Digital Technologies One

According to Snowman (2009.p.414) "Blogs and Wikis are frequently updated web pages on which authors post short comments about any topic."

Wikis: 
"Similar to blogging's emphasis on 'free speech', the wiki environment is also based on democratic principles, as it gives equal right to all people to work jointly on a given document (Snowman. 2009)."  See here for my earlier posting on Wikis.

From my exploration of Wikis I have decided that they are a brilliant digital tool for collaborative learning.  My only past experience with a Wiki has been in a maths task where my partner and I had to use a Wiki to discuss and prepare the task.  The Wiki made it easy for us to work as a team in our own time as it gave us the ability to both edit the pages.  The Wiki was easy to use and was formatted in such a way that was both appealing and functional.  We were able to create as many pages as we needed, all which were very easily accessible, and edit each as we found more information on each topic.  It proved to be a great way to sort and share information that we found and ideas we came up with.

Just from this experience I am able to say confidently that Wikis are a wonderful digital learning tool as they are user friendly and are particularly good for group tasks.  If I were to use a wiki in a classroom context I would use it for a task where the students, as a group were required to find and share information.  This may be the lead up to writing a report or something similar.  It is an exceptional digital tool as it is also an easy way for the teacher to monitor and comment on students work.  In a Wiki it is easy for the teacher to see who within the group has contributed what.  This is a great way to make sure that everyone is getting involved and sharing the work load.

PMI: Wiki
Plus:

• Great collaborative learning tool
• Can be edited by a number of people
• Easily monitored by teacher
• Easy design

Minus:

•  If two people are editing at the same time only one persons will save
• 
  

Implications:

• If both people are editing the same page at the same time only one persons will save (this happened to my partner and I during our maths task) and so someone may loose what they were trying to contribute, or accidently save over the other persons as they are still editing the older version.
• Group work skills are developed
• Competence with ICT's is developed.

Blogs:
"Blogs started out as personalised chats, an area where every person with access to the Internet was able to publish anything they liked, for other people to see and engage with (Snowman. 2009.)." See here for my earlier posting on blogs. 

I am convinced of a blogs worth in the classroom.  As a digital tool it provides the students with a brilliant way to learn.  Blogs seem to have endless potential, they can be used as a class journal, with students taking it in turns (or even all just contributing ideas to the teacher or too one student) to make entries either on a topic that they are learning about, or to keep parents updated on their excursion/camp. 

Personally I think it would make a great digital learning tool for recording information as a class.  Say that the students had an individual task to write a report on a specific animal, the dolphin. As the students, as a class, learn about the dolphin they can post to their class blog the key information and ideas they may discuss.  So, on the day that the class is learning about a dolphins habitat the blogs heading can be labelled 'Habitats', the next may be 'Diet', 'Reproduction' and so on.  This allows allow of the information that the students gather to be culminated in a succinct and neat way.  Having all of the information on the blog means that it cannot be lost and that all students will have access to the same information.  It opens up the opportunity for students to work on their task at home, without the worry of losing the loose note sheets or leaving their book at home.

A blog could also be used for individual assignments.  The task may be for students to reflect on their learning and to give examples of where they may use the days learning in day to day life.  Students would have a different post for each day and the teacher would be able to monitor and make comments on this regularly.  As in the previous example this would also eliminate the  possibilities of books being left at home and not brought to school the next day.  It would also make the lessons flow as the teacher would be able to mark it on his/her own computer while the students carry on with their next activity.  Obviously with activities such as this students at such a young age cannot be expected to have access to the internet at home for every task and so, if such a task was to be given, the students would have to have access to such tasks during school time as well.

PMI: Blogs
Plus:

• Great digital learning tool for reporting information
• Can only be edited by the person with the username and password
• Videos and Pictures can be added
• Posts and posted in chronological order
• Easily monitored
• Can be personalised
• Can be commented on by other people
  

Minus:

• Not an ideal website for group work
• 
  

Implications:

• Great resource for doing 'diary like' entries.

Reference:

Snowman., Dobozy., Scevak., Bryer., Bartlett., & Beighler. (2009).  Psychology applied to teaching. 1^st australian edition. Milton., Qld: John Wiley & Sons Australia.