Looks like we have a developing cluster here - focused on Learners! Peter, Leo, Nellie, Declan - blaze the trail!
- Randy On Fri, May 23, 2008 at 1:57 PM, Declan <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Hi folks, > > I think the answer to Peter's question should be 'both'. I see scope > for entry-level students, and also room for more scholarly > contributions. > > My little project brings a class of 30+ students to Wikieducator. > They range from first year third-level students to third year working > in mixed-age teams with three or four members per team. All of their > writing assignments for the course are in Wikieducator. > > Reflection: I require an online reflection on their classroom > experience. This combines practical advice like 'don't let the > students have the crayons before needed' and also more thoughtful > reflection. Wayne suggested that the students might also reflect on > the wiki experience and more than half of them did: > http://www.wikieducator.org/Wiki_reflections > > Reasons to come back: For WE to convert students to active users, the > material that students contribute must be of long-term value to them. > While we academics consider that the materials in our disciplines will > be of long-term use to students, the reality is that not all material > will resonate with all students. On the one hand I don't require my > Community Ecology students to write content for WE because I recognize > that some of them will be medical professionals, others will be > environmental consultants, and perhaps one or two from a class of 20 > will become educators or community ecologists. On the other hand > students in my Biology in Elementary Schools course are preparing to > be primary school teachers. If they work hard to develop a lesson > plan, try it out, reflect on it, and put it in WE, my perhaps naive > hope is that they'll be back to WE to use that information. > > I think it is valuable to have students engage in a broader community > and to contribute. I think it benefits the community, but more > importantly I think it benefits the students directly. Anything that > encourages students to more highly value their work than simply a > means of earning a grade is helps move their aspirations to a higher > level. Simply by saying 'this is a useful contribution', and 'others > will gain by your efforts', we are enforcing the idea that a student > is not just a student, but also are a valid contributed to their > field. > > Costs: Not all students are A students. Some contributions will be > less than stellar. However, WE is a collaborative medium. None of > should be shy about tweaking a page once the WIP tag has been > removed. My hope is that when teachers use a lesson plan and find a > new angle, they will share that information with the rest of us. > > Peter and other contributors, thanks for starting a most interesting > discussion. > > Cheers, > > Declan > > > -- ________________ Randy Fisher - Facilitating Change and Designing Sustainable Ecosystems to Improve Performance- for People, Teams, Communities, and Organizations http://www.wikieducator.org/User:Randyfisher + 1 604.684.2275 [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.hirerandy.com Skype: wikirandy --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "WikiEducator" group. To visit wikieducator, go to: http://www.wikieducator.org To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
