Christine DeRienzo
CECS 5200
September 18, 2011
Benefits and Drawbacks of Blogs and Wikis in Education
I have not used either a blog or a wiki before. This class is the first experience I am going to have with either. In thinking about the topic of this reflection, I had a hard time deciding what I should focus on as I am feeling overwhelmed at the possibilities that are available to me as an educator.
I started by searching for literature related to blogs and wikis. Again, there was so much information available; I chose to look at this assignment as what would best benefit my seventh graders. The first thing that I found was how the collaborative features of wikis make them well suited for co-operative learning (Schaffert, Bischof, et al., 2006). One of the main focuses our school has this year is to incorporate more and more co-operative learning into the classroom. The use of wikis goes along with this goal.
According to Duffy and Bruns (2006), wikis can serve many different purposes in the classroom. Many of the purposes cited by Duffy and Bruns (2006) are uses for wikis that I would find beneficial in my classroom. These include mapping of concepts. I like the idea of using a wiki as a brainstorming tool to map out a concept. I also can see the benefit of students using wikis to develop research projects with the wiki serving as ongoing documentation of their work.
I send out a parent e-mail on a bi-weekly basis. After doing research on wikis and blogs, I am going to look into setting up a class information wiki that will let parents and students know what is coming up in class. This will also serve as a communication tool between me, students, and parents. I also like the idea of using a wiki for sharing of curriculum with other educators. There are so many great ideas out there and it would be nice to be able to collaborate with educators in other places to see what is and isn’t working in the classroom. One other use I can see for a wiki is a subject wiki where I can provide information to students related to assignments, homework, and an upcoming calendar.
I see the “real-world” collaboration as one of the biggest advantages of a wiki. Also, going along with that, is the pulling together of the strength of many who are doing the same thing. Being that I really don’t know a whole lot about wikis, I do have some concerns with the security and safety of using a wiki.
Blogs in education could be used as a space for the sharing of opinions where teachers and students could learn from each other. Blogs, just like wikis, also promote collective and collaborative learning. Journaling would be one use of a blog that would benefit everyone in the classroom.
The quick and easy creation of a class website via a blog is one advantage. My son’s band director has a blog for the band where he shares information about upcoming events. I never really thought about it as something for myself as an educator as I didn’t know the ease of creating it. A blog is also a great place for students to practice and improve writing skills. They can also collaborate on projects without being in the same room together. Another advantage of a blog is that students who are too shy to speak up in class get an opportunity to have their opinions heard.
On the other side, blogs take time to keep updated. It would just be one more thing in my day that requires 25 hours already. Maybe through this class and learning from my classmates, I can learn ways to accomplish keeping a blog without it taking up a great deal of time. Being that a blog is not like a chat, the “conversation” may not be in real time. A blog would be very difficult for students with low computer skills. Another problem would be for the students who do not have computers at home. My school has about 15% of the student population who are considered “FIT” (Families in Transition). These are students who live in hotels, tents, or shelters. Most of these students do not have access to computers other than at school. This would be a major concern I would have with either a wiki or a blog.
In reflecting on this topic, I know I still have a great deal to learn. I am extremely fortunate to be in this class with so many people who have already provided insights about things I would have never thought of just three weeks ago. I look forward to attempting to utilize this technology in my classroom and to reflecting on what works and what doesn’t.
References
Duffy, P. & Bruns, A. (2006). The use of blogs, wikis and RSS in education: A conversation of possibilities. Proceedings of the Online Learning and Teaching Conference 2006, Brisbane: September 26.
Schaffert, S., Bischof, D., Buerger, T., Gruber, A., Hilzensauer, W. & Schaffert, S. (2006). Learning with semantic wikis. Proceedings of the First Workshop on Semantic Wikis – From Wiki To Semantics (SemWiki2006), Budva, Montenegro: June 11-14, 109-123.
