Their learning changes because they are more in control of which direction they want to take their learning and they are now more likely to teach each other as well as me.  This week, there have been the inevitable technical glitches, and I’ve enjoyed being able to say to them, “I don’t know.  Let’s figure it out,” or “What do you think we should do next?” or “We’re all learning together.”  After beginning only the first assignment of this project, I’m hugely impressed by how much they seem to have learned.  Learning has also changed because on-line learning is great for both auditory and visual learners.  The videos and pictures I’m able to share with students are quite powerful.  It is also helpful that students can read each other’s work.

Learning could still be measured in traditional ways with on-line tests, but what would the purpose be when there is a record of authentic work which documents learning?  In the first assignment of my paperless project, students had to read two articles and watch a video.  Then they had to summarize the important parts of what they’ve learned and give their opinions.  They wrote descriptive, insightful responses.  What more information would I get about their abilities and knowledge from a test?

Clearly, a paperless space makes it easier to build a learning environment as all work takes place in public.  Looking at someone else’s work is no longer called cheating, it is called sharing ideas.  I am thrilled when I am able to share work with my colleagues.  Students, too, benefit from learning from each other.  We’re social creatures.  This interaction not only helps us learn in the moment, but motivates us to continue learning.  Once a bond has been established, we’re more likely to return for more help in the future.  My students have explored the Internet and brought information back, but we haven’t yet experienced an outsider coming into our world and sharing information.  Just seeing the dots on our ClustrMap excites my students.  I can only imagine what an actual comment would do.

Since I’ve started this course, I’ve learned how to bring many sources of information to my students.  Two years ago, I taught my seventh grade students about Darfur by assembling information, copying it, and putting it in a folder for each student.  It was a laborious endeavor.  Today, I started teaching my seventh grade students about Darfur by taking them to the presentation room in our media center, hooking up my computer, and showing students the new blog I created for them to learn about this topic.  They will watch videos, view pictures, read articles, analyze information, do research, and write.  Aside from the letter students’ parents will sign giving permission to participate, there will be no paper involved.  The activities, students’ writing, and even my grades will all be on-line.

Tonight, I showed my son, who was in my first seventh grade class, the blog, and he got very excited saying, “They’re going to love this.  This is a great way for kids to learn because we’re so connected to electronics nowadays.”  As I’m writing this, my e-mail “dinged” and I found notification of my first student blog comment.  If my students become half as excited as I am about using this technology to learn and to become involved in world issues, I’ll consider it a success.

And I doubt very much that I’ll need a common assessment to measure students’ learning at the end of this project.  In fact, I think they would find a test irrelevant and insulting as I’m anticipating that they will become involved and engaged in authentic ways.  What would the purpose of a test be if it wouldn’t inform me of their learning nor help them learn more?

I just used this picture on my Enough Club! blog to show how the $5000 we are trying to raise will be spent in Sierra Leone.

Image Citation:  Dominik Bartenstei. (2008, January 16).  Flickr.  Dominik Bartenstei N’s Photostream.  Retrieved October 23, 2008, from http://www.flickr.com/photos/bartenstein/2198137158/.

Are you encountering resistance to using wikis in your class, either from others or from yourself? If so, how do you plan to respond?
At first, I wanted to immediately incorporate wikis into my teaching.  However, I then began questioning what would happen if one person did all the work.  On the other hand, that is something that can happen with any group project.  Then I learned about the history page.  This is one of my favorite features of wikis.  This is far superior to a traditional group project because I can see who made changes, when they were made, and what they were.  The one tricky part is that everyone needs to have their own way of accessing the site.  It won’t work if they all sign in under my name.
Now, I’m wondering how to get everyone access.  Should everyone sign up with their own e-mail?  Almost all, but not all, of my student have an e-mail address.  Would their parents approve?  I think I read somewhere on the site that I could send a class list, and the company would assign passwords to each of my students.  I need to find time to try to find that information.
I’m also wondering how much help to give my students.  A blank page might be too intimidating.  I think they might need some scaffolding.  Maybe I could start with headings and/or subheading for them.  Access to the computer lab or computer cart is another obstacle.  I’ll have to see when they are available.  Also, spending time teaching students how to create wikis is another issue.  There’s such limited time in class.  The time they would spend outside of class working on wikis would likely compensate for the class time, I would think.  Plus, if we did more than one wiki project, then the time invested early on would certainly pay off.  I think the collaborative aspect of wikis would greatly appeal to my students.

After I finish this class, I hope to continue using RSS to keep me informed about issues of concern to me.  I’m already getting news feeds, and I just created custom feeds about topics I’ve been interested in for years.  I’m excited about news coming to me.  I’m unsure how it will be significantly better than my just doing a Google search when I’m interested in something, but I’m open to the possibilities of what those better things might be.  My students will benefit in two ways.  First, when I know more about the topics I teach and about better ways teach those topics, my students tend to learn more.  Second, when I know how to do something of value (such as go to one place to get a lot of information from a lot of sources), I share it with my students.