Using blogs and wikis in the classroom can promote 21st century skills by benefiting educators, students and parents. Educators can post information for their colleagues as well as their students. They can make information more readily available for students by organizing links or specific information into one webpage. They can share information with the parents about what is going on within the classroom by having a weekly blog, classroom letter, etc. The students can also work towards compiling information about various topics individually, as a group or as a class into different wiki pages or blogs. There are many different ways that wikis and blogs can be used, and with the expansion of capabilities that they have, the possibilities are expanding as well.
A good way of explaining how blogs are used meaningfully in a classroom is based off of the response that is received from it. If the other educators, students or parents respond in a positive manner, then the blog has been effective. Warlick talks about teachers’ blogs using RSS (Rich Site Summary) and how “with aggregation software, students, parents, administrators and other teachers can subscribe and have the freshly written blog entries immediately and automatically delivered to their desktops.” Having this available could open an entirely new line of communication between educators and parents, as well as parental involvement. There is a fine line of what can be shared on the public Internet, but by creating a private blog, it is possible to allow the students to have their own blogs for their parents and teacher to read. Another way to determine if they are being used meaningfully is by how the students are using the materials and resources available.
Teaching Digital Citizenship is important because it prepares students for their future relationships with Web 2.0 technologies. As an educator, Lindsay and Davis claim that you have to follow a few steps to becoming effective with digital citizenship. You have to have a plan, because negative things are bound to happen with all of the information that is available for students to access. As a teacher, you have to be prepared ahead of time to prevent that from happening. Another step is “overcoming the fear factor” by testing your boundaries within the realm of digital citizenship with your students and seeing what they are capable of working with, understanding and learning from. You also have to be willing to “deal with objections” because not every consumer in your class will be in agreement with the material that is being covered, understand what is going on, or want to be involved with specific material. Another step is sometimes difficult for educators and causes them to test their personal boundaries by “straying off topic.” This is a step that I find to be questionable because you have to only do this within reason. Students are very smart and will create their own paths of exploration when given the option on the computer. This will allow them to have the ability to expand their digital citizenship skills while the teacher is making sure it is appropriate. The last step is to “put learning in the hands of the students.” This is positive because one of the most effective ways for students to learn and retain information is through self-exploration.
Another method that is effective for digital citizenship is discussed in the article “Passport to Digital Citizenship.” Ribble states that having students discuss and reflect on the material that they have looked at or learned about will help them to retain the information and analyze its importance. The article provides a format for students to work towards a reflection. This reflection is made up of four steps: awareness, guided practice, modeling and demonstration, and feedback and analysis. Through these steps, the author claims that it will be a good start to the beginning of a discussion/reflection. They also bring up the point of involving the parents and community.
Digital Citizenship was practiced in my high school. Computer use was somewhat expected of the students, with the teachers wanting the papers and assignments to be typed, as well as wanting students to do research on the Internet. Having the freedom to explore the World Wide Web has its positives and negatives. It definitely benefited me into knowing what to look for in a reliable resource as well as using my time wisely when doing research. Web 2.0 tools are helping students with their digital citizenship more and more everyday as they are created, making them all more prepared to become digital citizens of the World Wide Web.
I agree that using blogs and wikis not only benefit the students, but it also benefits the teachers and the parents. I think that students really enjoy using any sort of technology and Web 2.0 tool in an educational way. It makes them think about the assignment in a different way and allows them to use something that they like to use when they are not in the classroom. By using these tools in the classroom, teachers have the opportunity to teach their students about digital citizenship, which you said was important. I agree that it is important and I also agree with you when you talked about how teachers can never prevent all negative things on the web. Teachers can not prevent inappropriate things from appearing on a search and they cannot always stop students from using other people's information as their own, but the teachers can teach and model the responsible way to use things like the internet. Digital citizenship can hopefully cut down on the negative things that happen while using technology.
ReplyDeleteYou make some very good points, Jessica. One thing I like that you mentioned is that it is difficult for teachers to be comfortable with students "straying off topic." A lot of teachers want to be in control all of the time because then they feel students won't get wrong information. However, isn't it a learning opportunity for students to figure out what is "good" information? Giving up some control is definitely key to helping students hone their digital citizenship skills like you say.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of blogging in the classroom. It gives students an authentic audience to produce writing for even if you are using a private blogging site. Providing a secure environment where outside users can't find your blog is probably the only way you'll get parents on board especially in an elementary situation, but students are still having their writing read by their peers, parents, and teacher. That is a much broader audience than composing something on paper and turning it into the teacher. Do you have any ideas for how you would use a blog/wiki with elementary science students?
I really like your views on how blogging can be used as a link to parents. I've heard from a couple professors now that parents will be watching us and wanting to be connected, and having the students and yourself blog seems like the way to go in regards to that connection. I also liked reading the Passport article and I still remembered the key points from reading it in 201. Digital Citizenship is a great thing to teach early so you can segway it into several other lessons. Having students blog about their digital citizenship would definitely promote 21st century skills along with reflection.
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