Blogs and Wikis in Education

1.Identify and describe 3 interesting/innovative ways blogs and/or wikis are being used in k-12 classrooms.
A.You have the capabilities of doing interwoven discussions on a book students were supposed to have read. A teacher can post questions to initiate conversation and then have students post and respond to at least 2 other blog posts. It would allow student to be able to jot down ideas informally and gives the teacher an opportunity to see their knowledge and comprehension of the book.
B.You could use questionnaires on blogs for both students and parents. Students could assess a group project or assignment given so you as a teacher can evaluate your teaching. Parents also can take a questionnaire online.
C.You could use a wiki for virtual field trips. You could have your students research far away places they would like to go on a field trip, and get them to share images and information about the location. They could also create presentation on wikis. Instead of using traditional presentation software, put presentations on a wiki.

2.Describe how you might use RSS reader/aggregator within a classroom setting.
RSS: Real(ly) Simple Syndication or Rich Site Summary, essentially a webfeed delivered as an XML file to an aggregator or feed collector / reader. Some general benefits for education is the organizing and streamlining the abundance of content on the web, allowing for an approach to reading the combines both picking out interesting and relevant materials and making connections between the relevant and interesting materials, developing reading skills important for both our students and ourselves, and it gives students the opportunity to evaluate and weed out content on the web. In the classroom students can subscribe to topic-specific sites that relate to the course, allowing them to stay aware of recent developments in the field. It can help them with research Students can also contribute to the collection of feeds by seeking out relevant sites on the web and sharing these feeds with the class. They can have ease of reading and commenting on peers’ blogs: In a class that uses blogs, RSS can make more efficient the exchange of ideas and knowledge that makes blogs a worthwhile pedagogical tool in the first place. Students can subscribe to the blogs of their classmates and easily see when they’ve been updated. The last thing that is a cool incorporation is that they get to think differently about writing for a digital world.

3.Describe 2 pros and 2 cons of using blogs and wikis in education.
Possible cons include content control with student writing, how grammatically correct it should be or permitted not to be, and how to keep students from being influenced to use blogs in ways that might cause them harm (like sex offenders online). Possible pros include how open commenting can positively affect student motivation to write and write well, and how teachers could introduce students to other social networking environments beyond our nation into global networks.