Moodle, Podcasts, Wikis...oh my!

[Jeremiah Demster]

I just posted this topic in response to a group question, but I thought I'd throw it out here as well to get the larger perspective. I'd love to hear someone to speak to Moodle, Wikis, and Podcasting in terms of day to day usability and student control/creation. They all sound like interesting things to use, and I hear about them being used, but I don't know anyone who actually does use them on a regular basis. I want to have access to these tools in my classroom as they are great opportunities for student-generated content, but I'm not super sure how to create opportunities for my kids to use them, projects that they can create them for without doing it just to create a podcast or wiki, ways that this will make our day easier instead of harder. Thoughts?

[Miri Sumida]

I've used wikis via pbworks.com during the second semester of our school year 2008-2009. I just love the idea and the functionality of it all. I started with a general wiki for my classes: yearbook, applied graphics and graphic design. I used it to post lesson plans, project tracking information (with descriptions of projects and what is to be expected, due dates, etc.) It worked perfectly for the classes I taught. I then required each student to create their own personal wikis to display their projects for the third and fourth quarter. I stated the requirements, the design elements expected, etc. They, of course, caught on quite quickly and created some outstanding portfolios of their projects. Everything was online, including their final exam. I was able to track their work daily, leave comments on their projects in progress and help them much more quickly than waiting for the next class period. I wasted no printing toner and paper when it came to their artwork. To keep them quiet and focused in class, I even required them to communicate through my main wiki site when they had a question. We were posting comments back and forth all through the period. It worked! If you would like to see my wiki site it is called sumwikimida.pbworks.com. You can ask to have access to my wiki. You can also send me your email and I will be more than happy to invite you in.

This summer I am using the wiki site for my online/classroom pe course. It is one of our SOTF pilot classes that we have planned for this year. This is a one credit course that involves 1/2 a year of bookwork and 1/2 a year of fitness activities. The course is called Fitness for Life and is designed to teach and convince students that it is important to understand why fitness and wellness is important in their lives and know how to achieve optimum fitness and wellness throughout their lives. This course is based on the general new PE idea of "helping young students enjoy physical activity now and for the rest of their lives." My wiki allows my students to view powerpoint presentations, download worksheets, receive daily schedules, view class photos, keep track of their progress in various activities and post their final exam on a separate wiki page on the class site. Our first day was today and it went well. My students were required to review powerpoint presentations, complete worksheets and take an online quiz for homework. In class, they were acquainted with the online process and did some physical fitness testing (presidential fitness and target heart rate training). That greatest thing about this wiki site is that I am allowed to bring in powerpoint presentations, special links, online quizzes created on a site called Quia and track my student's progress online. My wiki changes every day with updates and reorganization. Students are required to get onto the wiki site to study and complete their assignments and also comment on specifics if needed. This site is called: fitkeikiwiki.pbworks.com. Again, if you would like to see this site, go to pbworks.com and ask to visit the site. OR, send me your email and I will invite you in.

I hope this all helps.

[Jeremiah Demster]

Thanks so much for your input, Miri! This certainly gives me something to think about. I would love to explore your wiki site just to get an idea of how I might be able to do something like this with my students.

[Carmen Stack]

Hi Jeremiah! My name is Carmen - I work with Miri at St. Joseph School. She has really done a fabolous job with her high school students. They have done incredible work on their wikis. One of the biggest pluses I see is the fact that the students can so easily share the work that they have been doing. It really opens up the students to a larger and more diverse audience, which is (hopefully) an incentive to create better work. I teach third grade and I have seen the same kind of thing. Parents have had access through the wiki to see projects, videos, podcasts etc... that we have created. The reaction that I have received from parents has been extremely positive. They love being able to see more of what their kids are doing in school.

I also noticed that the wiki movitated some of my "harder" to motivate students. They really got into designing their own pages and having a "space" online that was theirs to post work, write about themselves etc... I had one student who was constantly on her page at home adding things, writing about what she was doing, etc... It was really great! Overall I could tell that the wiki was something that my students were really proud of.

This summer I have been trying to brainstorm ways that my students could use our wiki more effectively. If you go to pbworks.com they have some examples of how various educators have used wikis with their students. Another teacher at our school teaches 5th and 6th grade Math and has used the wiki as a place where students share different ways of solving problems and respond to each other. Overall I think that the critical thinking, problem solving, and creative thinking skills that students have to use when creating their wiki pages, posting work, communicating with each other etc... makes the whole process totally worth it.

[Jeremiah Demster]

This information is fantastic you guys! I really appreciate you taking the time to give me this information and I definitely plan on checking out the possibility of making this part of my middle school this year. Because I teach MS I appreciate having the views of both an elementary and a HS teacher. May I contact you with questions I may have as I check this out?

[Carmen Stack]

Definitely!