagree with him? Are there other leaders in this field?

Emmy: Here are a few other sources that I like: Google "wikis in education" as well. ===‍** [|Possibilities for 21st Century Education] **=== Jamie McKenzie is an excellent source for sanity on integrating technology into the classroom FNOis an online journal. [|Writing in the 21st Century: NCTE Guidelines] :Don't design your collaborative writing lessons without visiting this site. Read the article by NCTE Past President, Kathleen Blake Yancey Alan November is always a good source for technology in the classroom.
 * [|Moving Toward Web 2.0 in K-12 Education | Britannica Blog] **

I learned several new things in the "New Culture" article - specifically about "The Hate Directory" and the Alta Vista search engine with "link" - more things for me to follow-up on.

A random question for Emmy -- I have not been able to find a spell check within the page - is this correct? Emmy: Right. Not yet... Sometimes people write lengthy pieces in Word first. Jenny: Good to know about writing in Word first to utilize spell check.

Now, on to wikipedia. I agree with several posts that I read on the PBS teachers site regarding use of wikipedia as a first source to learn a general outline of the subject, but then to research other sources to back up the research and to acutally use as the reference sources. This is what I encourge my students to do. I do think it has value, as Richardson pointed out, because it is the most current. I also agree that reading and researching, in any format, needs a great deal of critical thinking. I believe that on the internet this is increasingly necessary and challenging. How does anyone really deteremine if a site is worthy or not. There are so many competing viewpoints out there on almost every subject. If a site does not validate your thoughts, does that mean it is not worthy? Cindy, Good question. The answer is difficult to find. The different viewpoints would open a person's mind to the different possiblities but someone with a narrow viewpoint would dismiss any new possiblities. Listen to the news media and there are so many different viewpoints on presidential politics. Maybe all this available information on the internet has just made some people more entrenched in their views and that is why we have so much fighting in our government.

Wikipedia gradually accepted in college classroom I found this article when I googled for college use of wikipedia. It agrees with the ideas in the above paragraph. I do also like that some schools are actually trying to "fix" articles to make them more accurate. This would be an interesting class project. However, after you did it - there is no way to keep it accurate into the future.

I also really agree with the New Culture article ideas of "automating" vs. "informating." As I said in my first post - I think my thoughts at this time are automating. Informating will come much slower for me. Cindy, When will the automating stop and we can begin informating. Everyday it seems as if something new is being invented and we are trying to learn to use that device.

Question for Emmy -- I have created a wiki. Do you want to see the link now, or when it is completed for you and others to view? Thanks!

Emmy: You can invite me anytime. I will check in periodically.

Questions, Tips, problems, Triumphs

I am struggling with the technology learning curve -- or the time to learn about all the items. I was fascinated with "Best Embeds for Educational Wikis and Blogs" and "cool tools for Schools" - I had no idea all of these things existed! I went to explore the bubbl.us site. I think this is a wonderful tool in itself, but I spent a lot of time playing with it and still am not really sure how I would use it in my wiki. From what I can see, once I embed it, it is no longer changeable. I would like to have this tool available for the students to continue to add to the web. I could add the link so the students could register to the site and create there -- but somehow to me that seems to lose the purpose of the wiki. Other new to me items that I want to continue to explore are glogster, voki, and animoto.

**Emmy: Good insight! Some of those Embeds, such as Glogster, Animoto and Wordle are meant to be embedded when they have become a final product for sharing. The wiki can be a place for sharing final student projects, too, if you want to use it that way and get student feedback.**

The "Getting Tricky" wiki was also a little overwhelming to me right now. Maybe in a year or two I will be ready to get tricky!

I am also struggling with the way the pages are organized on the wiki. If I start a page for a specific class and then want all of the students to have their own page on that - I am confused about the order..... Iam still playing and I need to reread the document "working with Wikispaces". I know it was addressed there. I just can't seem to get the picture in my head.

