{"id":8775,"date":"2012-02-23t08:00:06","date_gmt":"2012-02-23t14:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/?p=8775"},"modified":"2012-06-08t10:57:49","modified_gmt":"2012-06-08t16:57:49","slug":"selecting-the-right-technology-tool-wikis-discussion-boards-journals-and-blogs-essays-on-teaching-excellence-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"\/\/www.imrbdigital.com\/2012\/02\/selecting-the-right-technology-tool-wikis-discussion-boards-journals-and-blogs-essays-on-teaching-excellence-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"selecting the right technology tool: wikis, discussion boards, journals, and blogs (essays on teaching excellence) part one"},"content":{"rendered":"

selecting the right technology tool: wikis, discussion boards, journals, and blogs<\/strong>
\ntami j. eggleston, mckendree university<\/em>
\nthe pod network teaching excellence essay series<\/em>, 2010-11<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/strong>in this essay, eggleston discusses how daunting many faculty find selecting the right technology tool can be. to help with this task, she compares common\u00a0electronic tools and uses bloom\u2019s cognitive domain taxonomy (1956) and\u00a0chickering and ehrmann\u2019s seven principles of good teaching (1996) to\u00a0connect these tools with skill development teaching goals and effective\u00a0teaching practices.\u00a0you can read the\u00a0entire article <\/a> or browse cft\u00a0resources\u00a0on technology and learning including\u00a0information on\u00a0blogs <\/a>and\u00a0wikis<\/a>.<\/p>\n

in this blog post, we’ll expand on eggleston’s essay and offer you an overview of wikis. look for our second post, on using blogs in your courses, tomorrow.<\/p>\n

what is a wiki?<\/h4>\n

a wiki is \u201ca collaborative tool that allows students to contribute and modify one or more pages of course related materials.\u201d wikis are collaborative in nature and facilitate community-building within a course. essentially, a wiki is a web page with an open-editing system.\u00a0\u00a0wikis in plain english<\/a> is a short movie describing what a wiki is and how it can be used in a collaborative process. \u00a0according to eggleston wikis provide a vehicle for exercising most, if not all, of bloom\u2019s \u2018higher\u00a0order thinking\u2019 activities.<\/p>\n

in many classrooms, the instructor provides most of the course content. with wikis, students have an opportunity to create – together – much of the course content. \u00a0wikis shift your students from ‘consumer of knowledge’ to ‘creators of knowledge,’ which is a great way to encourage your students to develop critical thinking skills, to learn from one another, and to improve their ability to work in groups. there are many benefits<\/a> of using wikis and you can probably think of other reasons your students would benefit from using this collaboration tool.<\/p>\n

when to use a wiki<\/h4>\n

as you’re beginning to see, wikis are\u00a0ideal for group projects that emphasize collaboration and editing. some common uses include:<\/p>\n