Blog 5: How to use Wikis in the Classroom

Wikipedia logo

A wiki is a web site which allows visitors to participate in creating or editing the actual web site without any special technical knowledge or tools. Since visitors can participate in this website through editing, a wiki is constantly "under revision." An example of a wiki, is Wiki-pedia which is an online encyclopedia which has millions of authors and editors. People all over use wikis in order to collaborate on projects and ideas. Some jobs that use wikis include researchers, travel journals, clubs, chefs writing books, and many more. Wikis are right now most common in the college level. The most potential of wikis, "lies in student participation in the ongoing creation and evolution of the wiki."

One way a wiki can be used in an early childhood classroom is to collaborate on book reviews or author studies. Another is to create a family twadition-wiki. This is where elementary students could share their family's traditions of preparing for a holiday such as Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays,

etc. then compare this family's traditions with other cultures as they read and learn about them. Finally, a wiki can be used to take a virtual tour of the school and for the children to study their community throughout the elementary grades. I will use wiki's in my future early childhood education classroom. I believe that wiki's could be a great tool for presenting ideas to parents in my classroom. As a teacher I want to have high parent involvement in my classroom. I would use a wiki to post about a topic or idea that we would be learning in the next few weeks, then a parents can add other ideas, activities, or just general information in order to participate with their children's education as well as the classroom.

Blog 4: Interactive Whiteboard Research Base (iBook)

As technology advances, the more influence that it will have upon the education within a classroom.

With this increase in technology, it causes teachers to stay up to date on current technologies which means extra training. In the iBook by Blanch O'bannon, "Effective Use of Interactive Whiteboards" discusses the use of interactive whiteboards in the classroom and how they have effects on student achievement.

According to O'bannon, interactive whiteboards provide a way for the teacher to "create interactivity for your students to get them actively involved with the learning". Some ways that interactive white boards have been proven to have positive effects on students learning is through: highlighting, coloring, annotating, or zooming content, hiding/revealing texts, matching items, importing pictures, shared reading, peer teaching, providing feedback, and by utilizing student response systems. There are many instructional benefits to using interactive whiteboards such as being an active learning, classroom management support, lesson organization, and flexibility with lesson materials. There are some instructional challenges with using interactive white boards in the classroom. Teachers need to be trained in using interactive white boards, if the teacher doesn't know how to use it correctly it can cause classroom management issues. With this issue and lack of knowledge on using the white board, the teacher could waste time trying to get the whiteboard to work instead of teaching the children the material that they need to know. Research shows that in order for the interactive whiteboard to be used appropriately and successfully in the classroom then there needs to be training before.

After reading Chapter 1, it was made very clear to me that interactive white boards can support academic achievement in students but it can also be very difficult to use. If a teacher is trained correctly then it can be a positive addition to the classroom. I hope to have the proper training in the use of interactive whiteboards so I can use it to support my students learning.