Module 10 - Nings and Wikis

Nings and Wikis ... the new age of teaching?? Quite possibly! As mentioned earlier I have wanted to try out a Ning site. I guess my only hesitation at the moment is that we have to pay for it ourselves - If it flops it may be a waste of money - if it works it will cost me a fortune as I will want to create one for each of my classes! After toiling around with this idea I decided to create a Wiki-like site using Google Sites. I wanted to set this up as similar as a Ning as possible. I wanted this site to belong solely to my Year 9 English class so they could call it their own. It only took a short time to set up and I think has worked well for the time I have spent on it. I used the site in a computer lesson last week and it worked really well. The pupils really loved that it was only for "their" class. I had put work directions on there as well as a Pupil of the Month section. I was able to put up a class calendar amongst other things. I still have to work on getting some sort of discussion board up there but hopefully that won’t be too difficult. I found this really interesting as there are masses of resources and ideas from people all over the world. I have only spent a small amount of time going through it but have already found lots of interesting ideas, blogs etc. I will definitely use this for my own professional development of my Web2.0 skills!So we finally come to the question: How can Web 2.0 assist in improving learning outcomes for all students?.I think my entire blog covers this one question already. Web 2.0 is going to change the face of teaching as we know it - well in fact I believe it already has changed it! We have known for a long time that kids (both big and small) love using new technology. It's interactive, it’s fun, its fresh, it’s engaging, and it’s inevitable! Everyone spends so much time and effort using the technology that as teachers we cannot ignore its place in the classroom - in fact it would be the death of us if we tried. We all want to engage our pupils which will in turn allow them to learn more efficiently and effectively. How do we do this in this new techno-society? Use technology! If we use blogs, and wikis, podcasts, vidcasts, web-posters, social-networking sites; these are the things that our pupils love - and they will learn! The question really should be how can we find the time to implement technology in our classroom? My answer is simply Find the time ... and you may just surprise yourself and the students' response to your efforts will make it all worthwhile!