The Usage of Wikis

 This time I am going to talk about Wikis. In previous posts I was sharing my ideas about blogs, digital children and podcast. This time I am not going far from the technology as my post is about Wiki. According to Leuf and Cunningham (2001),Wiki is a database where each page is easily edited also it is a collection of expandable WebPage. To tell the truth I liked Wikis a lot. I would say more than Blogging. As Mattison (2003) mentions   “a wiki can be a blog, but a blog does not have to be a wiki.” When I was writing a polar bear story I was so enthusiastic because here I had an opportunity to be more creative and was waiting for ending  as my peers had to continue it. But most of all I like wiki because of collaborative learning. Here  let`s say the learners should not comment like in blogging they can continue each other`s ideas. They have to read the beginning in order to continue, so they should be aware of that certain wiki page. It can be easily used for educational purposes and my perception is that students or learners will like them a lot. The wikis are easily editable and the users will not find much difficulties. I also created my wiki page and invited my friends there. As an English teacher I would use Wikis with great pleasure especially with adults by all means they would like it. This kind of technological innovations help teachers to go far from the traditional way of teaching and use technology as much as possible. Of course the lack of technological knowledge can be a problem but Wikis has simple usage , so it can be implemented. Students can easily edit it and change what they want. All that stuff can be done in groups or individually. The only thing that I do not like in Wikis is that individuals can delete what is written originally and edit new text. According to Will  Richardson Wikis create "the purposeful work of negotiating and creating truth".

In conclusion I would say once again that I like Wikis a lot and for sure  I would use it for the educational purposes.

Link for the image: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=600&tbm=isch&tbnid=5yi8dbdgjWpgVM:&imgrefurl=http://aaronparecki.com/Web_2.0_Tools_for_the_Classroom&docid=XsACjGLNtn6J_M&imgurl=http://aaronparecki.com/2009/090/article/1/files/what-are-wikis.gif&w=361&h=207&ei=WUeIUMeOBIaBiQeP0YHABw&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=285&sig=109605187291664981752&page=3&tbnh=150&tbnw=270&start=39&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:31,s:20,i:224&tx=132&ty=85

Incredible World of Podcast

 In my previous posts I was talking about the usage of  blogs within the classrooms, also I shared my opinion about   digital  children. I realized that this year we are going to get familiar with lots of technical developments which can be used in the 21^st century educational system. Today`s  my post is mainly connected with podcast. I remember when last year Dr, Madyarov told as to download iTunes and listen to different podcast episodes I was so confused. It was so unfamiliar and strange for all of us. But of course during time we were used to that. Last year we simple listened to podcasts and posted them in our blogs but this year the situation is completely different. That was great  now we had our own episodes I have never thought about that before. Now I can imagine how my students will be enthusiastic using all that kind of technological things during classes. In one of the articles I read that podcast influenced effectively on students listening skills also on their oral proficiency. Of course, firstly it would be challenging to use podcast because of technological issues as many students might not be familiar with it.  But this should not stop future teachers to use them. Students can listen to podcast not only by computers but using their mobile phones, Mp3 players or iPods. The main advantage of podcast is that students can listen to them on the go simultaneously doing other things.  According to Christopher Shamburg kids become consumers and creators of digital media, podcasting can  help kids  to  do interesting projects and create real life activities. In conclusion I would say that  podcasts  are really great. I am going to use them during my classes. I think students will be glad to share their ideas about what they listened to. 

Link  for the image:  http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=600&tbm=isch&tbnid=7YV3chPHQV3JbM:&imgrefurl=http://www.themobileindian.com/news/7869_Google-Listen-service-for-podcasts-to-be-discontinued&docid=be67ysFVAh4UbM&imgurl=http://www.themobileindian.com/images/nnews/2012/08/7869/Google-Listen-Removed-Play-Store.jpg&w=620&h=330&ei=VkiIULHVLYW

The usage of weblogs within the classrooms

During my previous post I was sharing ideas about digital children. I should say, that was great. I am still under the impression. I wish our schoolchildren in Armenia were like them. But let`s hope, I am sure they are going to be like them at least many of our children.  My today`s post is connected with self-learning.Actually I listened to Sugata Mitra`s talk about self-learning. I was happily surprised  that many children were able to learn lots of things connected with  new technology and what is  unknown  to them by themselves. Many teachers do not want to spend their time in poor places.As he mentioned children will learn to do what they want to learn to do. I think that idea was the greatest one. During his experiment in Dally he left the computer for two months and children were able to learn to use it by themselves in four hours. He said one very important things when children have interest then education happens. So it means that we can use new technology within the classrooms as our children will be more motivated.

Blogging is one the tools which can be very helpful. As famous blogger and educator Will Richardson mentioned blogging is a genre that engage students and adults in a process of thinking in  words. Blogs promote analytical and critical thinking, also promote creativity and so on. Keeping blogs can be much more easier especially for teachers as they save paper. Not only teachers but schoolchildren as well can update reflections and conversations in blogs. I think that would be great. But I cannot image to do all that stuff in Armenia. Many teachers are not able to use computers. Talking about myself I should say I have to go deeper into the subject in order to use it during classes. I do not think that now I am ready to use blogs during my classes every day. As it depends on my class  for sure.  

Link  for the image: http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1366&bih=643&tbm=isch&tbnid=-rfE2fNliVBFWM:&imgrefurl=http://organicseoexpert.org/online-marketing-methods/social-media-marketing/blog-marketing/&docid=2ibvUEm5GuBnLM&imgurl=http://organicseoexpert.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/web_2_0_social_media_marke