PBWorks and other Wikis

This week we were asked to look at PBWorks.  I believe I have been introduced to it before (many years ago).  I didn't use because I was new to teaching and was trying to keep my head above water...lol!  And at the time I had a hard to figuring out just how I would use it in the classroom.


What is are wikis and what are their affordances?
Wikis are a collaboration space.  It is a living space.  It is constantly under revision.  One of the biggest affordances of wikis is the collaborative nature of them.  With wikis being web-based they can be accessed anytime from anywhere.  For a teacher, it is easy to see the changes that have been made and who made them.  This is nice because the teacher can see how the work has been distributed (who has pulled their weight and who hasn't).  Wikis are nice because there are places to store files, images, etc.

I think there are two main learning theories that wikis can apply to:  social learning and constructivist.  In regards to the social learning theory, the students are collaborating, they are working together.  It is bringing students together and learning from each other.  Not only the content, but behaviors.  In regards to the constructivist learning theory, the students are constructing their knowledge by working with each and piecing their learning together instead of sitting passively in a desk being the "receivers of knowledge".  They are constructing the knowledge.  With the wikis, they are finding their information/discussing their information and creating meaning out of it.


PBWorks
As I stated before, I think that I have been introduced to PBWorks (many years ago) before but never used it because I was still new in my teaching and unfamiliar with the technology of the district.

Anyway,  I have come to PBWorks with a new perspective and definitely more experience.  I think one of the things I like the best about PBWorks is the fact that students don't have to have email addresses.  The teacher can create accounts for the students.  Here is one drawback though, once you create accounts you better print out the user names and passwords while the screen is up otherwise you have to "reset" the student's password.

One activity I could have the students do is their blogging here.  It is under one location and easy for the students to find.  The one thing that worries me is a student can "steal key" and edit someone else's page.  This is with the free edition.  I know that the owner/administrator can control access of pages.  But it is only with the premium edition.

As I am thinking about my design project which was over Author's Purpose I am thinking about ways that students could use PBWorks.  Some of the natural disaster projects I would have them do would lend well to PBWorks.  In specific I am thinking of the photo montage they have to do.  They can upload their pictures and create their "presentation" through a wiki.

Space with the free PBWorks is limited.  I only have 2 gig for files.


Wikispaces
I used Wikispaces a little bit in one of my other graduate classes.  We used the Wikispaces more as a "discussion" forum more than anything.  I do like Wikispaces except for the fact that people (students) joining HAVE to have an email.  Up until recently our students have not had email addresses.  And so I would not have been able to use Wikispaces in my classroom.  One feature that I have "played" with is the Projects aspect of Wikispaces.  This seems like a pretty cool thing to try.  This would be a good place for a novel study (the Reading teacher in me) projects.  There could be a space for each novel and each person reading that novel would have access to that book.  One nice thing is that we can set permissions.  So that once all projects are done and turned in I could set permissions so that all members can view the pages but only team members can make changes.  This would allow a "gallery walk" of projects.  I like the fact that I have to approve the membership for the wiki.  Or I can give a join code for the students to join.

Space with Wikispaces is limited also but I do get 5 gig with Wikispaces.


Overall thoughts
I think at this point if I had to choose between PBWorks and Wikispaces, I think that I would go with Wikispaces.  I really like the feature of PBWorks that I can create the student accounts but unless I pay for the premium version I can't keep someone from editing someone else's page.  Granted, I can see the edits that take place and can take action but there is not a way in the free version to safeguard against that.  On the other hand, Wikispaces does require an email.  At this point that would be okay.  I really like the Projects aspect of Wikispaces.  I also really like the fact that Wikispaces does give me 5 gig over the 2 gig of PBWorks. I think that for my classroom and functionality in my classroom, I would go with Wikispaces.

Khan Academy, YouTube, etc.

