Wiki Reflection
I found the wiki activity to be less engaging than the regular usage of LMSs in an online course context. I think that most of this was due to the fact that it was a new technology for students and that due to the short time frame (one week from start to finish) many students did not interact with it as much as they do with the regular learning management system of which they were familiar. For collaboration and group work, the wiki space was a great way to communicate and summarize findings, but it is also something that requires students to be constantly involved with. Students who posted earlier to the discussion and then came back a day later found that many decisions had already been made by their peers. One other downside of the wiki format is that one does not know when students contributed. With discussion forums, it is clear which students first start discussion and which students come in late, not so with the forum.
Below are the top five challenges and strategies as per the ETEC 565 wiki page
Challenges
Challenge #1: Balance student safety and privacy online, with opportunities to interact with social media.
Challenge #2:Choose the ‘best’ social medium for use in the school setting, considering purpose, and longevity versus novelty
Challenge #3: Assessment – criteria and providing feedback back in a timely manner.
Challenge #4: Educational or cognitive purpose for the use of social media.
Challenge #5:Support for infrastructure, vision and funding for social media and technology use/implementation in the classroom.
Strategies
Strategy #1: Properly orient the students to the social media they will be using, including guidelines and etiquette (for example: use a social network as a tool to teach skills and safety at the same time- modelling and exemplars)
Strategy #2: Start the educational design process with the assignment strategies. With this approach, the correlation between objectives, activities and choice of technologies become clearer.
Strategy #3: Ensure the training and support are in place and accessible for staff. Involve, empower and inform parents- they can be our greatest support
Strategy #4:Variety and Fun! Do not overload students with too many media options. Keep it simple and limit choices until students are familiar with enough social media types to make informed choices. Consistency across the grades.
Strategy #5:Use assessment for learning strategies using clear criteria taught and modeled, self and peer feedback, and teacher presence and assessment as learning with self-reflection and feedback?
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