Blogs and Wikis in Education

1. Do a search using the Key words “Educational Blogs” and “Educational Wikis” with 3 different search engines (Google, Yahoo, msn, Ask Jeeves, Dogpile, or others), and explore the results. Do you get similar results? Why or Why not?
I did get similar results for each search engine, but not identical. Each engine brought up different sites when I did a Science Education Blog search. I assume they are slightly different because of the different RSS feeds for each engine.

1) Identify and describe 3 interesting/innovative ways blogs and/or wikis are being used in K-12 classrooms.
I thought this site http://www.detentionslip.org/ was very interesting because it talked about educational news in the media. This site is an accumulation of the media’s portrayal of education gossip around the US.
This site http://missbakersbiologyclass.com/blog/2009/02/24/on-the-way-to-cure-malaria/ was cool as well. Jennifer is in Miss Bakers class and she decided to blog about the parasitic infection Malaria caused by plasmodium species. She sang a song and uploaded a video about how to stop the spread of Malaria. PRETTY COOL! Another student in Miss Bakers class decided to talk about global warming and the Chesapeake Bay. The students have uploaded pictures and given essentially online reports. Amazing, had no idea this was happening in the field of Science. Upon looking further, she has her blog and a wiki linked to her Biology Science class website, like TeacherWeb, but a little cooler. http://www.missbakersbiologyclass.com/map.html
Another blog site http://thesynapse.ning.com/ is a collection of biology teachers worldwide that collaborate and share information about their science teachings.
At this site http://mwsu-bio101.ning.com/forum/topics/photosynthesiscellular-1 Biology teacher Sean Nash has a class blog site that allows his students to create images of ideas such as photosynthesis. They are able to upload their images and discuss what the diagram means and how it may be different from their class-mates.

2) Describe how you might use RSS readers/aggregators within a classroom setting.
RSS are really simple syndication feeds that are web pages. These pages are “sent” to your aggregator, such as NetNewsWire when there are new contents added. BBC is one such site where you can get these newsfeeds.
These could be used in a classroom setting if the teacher requires students to perform work online. For example, if you wanted to assess student learning online and have them submit their exams/homework etc… This information could be linked to a feed that you access when you want, rather than having that information sent to your inbox.
I think it would be interesting to have my future students submit information to a blog where they could interact and learn from one another. When someone posts to that blog I would know instantly if I had a feed that I could check rather than searching the blog itself.
If I had a class webpage, which I do plan on having, but one I design myself, this information could be sent to a feed as well. When students log on or have questions I would be able to access the feed to see them. Same goes with a wiki page! All I would have to do is add this feed to NetNewsWire.
3) Describe at least 2 pros and 2 cons of using blogs and wikis in education.
Two Cons:
Teachers and students should be ware of publishing things online that they believe will be protected under the right to free speech. Some teachers have gotten into trouble and tarnished their reputations by posting things on blog sites. You may thing that you are anonymous, but this may not always be the case when local officials get involved and the student or teacher is punished. Just use caution.
Another pitfall of using this technology is if the teacher does not use it effectively. I believe this will be utterly apparent if students are not learning. Maybe think of another method in which to teach the content.
Two Pros:
Students will have the ability to collaborate with one another outside the classroom. Projects can be completed and uploaded on an online blog site or webpage. All students of the group could collaborate to the page. The ease of meeting with one another will be greater as well because it is online.
Learning will be taken into the online world, which is more interactive by nature. Students will more naturally be captivated through the use of computers, especially if they are working with drawings or diagrams that need to be explained. Students that do not learn by simple lecture will be engaged as well.