Emmy: Go to the section called **"User Creator" (this is under "Manage Wiki", available if you have requested your free teacher subscription upgrade)** which allows you to invite students, so that you can create a page for them and they can contribute to the pages of other students. //Let me know if you have trouble with this.//

Emmy: I think everybody has the same experience of learning the technology first, then figuring out how to integrate it into what you teach/do. It is a longer runway because it requires re-thinking of what we do as teachers and how we do it with the new tools.

Changing Teaching and Learning

I do see this tool as having a tremendous impact on the way teachers and students collaborate. I am also really excited about the ways that parents can be involved in the school setting, both in general communication/organization and in the actual learning process. Coming from an Early Education perspective with a background in Head Start, parent involvement has always been important to me. I can see this tool opening up many avenues. I certainly will be addressing it in my Family and Community Relations class.

Also coming from a Head Start background, I am concerned about the education gap increasing for lower socio-economic children. Many rural areas do not yet have high speed internet. How well will the wikis with all of the embedded content work on dial-up?

I think it would also be a great way to involve a "community expert." Although a person may not always have the time or ability to come into a classroom, having someone available to add important real world content information would certainly make the material come to life. This may help bring an expert to a rural school that otherwise would not be able to do this.

I also am cautious that this is still only ONE tool. I feel a successful teacher has to have many tools in the box. While there are many embeds that will reach various learning styles, there are still those chidlren who may need more concrete, hands-on materials and may need lots of practice with group social interactions. I am somewaht afraid that we will someday lose classrooms altogether. I do not think this is good for students.

In Richardson's "Read/Write/Web" part 2 youtube and "Footprints in the Digital Age" he talks about no longer needing file cabinets as everything is saved on the web. I think it will be very interesting in a few years to goggle someone and see all of the web references they will have. As students start posting/creating items at earlier ages there will be almost an "online portfolio" of their development. Will this be the job reference check of the future? At the college level, where we are already discussing "intellectual property," I see this as only getting more complex.

I do see that technology CAN be a way to really engage students in the learning process. I still struggle with WILL it really be used this way. It is obvious from looking at some of the "Best Educational Wikis" that there are really excellent teachers out there doing just that.

I think my wiki is up and running - come check it out Tracy's wiki -- I don't have emails to invite you personally, except for Emmy. I would love feedback! from Mickey: I love the Wiki Tracy! Nice job with the pictures and videos! The sax player must have been neat to see. ( I noticed on the first page you must have wanted to type the word under and it is there as uder.) I am excited to try this. After a long week at work, I am finally getting to actually play and explore today. Wish me luck! Tracy: Thanks for the correction! Good luck with yours. It was fun to play but frustrating at times. It easily sucks you in to a lot of time!

Am I correct in thinking that if I gave a prospective student the link to my wiki, but did not "invite" them, that they could view the wiki and use the discussion tab, but not actually be able to edit the page because they are not a member? **Emmy: If you invite someone, they become a member of your wiki and can edit any page that isn't locked, so the solution is to lock the pages that you don't want them to be able to alter.** HELP! - I added student pages under one of my pages -- like you did here Emmy - so that my page only shows up under Viterbo. I used a template to create students pages for each class member that looked the same. But as one person made a comment on a page - the comment changed on everyone's page - not want I wanted. So I deleted that to start over and now I can't remember what I did. When I try now, the page shows up under the whole navigation page - and not just within the one page I wanted. Can you remind me what I did?

**Emmy: Did my email on "Edit Navigation" help you with this? You will find it in the handout as well.**

**Mickey: I know that I can view my daughter's teacher's wiki...I think we just followed a link from the school's web site. Is that a way that I can have my students have access? I would have to add over 300 e-mails to do an invite....any ideas?** **Tracy: I do believe that you can just follow a link to access a wiki rather than enter all of the emails. I think if you access a site this way - the creator MAY have to "Accept" you before you can edit a page.**