Design Experiment 4

A wiki is a site that anyone can go to and edit with their content. It’s affordances are it can be a great place to collaborate and gain knowledge, provided the content is correct. 

If I were to use a wiki in my class setting I would use it for the purpose of research projects. Students (2^nd grade) would be assigned to groups and each would have to research specific elements of a president’s life. Once the research was completed students could add their information to the wiki.

Educators utilize wikis in the classroom as a tool for learning that students might find captivating. Utilizing wikis in the classroom (in the manner in which I stated) is a form of distributed cognition because the students are collaborating and compiling their knowledge online together in the wiki.

With the ever-evolving world of technology, I believe having the ability to collaborate with the world via technology (wikis or other means) would be an essential life skill for students of today. Our words are powerful, especially once written. When spoken they are easily interpreted into what their intended meaning is, but when they are written it is not always as easy. If a student can learn how to write, and write with “manners” collaboratively, they will have a major skill set for their future.

PBWorks

I have to say once I got logged in and looked through the directory of other pages that already existed I was kind-of turned off by it. No one seemed to keep up with their pages. I looked through several handfuls and out of all of them only two were up to date. The rest seem to be YEARS since they had been touched! Just kinda made me wonder “Why”?

I do like that it contains all the elements of an online class. It was simple enough to use and I like that the explanations of each “page” that was already created was provided. It all seemed pretty cut and dry and manageable. Which again begs the question stated above “Why”? What is the turn off for this site. For myself, I think it is overall appearance. It just doesn’t seem to have the “Wow” factor going for it. 

As far as comparing a wiki and PBWorks, I have never really utilized a wiki. I can say I don’t see myself utilizing PBWorks either. With PBWorks you can add assignments and keep up with meeting agendas. You can also post your syllabus and track activity. The activity tracker is where detailed notes can be added about each student. (Honestly, I am a little confused about this page- is it filled in by the student or by the teacher?) Then of course you have your course page and your “front page.” If more pages are needed, you add them. PBWorks is more or less like an interactive blog is my understanding. Files and videos may be shared as well. But again, it lacks the overall appearance of the “Wow” factor. It seems outdated and for that I’m not sure some students would be interested.