Blogs and Wikis in Education

Wikis and blogs have a vast arrange of opportunities to use within the classroom. One exciting and interesting way to use a blog is by having classrooms across the world interact with each other. This creates the student to be more excited and motivated to learn the subject and lesson at hand. This can also create the students to hear different perspectives on what they are learning due to the diversity between the two locations. Another amazing feature that the blog can provide is ability to hear every student’s ideas and thoughts on a subject. When doing a discussion within the class about a topic only a few of the students will be able to be heard. On a blog every student can write their thoughts on the subject. Wikis also have innovated ways to be used as well. As a math teacher I can create a wiki that allows students to go online and help each other solve a problem. If one student is unable to solve a problem another student could help them by putting a step by step process on how to solve it. It is through this communication that will allow them to do better within the class.

RSS can also be a very helpful tool for not only the teacher but the student as well. One way a teacher can benefit from RSS is through the ability to view student’s weblogs easily. Instead of having to check all the students weblogs every day the teacher can collect their work through the aggregator in his/her feed. This can cut the time for the teacher and still allow the teacher to make comments on the students work when needed. This can be beneficial for the student in the many project and assignments they receive. Students can use RSS to receive information on a project they are doing. So let’s say that Fred is working on a World War II project he can use RSS to provide him with needed information to finish the project. RSS is a great source of organization and getting the information needed.

Using blogs and wikis have many benefits and disadvantages in a classroom. One benefit of using a wiki within a classroom is the easy access for all students to communicate with one another. If the students are doing a group project using email can become a confusing and limited source. When using email only the students who are sent the information will get it and when responding only the one person who sent it will get it back. This is why wiki is so beneficial. When on the wiki every person within the group is able to see the information on the page, this includes new information that is added through time. However, since each student has access to the page it can be easy for someone to mess with the information on it, including erasing important documents. This is where trust will need to be demonstrated within the group. A benefit of a blog is their ability to have ownership and identity of their education. Most blogs allow a student to personalize their page and give their thoughts and ideas on a topic. Not only that, but a blog can provide a student to be more responsible of their own education due to the fact that most of the time they will be doing a post while at home. One problem of the blog and wiki is the fact that some students will not have easy access to a computer. There will be students who do not have a computer at home which could create difficulty to keep up with the posts the teacher wants them to do. Overall, wikis and blogs can be a very useful tool for the classroom when used right.