Using Wikis in the Classroom

Using Podcasting to enhance Social Learning

Pod Casting for Students



Pod casting facilitates instruction in many K-12 (and collegiate level) settings. Dlott (2007) demonstrated pod casting's efficacy in teaching geography, history and poetry writing. Pod casting allowed for the inclusion of music and sound effects in teaching descriptive language, writing styles and oral expression. Pod casting also facilitated students' efforts to test the sound of their voices in a non-threatening way, causing Dlott (2007) to consider it an appropriate tool to develop effective communicators. Dlott's efforts combined pod casting with other digital technology tied to the internet.

Facebook and Education: the Pros and Cons

Facebook, the popular social networking website, was the topic of discussion at the first Teaching and Learning with Technology Speaker Series session of 2009. Originally launched in 2004, by a Harvard student, Facebook began as a social networking website created exclusively for post-secondary students. Currently, Facebook has over 150 million active users worldwide, and has expanded to allow anyone with a valid email address to sign up. As it has gained in popularity, Facebook has become one of the main communication tools used by university students to stay in touch with friends, organize events, and connect with classmates.

Pro: Students and Educators use Innovative Strategies on Facebook
Social software tools such as weblogs and wikis are already being used for educational purposes at UBC, but can Facebook be used in an academic setting? Philip Jeffrey, an Interdisciplinary Studies graduate student, brought forth a few examples of how Facebook has been used by students and educators to quickly inform and communicate with others in the larger community. Philip found out about the potential closure of the UBC Aquatic Centre weight room through a friend on Facebook. Partly due to awareness-raising on Facebook, a grassroots movement formed that eventually over-turned the administration’s decision to close the gym. Recently, a York University anti-strike group has formed and, with over 4,500 members, the Facebook page has become a place where people go to get the latest information about the strike. Some universities are even using Facebook to recruit students.

Cyprien Lomas, Director of the Learning Centre in Land and Food Systems, added another example of how the Faculty’s student advising office is using Facebook to connect with and inform students. According to Cyprien, “the interesting difference with using Facebook is that often students will take pieces of information and then repeat it back to their own constituent groups…students [are] mentoring and advising other students on affairs that matter to them and also matter to us.”

Cyprien also discovered that some students are using the site to facilitate online discussion groups. Even though students have access to WebCT Vista, and can use its discussion forum to interact with other students, some are choosing to use Facebook because it is their preferred place to communicate online. Students themselves say “well, why don’t we put it in a place where we know it’s going to work…and move it into Facebook?” Cyprien notes that “whether or not we like it…we may see more and more examples of this,” which is of concern because many Facebook users are not aware of the privacy issues related to the popular social networking tool.

Con: Privacy Concerns - Is Facebook Right for the Classroom?

Questions were raised from the audience about whether Facebook can be used in the classroom for academic purposes. The third member of the panel, Humanities and Social Sciences Librarian Sheryl Adam, raised concerns over the disclosure of personal information on the site. “Can we require that students be involved in something that requires them to put personal information on a server in the United States? I don’t think so,” asserts Sheryl. A larger discussion broke out amongst the audience, and the room came to a general understanding that if you expect students to interact with you or your Facebook group for a course, then you are requiring them to be involved in something that they may or may not know a whole lot about. For instance, users might not know that when using an application in Facebook, they are allowing the application to collect data from their Facebook profile. Philip notes that there is a “higher level of trust” amongst friends on Facebook, which may lead many to overlook the fact that if they are not careful with their privacy settings and use of applications, they might be disclosing personal information to complete strangers.

You also cannot require a student to use Facebook, as not all of them will want to share their personal information with their classmates and instructor. If there is any UBC-sanctioned involvement using a tool that stores data in the United States, there has to be an option for the students to preserve their anonymity. The fact that this is not possible with Facebook (which has its servers located in the United States) raises a bigger issue: users should be concerned with how secure the service is, where the data sits, who owns the content, and how it is being used. Cyprien notes that this is not just a Facebook issue, but a general IT issue. “If you ask me how secure Facebook is, I would say not secure enough if you are worried about it,” remarks Cyprien.

Even though many students are using Facebook to communicate with their peers, it does not necessarily mean that they will want to use Facebook in an educational setting. Sheryl originally joined Facebook to communicate with her students in a space that is comfortable for them. However, she has discovered that students have not communicated with her on Facebook, but are instead using other forms of communications such as email, telephone, and MSN Messenger. For Sheryl, Facebook “seems like the wrong place for a professional-student relationship. It seems to be more [for] peer-to-peer relationships.”