Khan Academy

We are supposed to look at Khan Academy this week.  I did get on and look but they don't have much of anything for ELAR.  Looking at the other subject areas I see how Khan Academy could be very useful.  Now, there may not have been lessons on the skills for ELAR (main idea, sequence of events, characterization, the plot line, etc) BUT I did find things that I could use if I wanted to reinforce stories that we read in the classroom.  One subject area I looked at was US History.  I looked at the Civil War in specific.  The reason that I chose that one is because we have a couple of different pieces in the textbook that deal with the Civil War and it would give the students  a framework for the piece that they would be reading.  Now, I have a Love unit.  I think every teacher has one.  Mine happens to be the Holocaust.  We have the play The Diary of Anne Frank in our textbook.  I always save that one for after state testing.  I usually end the year with that unit.  As I look through Khan Academy there is a section about Hitler and the rise of the Nazis.  This would be something that I could use as an introduction for the students.

The only other thing that I really noticed that could be used in the ELAR classroom would be the Grammar section.  But even in the Grammar there isn't a lot to choose from.  And since I was in a Reading environment, they had a separate English class, I wouldn't have had to worry about teaching grammar.

Textbook Online Components

I decided to go ahead and discuss the online content that came with our textbook adoption.  This was something that I tried to use a lot when I was in the classroom.  It was one of the aspects that drew me to this particular publisher and textbook.  One of the things I liked best about our online component was that I could assign students tests of the piece that we read.  I had control over the setup of the test.  I could push out assignments to the students.  Based on how they did on diagnostic tests I could do "course intervention".  Which would give them remediation where they need it or give them accelerated learning if they do well.  Another component to our online content was the Level Up tutorials for the pieces in the textbook.  The tutorials focused on the skills that were covered in the piece.  For example, The Hitchhiker is a drama in the textbook.  So one Level Up tutorial focused on suspense and foreshadowing and another Level Up tutorial focused on the elements of drama.  It would go through a mini-lesson on the skill and also ask them questions along the way and give the student feedback.  Within the Level Up tutorial is a practice section where they can put the skills that they learned to work.  There is also an interactive vocabulary practice.  It is similar to Hangman but helps the students work on their vocabulary.  Another online component to the textbook is the Reader/Writer Notebook.  This is not interactive, per se.  The students read the story online (they can even have it read to them page by page) and then they answer the questions by typing them.  They are the same questions that are in the hard copy of the textbook, just as if we were having our students keep a hard copy Reader/Writer Notebook.  They can print it off and turn it in to the teacher or email it to the teacher.

YouTube

I have to say that until I started my Masters I had not really explored YouTube that much.  One of the main reasons was because our Technology Director discouraged YouTube because of the bandwidth that it used.  It wasn't until I thought I was going to have to go back into the classroom half a day that I started to REALLY look at YouTube.  I was going to have to teach a grade level and subject I had never taught before.  So I started looking for videos I could use.  And then one of my classes had us "play" with YouTube and now I that is one the places I start when I am needing to look for something.  I have found many useful videos when it comes to the skills that I cover in the Reading classroom.  I have found a few videos that I have been able to use and upload to PlayPosit and ask questions from.  I was needing some extra help with Google Forms for a project I was doing and the first place I went to was YouTube.  I found a couple of very useful videos and actually a couple that had nothing to do with what I really needed but it also spurred creativity for me with Google Forms.  Right now it is a little harder for our students to access YouTube.  Our technology department has it blocked because the students are not using it appropriately.  This where mini-lessons of appropriate use come in and more teacher monitoring.  I know that the online dual credit Speech teacher that I am a facilitator for uses YouTube for a lot of her lessons.  As I look through YouTube for videos on author's purpose I end up with over 19,000 hits.  Of course I have to wade through those but that just shows how many videos are out there to choose from.  And I had narrowed my search to just author's purpose for middle school and I ended up with the 19,000 hits.

Edmodo vs. Google Classroom

I like both of these course management systems.  I think they both have their good points and not so good points.  Not bad points, just not so good, things that can be worked on.  I have worked with Edmodo for about the last five years.  I have actually tried different systems but I didn’t really find what I was looking for until Edmodo.  One of the first things my students notice about Edmodo is how similar it looks to Facebook.  They really liked that feature (this was when Facebook first became popular).  If I had to choose between Edmodo or Google Classroom I don’t know which I would choose.  I like them both.  I have a chart that I created to just jot down some similarities and differences between Edmodo and Google Classroom. 

