Blogs and Wikis in Education

Blogs and Wikis can be used in various ways within the classroom. Kids love to create real life publications and being the author of a custom design, blogs and wikis make this process easy and fast. Students learn in all different ways, blogs and wikis can provide the opportunity to integrate assorted multimedia applications. Video, slideshows, and online activities can be simple, daily resources for the classroom. Another way this theses technologies can be use in the classroom is to have students start blogging themselves, this can enhance communication and discussions. As a teacher blogs and wikis can also be very useful, you can post materials and resources for your students and parents, or even receive feedback on lesson plans from other educators.

RSS readers and aggregators can be used in a number of ways in the classroom. Blogs and websites contain content using RSS readers this allows readers to subscribe, collect, and read the content of the site through a tool called an aggregator, which allows for constant quick updates. A homepage portal is one example of these technologies, this would be great to use in a classroom with computers. You could set the homepage to contain certain facts or blogs that would act as a directory for students, for example a homepage could contain a classroom blog site, daily weather animations, and calendar reminders. Another way RSS readers and aggregators can be used by students is allowing them to create categories or folders for different course-related blogs in a reader, this will keep track of important materials in an easy way.

Blogs and wikis can be a great asset to a classroom. They are easy to use technology for both the teacher and the students. They allow students to interact with one another and have ownership over their thoughts and ideas. Blogs and wikis also create a new mode of submission that maybe easier and more exciting. However, these technologies also have challenges students or the teacher may have very little knowledge or experience with computers this could create a number of problem when using blogs, or wikis. The posting element of these applications could also create various challenges, such as the teacher having to keep up with new posts and the students posting on time and correctly. If the correct procedures are explain and practice is given with these technologies, then they can have many benefits for the classroom.