Thursday, February 3, 2011

Week 3 - Wiki Stuff


    Well, perhaps I’m beginning to warm up to this Web 2.0 technology.  The blogging and the RSS feed set-up left me a little unsure, but this weeks Wiki activity has definitely perked my interest.  The pages were very easy to set up, and the experience immediately got me thinking about how I might use a Wiki page in my own classroom (more about that later).  
    I really enjoyed the O’Reilly article, although I did, at times, feel like it was a little over my head.  I’ve always been a casual user of the Internet, so a discussion about the inner workings of the technology used to create it, seemed a little daunting. 
The language and terminology took me a minute to wrap my brain around, but I’m starting to get it. 
    I also enjoyed  “The Machine is Us” video.    Very clever and well produced.  I’ve been working with imovie lately, and I am really starting to understand the power of well-made presentations. 
    As an Art teacher, I can imagine a number of uses for a Wiki page.  I teach multiple classes, usually at least four different preps per trimester.  I could set up a Wiki page of information for each class, as well as links to sites of interest for students.  My students use the Internet almost daily for research, so a Wiki page could be a useful collection point for regularly visited sites.  A Wiki page might also be a great place to set up emergency lesson plans for unplanned absences.  I could set-up and outline an activity from home and post it to the page.  A substitute could direct students to the page and have them post activity answers/results that I could review and grade from home.  A Wiki page would also be a great place for me to display student artwork, along with links to sites with information related to student projects.
    In general, I like the idea of Wiki pages. It was easy to set up, and I could see myself really getting into using it for my classes.  I have a lot of scattered information and websites that I like to use for different lessons.  A Wiki page would be a great way to organize all of my web-based information and experiences.  

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