Projects in the Mix
Here is what I have in mind and on my mind....
(1) Science Bearings. This is a webpaint wiki to cover all the high school sciences that I teach. I teach all the high school sciences, the wiki currently shows the courses for the upcoming year. I don't know what I would do to a dormant class? Remove physics next year when I add APES? Well the wiki is an experiment in allowing students to do the legwork in finding resources for at topic as well as using all those hours on youtube for good (mine) versus .... It takes me too long to find perfect videos on topics --it is their turn! I have tied to the wiki to a google calendar so I can post test and project dates as well as add all those extracurricular events in that can conflict.I AM FRUSTRATED to the max as I have applied 4 times in 3 weeks to upgraded to an education site (removes adds, but more importantly gives me 250 documents I can attach which is a real value in providing access to handouts online). I've no real idea where the wiki will go, but I do want to provide my students with this experience as the school has no teacher web pages or wikis available.
(2) Glogster. I am going out on a limb here with glogster. It is the home page of my wiki so that students will be intrigued by it (or not). The ultimate purpose of glogster is to create a collection of 'lab make-up' opportunities. I had thought of doing this with a podcast, screencast of some sort, but I really want students to create these make-up devices for me. As I am not near my lab this summer I created a sample one based on what I could get online. If you go to drinking bird under make-up labs in physics you can see what I envision. The page would include a video component (via my classroom Flip camera). It would include the main purpose and lab objectives as well as sample data. Students missing the lab would be provided enough content on the glog to experience the lab's purpose and flavor and write an abbreviated lab. I may start this with physics students as they are most lab experienced and assign different labs to teams to glog throughout the year. I like that the video component is there as well as a design component --both graphic and logic..in deciding what to include.
(3) Stuff from week 6. I am counting my safety screen cast as a project. It took enough time, and I am putting it on the chemistry area of the wiki. I plan to use VoiceThread as well. It will likely show up first in the cytology area of biology. I hope VoiceThread will prove promising.
(d) Extra stuff. I am organizing my delicious account. This is enough without changing over to Diigo. See what Marta finds regarding that. I use berrendsci if you ever want in to it. It ain't cleaned up yet.
Note that the wiki is in progress, and the VoiceThread is not there as of this post nor are any documents yet linked.....
Should a class wiki be closed or open to the public? I am wrestling with this at the moment and would appreciate any advice!
(1) Science Bearings. This is a webpaint wiki to cover all the high school sciences that I teach. I teach all the high school sciences, the wiki currently shows the courses for the upcoming year. I don't know what I would do to a dormant class? Remove physics next year when I add APES? Well the wiki is an experiment in allowing students to do the legwork in finding resources for at topic as well as using all those hours on youtube for good (mine) versus .... It takes me too long to find perfect videos on topics --it is their turn! I have tied to the wiki to a google calendar so I can post test and project dates as well as add all those extracurricular events in that can conflict.I AM FRUSTRATED to the max as I have applied 4 times in 3 weeks to upgraded to an education site (removes adds, but more importantly gives me 250 documents I can attach which is a real value in providing access to handouts online). I've no real idea where the wiki will go, but I do want to provide my students with this experience as the school has no teacher web pages or wikis available.
(2) Glogster. I am going out on a limb here with glogster. It is the home page of my wiki so that students will be intrigued by it (or not). The ultimate purpose of glogster is to create a collection of 'lab make-up' opportunities. I had thought of doing this with a podcast, screencast of some sort, but I really want students to create these make-up devices for me. As I am not near my lab this summer I created a sample one based on what I could get online. If you go to drinking bird under make-up labs in physics you can see what I envision. The page would include a video component (via my classroom Flip camera). It would include the main purpose and lab objectives as well as sample data. Students missing the lab would be provided enough content on the glog to experience the lab's purpose and flavor and write an abbreviated lab. I may start this with physics students as they are most lab experienced and assign different labs to teams to glog throughout the year. I like that the video component is there as well as a design component --both graphic and logic..in deciding what to include.
(3) Stuff from week 6. I am counting my safety screen cast as a project. It took enough time, and I am putting it on the chemistry area of the wiki. I plan to use VoiceThread as well. It will likely show up first in the cytology area of biology. I hope VoiceThread will prove promising.
(d) Extra stuff. I am organizing my delicious account. This is enough without changing over to Diigo. See what Marta finds regarding that. I use berrendsci if you ever want in to it. It ain't cleaned up yet.
Note that the wiki is in progress, and the VoiceThread is not there as of this post nor are any documents yet linked.....
Should a class wiki be closed or open to the public? I am wrestling with this at the moment and would appreciate any advice!
Given my somewhat paranoid nature concerning what can happen to anything on line, I think a class wiki should be closed. I already live in anticipation of the day when somebody says, "I put the assignment on the wiki, and somebody else deleted or changed it." I guess there should be a way to track through all the changes, but if there isn't, the fewer people who could be involved the better. I also still am working under guidance from my last school that pretty much never wanted student names associated with too much about them. I can also see a situation where the private wiki saves the student some grief from perhaps over involved parents, who might just browse the page to see what their child produced (and how it compared to the other students' work).
ReplyDeleteFor some, I am sure the question to be considered is what do you gain from a public place? For me, the gains have to be enormous to overcome the many potential pitfalls.
I'm with Tom. The fact the we have all of this wonderful technology in many cases makes us vulnerable to situations that we can avoid by keeping access to only those who are directly involved in the educational exchange between teacher and student. Allowing "all access" is great for concerts, but I'm not so sure about all the things we have worked on. It's unfortunate that we have to think this way, but as Cronkite would say, "That's the way it is."
ReplyDeleteI chose EditMe as the host for my website/wiki/blog for the very reason being discussed here. I control who can change what pages (for example, I am the only one who can edit my biography page) and can allow only those persons I wish to use or view the page(s) to register.
ReplyDeleteI was leaning to making my blog private. I hadn't thought of theparent angle, but it makes sense. I will privatize my wiki once the class has had time to view it. I appreciate you all helping me think through this.
ReplyDeleteSusan, Great idea for the google calendar. Make up lab ideas are good too. I think a closed wiki is the way to go. Students could add things and you could check them before posting.
ReplyDeleteMy thoughts are similiar - I had played with the idea of opening access to all the classes I teach. (I usually have 3 of the same subject/ classes and think that the discussions could be expanded - not limited to a single class.) However, I agree to not make it public to all.
ReplyDelete