After looking through all the different types of technologies that could count as a student's online learning experience, I think I would gravitate towards using the wikis the most. I know it is one that we have already worked with in this class, but I have already started to think about some ways I would like to use them in my courses next year.
The biggest advantage to using a wiki would be to get the content out to the students in a better way. My vision doesn't limit this to one specific type of content area in my field of math, but uses the entire realm of mathematics. I see myself creating wikis for my courses, with each new page being devoted to one of the concepts of material we are learning. I would then open it up so that students could post questions, helpful hints, solved problems, and all types of things to almost create a chapter synopsis/review for everyone to view. Doing this every chapter will allow the students to not only get a better idea of the concepts, but essentially make a review for midterms and finals, as well.
There are 3 main pedagogical strategies that I can see being used with this. First, I would have to do some deductive teaching by showing the students how to access and properly edit the wiki. From there though, I think it would mostly be a lot of minimalism and constructivism. I would essentially let the students do the creating of their ideas and sharing answers with one another, staying very hands off (except for monitoring the safety portion). Students would then be digging into their own topics and ideas from their fellow classmates, looking to create some sort of knowledge that they might bring back into the classroom or even another forum.
For me, I think the hardest tool to incorporate would probably be the educational gaming. I think that many high school students would have trouble focusing in a "gamer" environment. Not only that, but I have not seen very many educational games that translate well to high school mathematics. The ones that do use math are typically for lower levels or are not very engaging to the average high school student. The games that are more exciting are often a stretch on their mathematical content.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I have really viewed wikis as a game changer myself and actually started one for the last nine weeks of school. The students liked having a place where they could check on due dates and see some of their work showcased.
ReplyDeleteDon
ReplyDeleteI kind of scoffed at the idea of using wikis in my classroom, but I really like how you plan to use them. By being more general, and creating a wiki for each chapter you cover, giving students the opportunity to post questions, as well as help, is a great use of the resource. I think that this is a great way to bring math, something I always struggled with, to the attention of those that strive in a technological world.