Collaboration is an important component for learning at any age. As teachers, we collaborate on a continuum learning new strategies and deciphering between what does and doesn't work. We learn from each other and we share our best practices with one another for a common goal. That goal is to increase learning for our students while engaging and encouraging ownership in their work. This ownerships provides validity and meaning in their work and hopefully instills pride. One of the unique tools I have recently learned about is the use of wiki spaces. While learning about this tool, I explored a variety of examples of wiki spaces being used in classrooms.
Wiki spaces allows the information to be edited by anyone. Teachers and students have the ability to add or subtract any information from a wiki. The important components of a wiki would include discussion, comments, video clips, power points, and practically any form of information imagined. Any change made to a wiki can be tracked in its history.
One of the wikis I explored consisted of a third grade study of Westward Expansion along the Oregon Trail. The opening page portrayed a brief introduction and a mapping diagram created by the students along with comments at the bottom of the page. Along the side of the page was a menu for different resources that related to the topic.
Link: http://gowest.wikispaces.com/gowest.wikispaces.com/
Another example included a kindergarten counting book. This wiki involved images of a variety of household products that represented each number. It provided a visual for the kids to count the number of the products in picture while adding a source of technology in the classroom.
Link: http://kcountingbook.wikifoundry.com/kcountingbook.wikifoundry.com/
A third example was Mr. Lindsay's sixth grade class, which consisted of class information such as links to Google Classroom, curriculum, homework, news and events, and other resources. This wiki seemed to be pieced together very well and very user friendly for anyone who might access it.
Link: http://community.saugususd.org/dlindsay/page/
It seemed as though a few of these wikis could have included some video clips or power points the students could have created. For some of these there were very few comments and collaborative additions to the pages from the students. I wasn't sure if most of the work was completed by the teacher or the students.
Link: http://coachharris.pbworks.com/w/page/111184795/FrontPage
Using productivity tools is a fun way to organize your life professionally or recreationally. I use a variety of productivity tools and continue to decipher through additional resources that allow me to work more efficiently. The world of Google is in a universe of its own and has an abundance of tools that most will find useful in our classrooms and our everyday lives as we make that desperate attempt to stay organized. I look at Google as a wallet that I never have to carry around and can access at any time. Google is full of both productivity and collaborative tools. The one mentioned below is a prime example.
I use Google Docs because it allows me to share documents with my students and avoid the overuse of the copying machine. For instance, I use Google Classroom and share parent handouts that I created using Google Forms as seen below. All of the forms and spreadsheets I create are all saved in my Google Drive or "wallet" shall I say. One advantage of using online productivity tools is to avoid spending significant portions of technology budgets on software and upgrades (Solomon & Schrum, 2014, p. 99).
References
Solomon, G., & Schrum, L. (2014). Web 2.0: How-to for educators (2nd ed.). Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education.
Allan Carrington Designing Outcomes Adelaide South Australia. (n.d.) . [Graph Illustration of The Pedagogy Wheel] . The Pedagogy Wheel by Alan Carrington. Retrieved from http://designingoutcomes.com/moodle/padwheel/padwheelposter.pdf