Official Blog #3 for Web 2.0 Student/Teacher Use of Wikis in the Classroom

Stewart Mader, an instructional Technologist at Brown University, had several insights about wikis in the classroom. http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/04/wikis-in-education-stewart-mader-from.html He wondered if fear of the unknown was holding some teachers back. He also sighted a need to move away from textbook models and toward the use of wikis, internet and technology. The would agree that this would expand the base of information that each student can pick from. He mentions that students are more accepting of change. One thing is for sure, is that they are more aware of many of the things out in cyber space both good and bad. Students in a blog about wikis http://coolcatteacher.blogspot.com/2006/05/my-students-compare-and-contrast-wikis.html were extremely excited about the use of wikis in the classroom. They like the ability to share information and to organize information to study for tests. The also liked the ease of edition the informaion on the wikis. This technology certainly seems to be the wave of "now" and the future. It is hard to believe that I was unaware of most of the current web 2.0 tools for education before this class. My hope is to better understand the use of the wiki in the classroom and translate it into positive teaching outcomes in the near future.