Week Two of Collaboration and Learning in a Virtual Environment

I am ending week two in the class mentioned in the title of this post. My previous posts were for the last course, but it all relates. This week was wiki week; it was all about wikis. Although most people would consider me technologically forward, I did have apprehension about using wikis in class. Why? Because even though i have websites, blogs, twitter, facebook, etc, a wiki was the one thing I had never created (that is a little untrue. I did create one in a very controlled Blackboard setting once, but it was very limited).

Well, this week I read about wikis and discussed them in class. The discussions made me think of ways to use them in my classroom, and guess what? I found uses very easily. In fact, I was excited by the possibilities. I learned about the potential problems I could face and worked through some solutions. I developed activity ideas. Now I am a fan of the classroom wiki. Why? I love collaboration, and wikis are virtual collaboration at its best. It is writing, editing, debating, and working towards a collaborative truth that seldom is found in the classroom. So I am suggesting to educators of all kinds to check it out.