Week 3 - eLearning

Hey guys it's Jess!

This week we were looking at the effectiveness of blogs, wiki's and websites in a classroom situation. During the week I made a weebly webpage, as I've already had experience in both blogs and wiki pages (I did however go back to my wiki and have a little mess around before coming to write this). We also focused on how TPACK and web 2.0 affected the learners outcomes of the scaffolding of these mediums. 

TPACK

Source: CQU Moodle

During the week I realised that if I was to ever use wiki's or webpages as an educational tool in the classroom I would need more information and A LOT more time to mess around with the site. Using these sites allowed me to realise I do not have the Technological Knowledge to help learners to achieve their best with these online activities as I don't have the ability to understand them completely just yet.





Web 2.0
Have you ever heard of web 1.0 or even web 2.0? No, well let me explain. Web 1.0 is a website that has a 'webmaster' someone who controls what content goes on and stays on a certain website. The view of the website does not change for different viewers nor can viewers change what is being seen (this can be called a read only website). Web 2.0 however is owned by us, the people. We can share, view, communicate and upload in all different types of forums in web 2.0. It is often a what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG) type of editor. 

Blogs
I have always enjoyed the thought of blogging and have just started up my own blog (which hasn't got very far yet) just from the excitement of this course. 

Before a blog is implemented the teacher needs to have concepts for learners to think through, various resources and concept segments to process, or ideas to construct. There must be a certain amount of content preparation (Thomas, 2013)

Using a blog in the classroom allows learners to track their own learning and create their own space to understand content being taught. It is best to note that having children reflect on their actions is difficult when they begin which means scaffolding is a must which can be done through many different aspects of questioning, online tools and constructed questioning. 

Source: Thomas, 2013

Although blogs allow teachers and other leaners to look at and comment on things learners have written about. This is an individuals learning tool, if group work was the assessment or topic that was using online tools the teacher needs to have them use a group website such as a wiki page. 
Blogs can allow learners to analyze and connect with class material while also finding ways to apply new ideas. But for that to work in my classroom I need to provide the relevant feedback while evaluating (not for the final product of course) the blog to see how the entire learning process shakes out. 


Resources
Thomas. (2013). Using Blogs to Enhance Learning - Some Helpful Tips. Retrieved from: http://www.openeducation.net/2008/10/10/using-blogs-to-enhance-learning-%E2%80%93-some-helpful-tips/