Kyle+Barrows


 * Reflection**

Before this experience I was unfamiliar with wiki and how it could be used. Wikipedia was the only part of wiki I knew. However, this experience has been very beneficial. Communicating with classmates through discussions to complete a project has been fun and a lot more flexible then trying to meet out of school hours. At first I was concerned when we were told about the project. I wasn’t sure what it was going to look like or how we were going to complete the assignment. Once we got started on the project working together through discussion made it simple and it didn’t feel like a daunting task.

Wiki spaces are extremely user friendly and I never had any trouble when trying to navigate through the site. This experience has given me ideas of how I can use wiki in my own classroom. It was interesting to learn while using Wiki and I feel that it is a great hands on experience. Students would love to use this program to complete an assignment and would love to discuss with one another. It has the same feel as Facebook or Myspace, which students are on all the time! A great introduction to wiki would be to allow students to decorate their own page. I teach Language Arts and writing is a huge focus. Wiki would be a great tool for students to post their own writings, give feedback, or work collaboratively on a writing assignment. I often find it hard to get students excited about writing; however, wiki would be a nice twist and could motivate the students. I also like how I was able to connect this class with my IDT 7601 class. I am taking integrating the Curriculum through Technology online. In this online class the professor has used wiki and has taught us how it can be a great tool in the classroom. Using wiki in SPED 7000 has given a hands on experience on how the program is extremely helpful in the classroom. Using wiki in both classes made me more familiar with how it works and broadened my horizons about the wiki world. Overall, I found this experience a great way to learn in the classroom. It required us as graduate students to collaboratively work together using a problem solving approach to learning. I think it has shown us how technology can be integrated into college. However, it has also made us think how it can be used in our own classroom, the professional world, and in our personal life. I will definitely tell people about wiki and how it can be used. I am also interested to see if more people know about wiki than I expect. My only concern is that I won’t know how to set up wiki. For example, if I was to use it in my own classroom I need to play around with the site to see how I would set it up for the students. However, I am willing to try to integrate this piece of technology with teaching and learning.

Other than using Wikipedia to locate information on the internet, I am not that familiar with wiki.