Wikis 2 – Safety & Transparency

As new technologies start to make it into the classroom, educators have to be careful with protecting the students, and themselves. I needed to go beyond just discussing and sharing with the administration and parents. I used a Protected Wiki this allowed me to both control who was posting and leave it open for oversight.  In a protected wiki, anyone can browse the site, but only members can participate in discussions and make new pages.

How this worked with students:

• Can join the wiki and post
• Can loose the privilege to post if they abuse the wiki.
• Can always see their assignments.

How this worked with parents:

• Can see what their students are doing.
• Can check on assignments and due dates.

How this worked with administration:

• Any issues could be addressed directly

I also used an RSS feed to monitor students’ comments.  I told the students that I watch what they do, and they can loose privileges and points.  I never needed to follow through on this threat.

Graphing Tool

Create-a-Graph
Sponsored by NCES

This is an excellent, easy to use graphing tool.  Sometimes it isn’t worth the frustration of trying to get things working in Excel.  You can create any standard type of graph, setup colors, print, save or email your results.

15 Minute Rule

While attending the Nation Academy Foundation Institute for Staff Development in Phoenix, AZ, I attended one of Lon Safko‘s workshops.  He said that it take 15 minutes for him to hear about a post that includes his name or the name of his book The Social Media Bible.  I thought I would give this a try and see how long it takes him to comment.  He mentioned two different websites for surveillance, and I didn’t remember them.  I hope he posts them here.

BTW Don’t listen to those lies about it being a dry heat . . . it’s like walking through a pretty ashtray

Wikispaces 1

I learned about Wikispaces in Grad School.  I decided that it’s the direction that I need to take my classroom.  I have been using this Wiki for over a year and have been very successful.  I like the fast updates (I can update assignments while I’m talking to the students.)  I also like the fact that it’s open and transparent.  Anyone (parents or administrators) can have access to everything on the site.  On my Teacher Resources page I have links and a setup guide that I created for a PD at my school.

Excellent Video About What a Wiki Is

My Purpose

I want to explore the in’s and out’s of a digital classroom. I’m working on taking a couple of my classes paperless, and I wanted to share my struggles and insights. I also look forward to discussing methods and tools with other educators.