I think in the end I would probably choose Google.  One reason behind that is the fact that our students will have Google accounts this next year.  In many of the aspects it is easier for me to use Google Classroom.  For me, one of Google’s strengths is being able to post an assignment and give each student their own copy.  The students can work that copy and turn it in from Google Drive.  There is no downloading, working, and then uploading to turn it in, as in Edmodo.  Google Classroom is so much easier for collaboration projects.  One member can open up the document and share it with the other members of the group. 

I think for me one of the biggest drawbacks of Google Classroom is that there is no parent login available.  I have read where that is in the works.  That is where Edmodo has an advantage.  The teacher can send out parent codes and they can join also and keep an eye on their student’s progress.

One aspect I like about Google Classroom is that I can create “learning experiences” and have ALL my students join that class.  For example, I have created a Paul Revere’s Ride class.  I would have all of my students (usually it was about 110-115 students) join that class.  It would give the students the opportunity to interact with students in other classes besides the one they are in.  I would definitely have to set up some strict guidelines about responding to posts and projects.  There would have be to strict guidelines on how to name their submissions.  Since I would have all students in the same “class” I would require that they respond to students from different class periods.  This could be accomplished in Edmodo also.  I could have everyone join the one class and then break it up into subgroups.  I could number the students 1-6 and then have all the 1’s join a specific subgroup, the 2’s would join a subgroup, and so on.  This would be mainly for discussion posts and responses.  However, one of the biggest drawbacks to Edmodo, for me, is that their discussions aren’t threaded.  If I were to post a discussion question the students can only respond to me (the original poster).  They can’t respond to other student’s responses to the original post.   They can do this in Google Classroom.

One aspect I REALLY like about Google Classroom is giving assessments (quizzes).  I found out how to do this by looking into getting my Google Educator Level 2 certification.  One thing you can do with Google Forms is to “create your own adventure” quiz.  This is really great for differentiation.  I have actually created this with my Paul Revere’s Ride quiz.  Based on how they answer the question determines what happens.  If they answer the question correctly it takes them to the next question.  However, if they answer the question incorrectly it will take them to a video that helps them answer the question correctly.  It explains how to come to the correct answer.  And when grading the question, I can use an Add-On such as Flubaroo.  I can decide which questions I want counted in the grading.  And that is one drawback to Google Classroom…assessments.  In Edmodo, you can push out assessments and it will automatically grade it.  But in Google Classroom, I have to run an Add-On such as Flubaroo.

One wonderful aspect they both have in common is the ability to connect to PlayPosit.  PlayPosit is a website that allows teachers to either upload videos from places like YouTube, TeacherTube, etc or their own created videos.  The teachers then can ask questions along the way to make sure that the students are grasping the concept.  The teacher can pull grades from PlayPosit.

As you can see both Edmodo and Google Classroom have their advantages and disadvantages.  Both platforms support teaching and learning.  When looked at side-by-side they both have many similar affordances.  With these two platforms I think it really boils down to which one are you more comfortable with?  At first I was more comfortable with Edmodo but as I started “playing” with Classroom and became more familiar with it I began to prefer Classroom.  I think you also really need to look at your end result.  For example, I think about my Paul Revere’s Ride lesson…what did I want them to get out of it?  I want them to produce something collaboratively and then look at other projects and discussions and be able to respond critically, appropriately, and respectfully, but also master the skills presented (poetry).  For me, as a teacher, Google Classroom accomplished that better than Edmodo.  However, I know that each platform has advantages and disadvantages, you should pick one and stick with it.  You don’t want to be going between the two.  The students just get confused and frustrated.  If I were to have to go back into the classroom full-time and teach Reading again I would choose Google Classroom to help create the blended classroom that I would like to create.

GAfE and Google Classroom

I have been playing with Google Classroom for the last year.  I was first introduced to Google Classroom through my Digital Fluency workshop that I attended last summer hosted by Region 10.  I found at that time that it had not been turned on in my district and talked my boss into turning it on.  From that time on I have "played" around with it.  We didn't push it out in our district this last year because our students didn't have Google accounts.  Without an educational Google account our students cannot access Google Classroom.  However, my colleague and I have been using it this year to help facilitate our teacher trainings.  We have decided that we are going to offer two different methods of trainings this next year.  We are going to offer face-to-face trainings.  Our other method is going to be through Google Classroom.  We are going to post our video for the staff member to watch.  We are going to require that the staff member create a product and submit it through Classroom and then they will take a quiz.  Once the staff member has completed these then we will award them a badge.

