Blogs and Wikis in Education

This week, we were to look at different blogs and wikis, along with RSS readers and aggregators. In doing so, I was able to learn a number of things that I will be able to implement in my classroom.

When looking at different blogs and wikis, I saw that teachers were using them in very interesting ways. One teacher, one who teachers computer science, taught her students about how wikis work, and to assess their knowledge on wikis she had them make a wiki to prepare for a class that they were having trouble with. Other teachers told stories of how they would use their blogs for students to check what homework assignments they may have missed, or even to get links to websites that will help them on their current lesson. One other teacher talked about using their wiki for collaboration between students on projects, and for teachers to give each other notes for classes they are teaching.

When looking at RSS readers and aggregators, I noticed that they were practically the same thing. I think that I will be able to use these very well in the classroom, since I plan to have a blog and/or wiki for my students to access. I will have students subscribe to my blog and/or wiki and other sites I feel are appropriate for them and to make sure that they are doing so, I will ask them to write a review of a blog post, weekly.

I think that there are many good reasons to use blogs and wikis in the classroom. It is a good way to give student announcements for anything that may be coming up, along with tips for homework questions. Students can use wikis to collaborate with each other on homework projects. There are though some cons to these items. Some students will be distracted while in class using the computer, so there is no telling how involved they will be on the project. Also, outside of the classroom not all of the students will have the ability to access blogs or wikis, so putting too much emphasis on that in the classroom could result in some students getting left behind.