by derrickwillard on June 14, 2010 at 8:23 am · Filed under blog, social media and tagged: the journey
Well, it is June, and I’m feeling the need for a walkabout…
Why take a hiatus from blogging? Well, I feel the pull to get outside more, to disconnect from this computer web and find a spider web. I’m a science teacher and outdoorsman, and I feel a need to exercise more than my eyes and fingers in front of this little glowing screen. Some bloggers I respect see Life 1.0 and Web 2.0 as seemless, but I have a hard time with that. Part of the beauty of the school year is the time to walk away and recharge. While a vacation does not help build a blog following, I gotta get away.
So, I’m leaving this blog post up for the summer as a signpost in hopes you’ll come back in August. Why come back? Well, I started this blog in January of this year as reflection tool and a “how-to” for teachers just beginning the journey into using social media in the classroom. My goal was to share, not to showboat. I say that because I know I have colleagues that might glance at a teacher’s blog and say, “that’s just showing-off!” Not so! The beauty of these relatively new software tools is that they allow us to connect, share, and collaborate. I learned how to do many of these social media projects (linked below) because another teacher shared “how-to” on his/her blog!
So, if you are a teacher that is just beginning the journey and finding my blog for the first time, I invite you to take a moment and explore some of the topics I’ve blogged about this year. I’ve really tried to stick to lessons learned from practical projects, not theoretical musings about the future of education. Here are some topics you might explore:
Personal Learning Networks
Using a Wiki for Exam Review
Guest Speakers via Skype
Using a Class Blog to Create a Blended Classroom
How Social Media Tools May Draw in Quiet Girls
If you have any questions about any of these projects, feel free to leave me a comment below. Or, if you have learned anything this year you want to share, leave me a comment below. Hope to see you back the first week of August. I usually get a blog post off each Monday.
Good luck on your journey!
*Wanna learn more about how to use social media for teaching and learning? Check out the Powerful Learning Practice web site today! New cohorts forming for the coming year! We are looking for partners in North Carolina. Email matt.scully@providenceday.org if interested.
by derrickwillard on June 7, 2010 at 9:22 am · Filed under facebook, social media and tagged: facebook, social media, students
In previous posts, I discussed how my high school students have used wikis and blogs for exam/test review. This spring, someone took using social media for exam review to a new level. Yes, this spring someone organized a national AP environmental science exam review on facebook.
APES "study group"
If you are on facebook, check it out. I did not participate, so I cannot speak to its success. I’m not sure the organizers tried to evaluate the effectiveness of the project. You can at least see the comments left by kids who did value the forum.
by derrickwillard on June 1, 2010 at 1:44 pm · Filed under social media, wiki and tagged: social media, student work, wiki
In a previous post, I explained how I use a class wiki to review for the end of semester exam. So, the project is over and I thought I would share student impressions of the project. Only 9 of 15 students in this particular class (non-AP environmental science) left comments about the wiki review project on the end of course survey, but here they are (good and bad)…
Writing Prompt: Please comment on the usefulness of a wiki to prepare for either semester exam. If useful, what makes it so? If not, explain also.
“1. The wiki was really useful to me due to the fact that it not only forced you to review, but it also, through having to ask questions and correct other wiki pages, made me feel more comfortable about the information because if something wasn’t accurate of if something was missing, you, or someone else, would point it out.
2. It seems like something that goes without saying, but the wiki is only as useful as the students make it. if there isn’t a lot of solid work put in, it’s not going to be effective at all.
3. It was useful.
4. Yes. Forces us to become experts on a topic and comment on others.
5. I enjoyed the wiki, it was very useful to read over before the exam. All the important material in on place was nice.
6. I don’t think the wiki is that useful to prepare for the exam. I think it just creates more stress on the students because it is one more thing to do.
7. Very useful – however, I think that the commenting part should be less pushed (no deadlines or anything) just because I’ve seen a lot of people simply posting comments for the credit.
8. Good communal resource where we get a different perspective on the same issues we’ve learned about.
9. I think the first semester wiki was more helpful in preparing us for the exam. Perhaps, the students had more time to write/review/study the wiki pages first semester? It is useful because it highlights key points and important information for the students to know for the exam.”
This same group of students completed a similar project to review 1st semester topics in December of 2009. While I’ve removed that older wiki site, here is their feedback from that project:
- Student Feedback on Exam Review Wiki (Click to Enlarge)
And, I just love this comment from the 1st semester project:
“Hearing the ways that other people in the class phrased things on the wiki really helped me a lot. For some reason, when I don’t understand something it usually helps me when another student expresses it to me in their more simplified version as a refresher, rather than hearing it again in the word-for-word explanation…if that makes sense.”
So, if you’ve never done anything like this, would you consider trying it? Why? Why not?
*Want more? Here’s the link to student feedback on the same project when I tried it for the first time with my AP Environmental Science students during the 2008-2009 school year.