We are going to be able to push Classroom more this year.  In fact, we will be able to push all of the GAfE.  Our students will have Google accounts.  This is really going to propel us into the current instructional technology age.  One of our goals is to move our teachers towards being Google Certified Educators.

One of the nice things about Google Classroom is that it does allow for the flipped/blended classroom.  Students can work outside of school.  They can pose questions to the teacher or even other students.  It allow for a rich discussion with the discussion board.  The nice thing about Classroom is that it allows for the teacher to post a discussion question, students can respond to the teacher and they can also respond to other students that have responded to the teacher.  Some CMS don't allow for that.  I also like the aspect of being able to create an assignment and to create a copy of whatever I might attach for each student.  When I have tried to use other CMS the student has had to download a copy, work on that copy, save it on the computer, and then upload it.  With Google Classroom each student has their own copy and it is saved in their Google Drive.  It cuts down on many steps and makes things easier on both the student and the teacher.

One of the main questions my teachers ask me is:  How can I use these different apps with my students?  That is going to be one of our main trainings this year, integrating GAfE into the classroom.  For me, I come at GAfE from the secondary perspective.  My colleague comes at it from the elementary perspective...just our different backgrounds.

Google Forms
One of the apps that I have "latched" onto is Google Forms.  I have been completing SO many tasks with Google Forms.  One of the things I have discovered is the "choose your own adventure" form.  The way that I have chosen to use this is not necessarily "choose your own adventure" but as a way to differentiate instruction.  It is a quiz over the story that they have read.  If they answer the question correctly it moves them on to the next question.  If they answer incorrectly it will take them to a video they need to watch to help them in answering the question correctly.  Here is a sample quiz:  Paul Revere's Ride.  Another way that I have suggested that teachers use Google Forms is for student reflection.  The teacher can pose questions to the students to reflect on their learning and on the lesson.


Google Docs
This is one of the easiest apps to incorporate in the classroom.  The teachers can make an assignment through Google Classroom.  One of the students in a group can be the "owner" of the document and can share with the other members of the group.  The students can create a product by using Docs.  Students can be working in different parts of the document at the same time.  Or if students are having to write essays the student can share the document with the teacher and the teacher can make comments to help the students in their writing.  One of the projects that I would have students do is create a children's book based off of a poem (Paul Revere's Ride).  They are to keep the important events.  The students can use Docs to create the book.  They can assign different events in the poem and each student can be working their section.


Google Sheets
I can see many possibilities for Sheets in the classroom, especially the secondary classroom.  I can see this being very useful in the Science classroom.  As they are doing experiments and need to keep track of data they can use sheets to keep track of it.  It could be used in the Math classroom when it comes to graphing.


Google Hangouts
This is one of the GAfE that I haven't played with too much but I do know it's possibilities.  One of the biggest advantages to Hangouts is if a student is having issues they can message (chat or video) someone in the class or even the teacher to help them answer the question.  It is good if the student can go to another student.  Sometimes the peer-to-peer is more effective than student-to-teacher.  If teachers can connect to other classrooms around the country even the world it would give students a new look on the world.  Take them places they may only dream of going.  One of the things that I think of is my Holocaust unit I used to do in my classroom in connection to The Diary of Anne Frank play in our textbook.  How richer/authentic would my unit have been if I had been able to connect with a museum in the United Kingdom that has a display dedicated to the Holocaust?  Or to be able to connect with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C. and visit with a survivor?  If Google Hangouts on Air is used that interview would be saved to YouTube and the students can go back at any time and watch it again.

I am very excited for our district this year with us fully supporting GAfE.  We are going to have much more dynamic classrooms.  I am hoping that we can work closely with our curriculum department to help push out GAfE.  If we are able to work closely with them we know what they are wanting to accomplish and we can help our teachers reach that with GAfE.