3.1 Web 2.0 | Websites

I have made websites before. I think teaching students the structure of HTML is a useful learning tool in itself. Websites are made up of headings, lists, tables, paragraphs, and links. I feel that by writing their own HTML, young learners would develop a sound idea of how information is structured.

Be that as it may, I also understand that some of the presentation (CSS) and interactive (e.g. JavaScript) components of websites are simply too difficult to teach to primary school students. This is where a platform like Weebly comes in handy. With its drag and drop interface, students can build a sophisticated website in a matter of minutes. I was most impressed with the interactive features that can be easily added to a web page (e.g. polls, forums, slideshows, image galleries).  

I think of websites as being a modern day alternative to the projects presented on big pieces of cardboard that were so popular back when I was in primary school. It would also be a good tool for report writing, where the order and structure of information can be enhanced  by hyperlinks.

Here is a PMI list of the role a website could play within a learning context:

PLUS	MINUS	IMPLICATIONS
Structured content Link to other pages and websites Ability to embed multimedia (video, slideshows, music) Ability to add social media / email. Student authored	One way form of communication. Broken/ dead links. Technical difficulties (losing info).	Students present information in a multimodal form Central storage space. I.e. list links to blogs, wikis, email and the remainder of online presence. Effective presentation tool. Something to show to parents. Potential for teacher to upload material (as outlined in flipped learning video)

I had a little play with Weebly to create something that might be suitable for a primary school student to make. The result can be found here.

To sum up, here is a list of some possible ways websites could be used by students:

• Reports (science, history, news)
• Art gallery (can be enhanced with the slideshow feature)
• An assignment portfolio. Each page could be a different KLA. This would be a nice way to present student work to parents.
• Data gathering tool (using polls and forums). Create charts and graphs based on the results. 

Can you think of anything to add to the list? 

2.4 Reflection on Wiki Activity

During week two we were asked to participate in a wiki discussion group. The discussion focussed on mobile phone use in the classroom. We were asked to categorise our responses by way of De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats.

The wiki worked well for this exercise. I found it to be a fast collaborative tool. It provided an insight into each group member’s way of thinking. Reading the responses acted as an incentive to think deeper in order to come up with something new.

Listed below are some observations from my participation in the wiki activity:

Benefits

• Ease of use. Requires knowledge of only 3 buttons.
• Fast way to share information.
• Logical. (Structurally)
• Reasonably transparent collaborative tool.
• Work is stored in one location and is easily accessible.

Drawbacks

• Overwhelmed with the level of information. It was a lot to read at times.
• Difficult for everyone to contribute if the group size is too large or the subject scope is too narrow.

Issues

• Editing. Potential to erase other posts
• Timing issues. Two people can’t work on a page at the same time.
• Readability. Choice of font colour made it difficult to read some posts. Name on left side did not match up with postings on the right. Had to keep scrolling up to see who wrote what.
• Ethical issues. Specifically, respecting the contribution of other group members.  

These observations made me realise the importance of teacher involvement. If I was going to use a wiki as a learning tool, I would pay particular attention to the following:

• Implementing guidelines (i.e. font color and size, word limit, etc),
• Monitoring the information,
• Encouraging effective group communication,
• Helping students develop a plan of attack (i.e. who works on what, and when),
• Reinforcing good ‘netiquette.’  

Arguments can be made as to how the wiki forum relates to each of the learning theories. However, I feel as though it aligns itself most to Social Constructivism and Connectivism. I have spoken about Connectivism in a previous post. A wiki provides a place for the storing and sharing of information, a key feature of Connectivist theory.

Social Constructivism theorises that learning develops as a social practice (Ford & Lott). Through interacting with others, a learner is able to build upon their knowledge, resulting in a higher level of understanding about a topic. The wiki certainly facilitated this type of learning. The Six Thinking Hats scaffold allowed the debate about mobile phone usage to be discussed from a variety of angles. While it is possible that this learning activity could have been achieved just as effectively as a classroom discussion, the use of the wiki extends the potential for learning. Students from all over the world could have been invited to participate in the mobile phone discussion. This could have provided a global insight into the discussion.

In all, I found a wiki to be an effective tool for collaboration. It certainly provides an opportunity for rich and diverse learning experiences. Students can become their own content creators and can share knowledge with one another. However, time and care needs to be taken by the teacher in order to effectively manage this type of learning.       

Reference:

Ford, K & Lott, L. (n.d.) The impact of technology on constructivist pedagogies. Retrieved from: https://sites.google.com/a/boisestate.edu/edtechtheories/the-impact-of-technology-on-constructivist-pedagogies-1