Blogs and Wikis in Education

1) There are many interesting ways in which to use blogs and wikis in an educational atmosphere. An example of this would be blogs that are meant for teachers. There are many of these such blogs that are written by teachers for other teachers to read and get ideas from. These blogs can also be used for other teachers to communicate and help one another with any classroom problems that may arise. This seems like a very useful tool, especially for new teachers who may need extra help with their classroom.

There are many examples of wikis that are open to communities. Sort of like a community center where the citizens can see online calendars of events in their town. Anyone can add events, so this is a great way to see a variety of events in your own back yard. People can upload photos of local events and help to plan new events. Maybe the town wants to clean up an old lot to make a local vegetable garden. They could introduce the idea on the local wiki and the rest of the community could brainstorm ideas to get it done. Students can read this to learn about what is going on in their community.

Another example is to use wikis for a specific class. There are many example online such as "Adams News Wiki" which is actually run by a class of middle school students. It teaches them how to use technology while allowing other students around the world access to what they are doing as a class. Parents, other students from their school, and even other teachers can read what the class is doing. They can upload pictures of projects, turn in homework assignments, or other educational things. It is a great tool for the students as well as those who wish to read it.

2) RSS readers/aggregators can be used in classrooms to update students on certain breaking news. Maybe the class is doing a unit on global warming. The teacher can set up an aggregator that displays news articles having to do with global warming. The students can stay informed about current events surrounding that topic which helps them gain a real-world grasp of the concept. When doing a unit on the Iditarod race in Alaska, the teacher can put the race website on an aggregator to update with the standings. The students can see who is in the lead by the hour.

3) Two pros of using blogs and wikis in the classroom include:
- Students gaining experience and confidence with technology. The more they use it, the easier it becomes to navigate through different tasks. In our generation the interent is extremely important. If students can comfortably use these technologies from an early age, they will have a more successful future.
- Students gain a better understanding of real-world applications and how school relates to the rest of the world. If they are doing a unit on butterflies, they can go on an educational wiki and read about another class doing a similar unit. They can compare their projects and maybe do a joint project on a larger topic. They could map the populations of monarch butterflies in a certain area of the world.

Two cons of using blogs and wikis in the classroom include:
- The teacher has no control over what is written on them. Perhaps the class is reading an educational blog for a whole semester and is learning a lot about a certain subject. That blogger might decide to write something that is inappropriate or not connected to their lesson. It could be distracting to search through the blog to find relevant information related to lessons in the classroom.
-If the teacher/students are relying on information from the blog/wiki for a daily lesson and the internet isn't working, they will be out of luck. Blogs and websites shut down for a variety of reasons and there is no guarantee that it will be working on a certain day. The school network crashes sometimes as well. If the students are updating their information daily and they are unable to one day, they may mess up their whole project.