Topic: Wikis as a Tool in Teaching and Assessment

A wiki, which is a Hawaiian word meaning “quick,” is a website that allows people to collaborate and share ideas and information in a series of linked web pages on a specific topic. These web pages can include text, hyperlinks, images, audio, and video. It is one of many Web 2.0 components used to intensify the learning process. In a technologically and knowledge-driven global climate, students need a working understanding of how technology can be used in collaborative learning strategies. Wiki pages enable students to participate and collaborate interactively in an environment without walls or creative limitations. Because of their great educational potential, wikis are utilized by educators to teach course content and assess student learning in a boundless environment that engages students.

Resources:

Digital Alternatives to Traditonal Textbooks

The issue of textbook adoption and purchase is a “hot” topic in our curriculum department in Davis School District. This issue has personal interest to me. I have been given the charge to investigate the current research and practices concerning e-texts, digital resources, and paperless curriculum across the US and make recommendations that will help shape the direction we will head in our district. I am curious to explore what the research says about this new trend in the delivery of instructional materials.The print textbook is expensive, outdated, and often time not used to its full capacity in our classrooms. This issue begs the question of; are digital alternatives a more effective way to deliver information and instruction in today's classroom?

Feedback and comments are always appreciated!

Summary:

"Edupunks" are a group of educational technologists who resist corporate learning management systems because of these systems' capitalist tendencies to overshadow the social/communal aspects of Web 2.0 applications. According to Jim Groom, an educational technologist who coined the term "Edupunk," the learning management system Blackboard 8 is usurping the ideas, innovations and experiments of thousands of people, re-packaging them and selling them to schools at high prices.

   I am researching computer aided language learning,  specifically how to use computers to make learning effective.  Many teachers use the computers for word processing but research has shown this is the lowest level of use and other methods are far more effective.  Check back for references.

Fighting the feeling of Isolation within a Online Distance Education Environment
 

Abstract

This paper will explore the ideas of social interactions in any classroom environment. It will also explore attrition rates related to isolation in the distance education environment and the need to create a feeling of community among the participants within a distance education course. In addition it will address the need to connect with the instructor. It will then address ways to create a strong interactive environment that provides the feeling of community the learners in a distance education need.
 

Introduction