Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts ...

My absolutely favorite way I have incorporated technology so far would have to be the wiki that my honors class has created. Their learning has grown so tremendously over the course of the year, and I feel it is directly linked to the fact that they can learn from each other and have a live audience. In addition, this site will be accessible to them a few years down the road when they take the AP test. On this site, they have basically created their own cliff notes, but they also have to answer a thread discussion post every week. This usually has to do with something we are learning in class. They then are able to demonstrate their learning or acquire more practice through the thread discussion. During trimester 3, they are doing podcasts and this will also be linked to their novel page.
What I would change about this project, is that I would not do blogs during trimester 2. Rather I would incorporate podcasting during trimester 2. I would also do a lot more with teaching them about my availabilty. For example, they will often instant message me on the wiki and ask questions. When they do this at 9 p.m. and I don't respond they are genuinely confounded. They are also perplexed if I don't check it on a nightly basis or at all times on the weekend. This trimester, I have been working on having them realize that I will try and check it by 7:30 p.m. on weeknights or by noon on Sundays but not again after these times.

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