This week we were asked to create a curriculum page for our class and base it off of a digital story. After much thought, I came up with the idea to do a science project that deals with animal habitats. As I created my wiki I thought this would be a wonderful place to start my curriculum page. I honestly had a lot of problems with navigating through my wiki page. I did a lot of edits and still could not get my page the way I wanted it. As I browsed through other examples from our module, I saw that many people that created a wiki page and did a great job.
The main problem that I encountered had to with the widgets. Half of the time I couldn't figure out how to place things etc. I tried for hours to figure out how to get the different links for a table of contents and gave up. I'm sure it is something very simple, but I couldn't get it. I viewed almost all the tutorials wiki offered, but none talked about table of contents. So after all this I began to navigate our module and found some webquest websites that I thought were very easy to create. So I decided to create a webquest and place it on my wiki page. I used the wiki page to relay parent information about the project and I put a link on the page to the webquest for both student and parent use.
I love the wiki page that I created and know that there are lots and lots of things that I can learn about making a great page. I felt a little overwhelmed because I've never had to do anything like this. It was a great experience for me because I've learned about so many different programs that are available to use with wiki pages. I plan to explore wiki much more because in education I ahve been hearing a lot of people say, "Did you check wiki?" I think this is going to be the next wave or is the next wave in educational technology and I hope I'm up to the task.
Here is the link to my wiki page http://curriculumpageeme5050.wikispaces.com/
Hi Kari,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments about the digital story I'm trying to develop for the virtual teachers in my district to use with their students. I understand your angst with getting the Table of Contents to work in your wiki, and I will be the first to admit it took me a little time to figure it out. I wanted to share with you that I will be glad to to help you with yours if you want to continue to pursue it. Also the Voki is really easy to create and I'll be glad to help you with that. What I'm having trouble with (and it must be a mental block) is my Prezi. If I recall correctly you mentioned in one of your posts that you would be using it with your first graders. If you could give me some pointers, I would be ever so grateful! Maybe between the two of us, we can get through the end of this course without too much stress. Just a thought.
Hope to hear back from you,
:) Ruth
rpaine@mail.clay.k12.fl.us
Kari,
ReplyDeleteThat will be great. I also have access to something called "Wimba Classroom" that we can use. We can actually speak to one another online and it has both audio and video capabilities. You just need either a mic and speakers attached to your computer or a headset/mic. I can set up a classroom and send you a link so you can log in. Just let me know.
:) Ruth
Kari,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post this week. You are absolutely correct. Creating a wiki page can be difficult if you have never had prior experience. However, I also had to look at many different tutorials in order to figure out how to do certain things. I too had trouble with trying to get my page the way I wanted it. I could not find any buttons that allowed me to center any of my titles, or pictures. You are absolutely correct, there are many different tutorials to use when creating a wiki. Giving it your own style is the key.
I too hope that I will be up for the task for creating more wikis in the future as well. I would love to have my students create their own homepage. Thank you!
Hi Kari,
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that you had so many problems with your wiki. After you and I have a chance to get together and take a closer look at it, I think it will make more sense to you. I mentioned to your how I kept skirting learning how to create a Prezi, so last night I sat down and stuck with it until I got one started. I’ve now changed the digital storytelling project I’ve been working on for this course from a digital story created with PhotoStory 3 to one created with Prezi. I actually like using Prezi very much now.
You mentioned your main problem being with the widgets. I had trouble getting the voki I created to stay centered in the middle of the page. In the preview it showed that it was centered, but each time after saving, it was always left-aligned. That was frustrating, but I just had to move one.
Like you, I had never created a wiki either, so it was another learning curve for me to conquer. You are probably correct that wikis will be on the wave of the future for education. I believe they will evolve as an effective teaching and learning tool when teachers and students start creating and posting their own wikis instead of just viewing ones posted on the Internet. I’m sure that you will be up to the task of exploring and finding even more ways to use wikis with your students and in your classroom.
I too viewed most of the wiki tutorials that were available, and they were helpful, but it wasn’t until I got my hands on a wiki that the technology started to click for me. With wikis being Web 2.0 technology, the only drawback for teachers would be not enough classroom computers or insufficient Internet access. This would be a fantastic collaboration tool to use in a computer lab setting with upper level elementary, middle/junior, and high school students. Back when I taught in a Mac lab, we didn’t have Internet access at all.
I look forward to getting together with you to take a look at wikis and to also talk about any other interesting Web 2.0 tools either one of us has found so far. Best of luck with this project and with successful completion of the course.
:-) Ruth
Hi Kari,
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting so honestly about your struggles with this activity. You wrote, "As I created my wiki I thought this would be a wonderful place to start my curriculum page. I honestly had a lot of problems with navigating through my wiki page. I did a lot of edits and still could not get my page the way I wanted it. As I browsed through other examples from our module, I saw that many people that created a wiki page and did a great job." I felt exactly the same way. I wanted it to look a certain way but got frustrated that I couldn't just use the "Force" and have it miraculously come together neatly and in an organized manner. I, too, looked at my classmates' pages and thought that theirs looked better than mine, but in the end, I am okay with how mine turned out to be, just like you.
Keep up the good work!
~ Christi S
Your wrote: "I honestly had a lot of problems with navigating through my wiki page. I did a lot of edits and still could not get my page the way I wanted it."
ReplyDeleteI'm with you here. I actually thought I had deleted several pages of work because I didn't understand how the page was laid out. Allegedly wikis are supposed to be easy to navigate, but I found it rather difficult. Once I played with it a bit, though, I got it a little bit. It did make me wonder if my students would have as much trouble navigating wikispaces or if these digital natives would take to it like fish to water.
You wrote: "The main problem that I encountered had to with the widgets. Half of the time I couldn't figure out how to place things etc."
I feel your pain here. Widgets are often the bane of my existence. I also struggled with the wikispaces table of contents and navigation. I never did find a way to organize my pages in the order I wanted, but I did find a way to change the titles. By labeling it Step 1, Step 2, etc. I was able to somewhat control the order.
Thanks for the post!
Kelley
I really like your curriculum page. I created mine using word and then copied it into PBworks wiki. I like the look of the wikispaces that you used. I think that the tabs at the top make it easy to navigate through compared to pbworks, where you have to find the pages and then the page you are looking for. I made my curriculum page my front page,so that it would be easier to find what I was trying to share. I currently give my assignments in print outs and parents email me if they have questions. I recently sent home my digital storytelling assignment for my class and have yet to receive an email from a confused parent! I was not expecting that, but happy this course has taught me how to prepare this project for my students.
ReplyDelete