Another drawback of using Facebook in the classroom is that students will have to go to another location (other than WebCT Vista) to access their course information. Sheryl points out that this fragmentation of course information is “a big disservice no matter how convenient the communication piece.” She points to the advantages of WebCT Vista, which centralizes information and allows students to access course materials “all in one house.”

So What Now?

Some attendees said that they would like to see more centralized resources and guidance to inform students, faculty, and staff about social networking tools (like Facebook) in order to build awareness of privacy concerns and the pros and cons of their use. Attendees also thought that members of the UBC community need to be educated about these tools. Infoation resources, such as the Digital Tattoo Project (which Sheryl is a part of), have been created to educate students, faculty, and staff about online usage, but still more needs to be done.

Cyprien suggested that we could start leveraging connections at other schools to come to a solution for a broader community. If UBC is struggling with this issue, other educational institutions must be too. It was here that Sheryl offered up the example of RefWorks, which used to be hosted on an American server. To address privacy concerns, a consortium of Canadian libraries banded together to move RefWorks data onto a Canadian server. Such a consortium could be beneficial when addressing the use of social networking tools in an educational setting, eventually helping UBC solidify a strategy for addressing issues that arise with the increased popularity of these tools.

http://update.estrategy.ubc.ca/2009/02/03/facebook-and-education

Educational Blogging

Instructors are beginning to use blogs to replace the standard class Web page. Instructors post class times and rules, assignment notifications, suggested readings, and exercises within the blog.

Within the blog, instructors can link to Internet items that relate to their course and short essays directed specifically toward his\her students not mere annotations of interesting links.

Blogs are also being used to organize in-class discussions. This method allows students to get acquainted with each other better by visiting and reading blogs from other students. It is less threatening as they read the blog to discover their similarities and differences.

EDUCAUSE REVIEW, vol. 9, no. 5, September/October 2004, pp. 14-16, 18,

20-22, 24, 26

Using Wikis in the Classroom

I recently read an article entitled Five Strategies for Using Wikis in the Classroom:
Engaging Students in Technology Projects that Support Learning.  David Wetzel(2009) speaks on how and why Wikis are becoming very popular.  Maybe Wikis are becoming so popular because they are free and require no downloading, not to mention one of the easiest web applications to use and it helps to engage students that perhaps do not meet in the regular classroom but meet via the world wide web. 

Students can work on collaborative projects within the wiki. Students can log in to the wiki at anytime from anywhere to share information\projects.  This allows the students to work as a team without having to make schedules perfect which is more ideal in today's world with so many students working full time and raising families. 

Students can also demonstrate their knowledge on the wiki. The can make submit their work to the wiki, and cite sources. The nice thing about this aspect is the organization factor, instead of having a million papers sitting around that you are trying to collaborate, the wiki will do it instead. A time saving application, yet a valuable one for educational purposes, the Wiki allows the students to spend more time learning than searching.

Teachers can use the wiki to connect with students submit them with a list of resources that they can benefit from through the year. The website allows you to insert new information and delete old information at any time. This option gives students the benefit of easily locating resources that are acceptable for their work.

The wiki can work as a classroom news page or daily event planner.  The teacher can put all the class information into the wiki site and keep everything for the class easy to locate. A teacher could add a (homework) calender, new letter, homework assignments, notes, classroom rules, and many other things. Then the students are the parents or care givers of the students can easy locate everything they need and stay informed.

One of my favorite features is the idea of using the wiki as a filling cabinet. The wiki can store files, images, videos, student artifact, and almost anything you can think of.  It is a controlled area where only the teacher can access it, meaning it's safe.
As the popularity of the wiki grows so does the demand of finding new way to improve the wiki and its uses.  Although, just by having a wiki does not mean that you are engaging the students it needs to be a two way street.  The students have to be willing to use the wiki and share information. When the wiki is used appropriately and each person is using the site then it becomes very engaging for all students.  The wiki is a great way to help engage our new 21st century learners.

Wetzel, D. (2009). Suite101. 5 strategies for using wikis int he classroom. Retrieved February 9, 2010, from http://teachingtechnology.suite101.com/article.cfm/5_strategies_for_using_wikis_in_the_classroom