I am excited to begin releasing control of our class wiki. Last year I jumped into it, and tossed kids into the deep end. For the most part, it was successful as judged by the content posted. This year I decided to release control a little differently. Previously I trained kids on an individual/small group basis. Those kids would later become trainers, and it worked fairly well.
This year I opted for login instructions. Kids would be able to log themselves in, then use the practice pages to get familiar with the text editor in PB Works. I made 11 copies of the directions, and had kids work in pairs to log in and complete one of the practice pages (they're all the same). The goal being that kids would all be able to log in and add text information to the wiki. As a whole that was really great, with the next step being learning how to add pictures to the site.
While it isn't perfect, I'm confident that kids will know the basis information needed to be turned loose on the wiki. That opens up a whole end of extension work which should be fantastic.
I am a teacher in training and just learning about Wiki now. At first I thought it was difficult to see how Wiki would be useful and that was probably because I was struggling to figure it out. Now, however, I see how much reading other blogs and resonding is beneficial to my learning. It expands my scope and when I respond I synthesize my thoughts. I think blogging opens up many avenues for learning and for kids it opens up the world to them.
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