I can truly relate to Kane’s sentiments regarding the shift in teaching style that takes place once wikis are brought into the classroom. In the article, he states that the wiki “has become a really robust tool and has changed the way I teach, primarily because it means I am more of a guide to them rather than a lecturer. My job is to teach them how to navigate this information on the Web. The wiki is now the basis and the platform on which my class is based.” I spoke to my middle school students about this very idea today by explaining to them that my job is to teach them how to use the tools that will engage and excite them about knowledge acquisition. This, in contrast to the standard “sit there and let me tell you what you need to know” approach. Boring!

Active Knowledge Transfer and Collaboration

Students are also using the wiki space to provide each other with proofreading assistance – offering each other useful editing suggestions prior to turning in their work. Gates states that his review of those papers receiving peer editing help versus those not relieving it showed that the peer edited efforts typically garner higher grades. I was the resident “paper editor” for my dorm floor fresman year. While it provided me with a little pocket change — yes, I charged for my services — it sure would have been easier to ditch the hard copies for easily editable electronic versions! I imagine that students also benefit greatly from higher caliber work examples posted on the wiki site by more advanced researchers and writers in the class.

Something John Pederson mentioned the other day via one of his copious and very entertaining twitters (keep ‘em coming, John!) that wikis work so well for eduction because they allow for Just In Time (JIT) editing. While I share John’s impression that this feature also eggs on professor OCD tendencies, I can imagine no better way to relay current information to my students. The typical textbook takes two years to go from the draft to general readership stage. This fact alone makes the benefits of using wikis in the classroom crystal clear.

Technorati Tags: textbooks, wikis, school reform

Many of us here in the States, and some of you abroad, have been involved lately in extensive conversations on the issue of educators being slow to hear about much less adopt online social networking technologies. When I first heard about Moodle, I quickly learned of the wonderful progress Australia and New Zealand were making with it in their educational efforts. Moreover, I learned that students in these regions were truly being encouraged to actively participate in taking ownership of their own education! My first impression was that once again, the US educational system was being outclassed. Further discovery and conversations with area experts painted a slightly brighter picture, as I learned that there are numerous US educators using Moodle, Drupal, blogs, wikis, podcasting to enhance the learner experience. But are we doing enough?

David Warlick’s July 26th article detailing his findings regarding first year teachers and their familiarity with Web 2.0 technology painted a picture that seemed less optimistic than it was in all actuality. After stating that only two in attendance were bloggers, RSS was a mystery, and virtually no one knew what a wiki was, he followed up by saying that:

“It’s not a bad thing that these beginning teachers hadn’t heard of Web 2.0. They’re certainly doing it. Most of them IM, and have MySpace or Facebook (etc.) sites. They communicate online with individuals and groups, and they’ve used these conversations to teach and learn, though they probably haven’t thought of it that way.”

This leaves me with a feeling of hope. But hey, I’m a pretty optimistic guy! I guess I just believe that one by one, as the collaborative online learning and networking mechanism powers up in more and more classrooms, we’ll keep heading in the right direction – towards all things Web 2.0 settling into the realm of tried and true versus novel and experimental. Like many of the educators I have come to call friends and colleagues over the past couple of months, I will be starting and maintaining a consistent grass roots effort on my school campus. If I can encourage five teachers at Boone Middle School in Haines City, Florida to reach out to the world via even one community authored blog and a shared wiki (heck, throw in a podcast .. who knows!?), then that’ll be my little success story for the year. For if they in turn do the same, I think we might find ourselves making progress after all.

Technorati Tags: Web 2.0, collaborative learning, pedagogy

Great post, Kevin. Thanks for reminding me about Wesley Fryer. It’s about time I payed his blog a visit and his podcasts a listen.

Who do I look for when I’m seeking guidance and inspiration? My students. Definitely. and also my fellow bloggers who plug at it each day, asking difficult questions and sharing their experiences.

Am I a Web 2.0 teacher? I don’t know about that. I feel I am a teacher because a teacher works with students to help them create products that reflect their knowledge and their growth. Regardless of the media in which they do this. I personally use Web 2.0 ’stuff’ because it is authentic to how my students live and learn…and because I think it’s way cool! But I also have them use other technologies – like book-making and tactile arts because they are pretty cool too and because they still play a role in their lives.

Like I wrote at the beginning of this lengthy comment – great post!

cheers,
tracy

Comment by Tracy 08.06.07

What I hear Tracy stating is that we need not abandon traditionally accepted creative tools in favor of all things “Webby.” If you will remember from my Giving Up the Ghost article, I stated that Web 2.0 is as much a creative philosophy as it is a collection of technologies. Tracy is absolutely correct. I mean, think about it. Some of humankind’s most stunning innovations reference at least one landmark iteration that came before them. Throughout our history on this planet, one style or school of thought has built upon another, sometimes leaving the former behind – sometimes incorporating it into something familiar,yet altogether new. We have only to look at the Renaissance to find an example of this. The very word means “new birth,” and the period itself is wrought with artists, sculptors, and architects responsible for some of the world’s most famous creations who accomplished greatness by looking at the Classical past. From a technological perspective we can ask ourselves: How many wooden plows were made and refined before John Deere crafted the world’s first successful steel version?

How many of us have been in a school for more than a couple of years and have had to experience a new “flavor of the month” teaching methodology or system of tools for each of those years? I would urge us to remember Tracy’s point as we embrace the Web 2.0 philosophy. Move forward with blogs, wikis, podcasting, and screencasting with reckless abandon, but do take a moment to pull out a few trusty non-Webby tools should they prove useful in supplementing some of your ‘wired’ activities.

Closing Thoughts…

What do you think? Is there value in looking back to past teaching styles or methods? In what ways can you think to integrate classic or traditional creative practices with Web 2.0 technology? As you ponder your answer, take a look at Tracy’s Understanding the Machine post, which relays how she used a combination of traditional and Web 2.0 teaching methods to reach students no one else thought were reachable! Great work, Tracy. And thanks again for your comment.

Technorati Tags: web 2.0, applied arts, fine arts, creativity