Wikis in the Class

Wikis are a useful tool in the classroom these days. They are great because they promote collaboration between students and teachers and it can allow for student creativity to shine. I would use wikis in my class, however, I understand the concern of those who might balk at using them. Because anybody can add information to many wikis, they might not be the most reliable for information. I would discourage students from using them for information while researching a project. As far as creating projects, I think they are great, especially in social studies. There are limitless possibilities. I would create interactive time lines with pictures, music etc. I would also like to use them for cross curriculum projects with an English teacher, or maybe a project with a teacher from another school. It is exciting to think about!

The Use of V-Trips, Scavengerhunts, and Digital Storytelling

I have not have too much experience with any of this technology, I have used Scrapblog to keep students and parents notified about up coming class events. There are many benefits to using this technique in a class, I just have to get more comfortable with it. The V-trip is something that I could see using all the time. It is easy to create and there are limitless possibilities to what kind of information you can present using them. The scavenger hunt is a lot like a webquest so that will be used in my class because it allows students to explore the internet and find what resources are good and what are not so good. These tools are valuable and allow for students' creativity to blossom

Making Good Use of Social Bookmarking

I have been using Delicious as a tool for a couple of months now and I must say it is extremely beneficial. You can save any kind of site you may come across and ad tags to easily identify what each site is used for. This is a great way to prepare lessons for your class or if you have sites you want your students to use, simply bookmark it and show it on a smartboard. I think students can also use this site as an alternative to APA formatting by just showing you the sites use instead of listing them. This also allows for collaboration to take place beyond the walls of your school which is always a positive.