My biggest question that I've had with this project is what am I going to do with it, when I leave the friendly confines of Cardinal Stritch? I'm assuming that I'll be able to transfer it to my regular home version of Google Sites, but that's an assumption, and we all know what happens when you assume. Can I save it, move it, use it, because if I can't then that's going to put a serious damper on my enthusiasm. I say that honestly, because I am pretty excited about this idea. Especially after seeing that all my artifacts don't have to come from my Stritch work, they can come from my work work. I'm excited to share and put out some of the work that my kids have done. I'm proud of the products they have created with me. This year I've enjoyed, perhaps more than ever some of the new ideas we've worked on. I'll show you one here,
www.7oreligion6.pbworks.com
www.7oreligion4.pbworks.com
It is a wiki that each section of my class worked on after our religion unit. WARNING: It is not perfect, it is clearly the work of 7th graders, who were new to religions, wikis, and deadlines, but it is still pretty cool how they came together to create something. While there are things I'm not particularly pleased with how each wiki turned out. I am happy with their effort, and I'm convinced that this was a good first step for them to take in this area of content and delivery.
I have some other projects that I'm excited to share on my portfolio, but I haven't gotten permission yet from some students.
Final Note: I have some pretty good luck generally, things typically work out for me in the long run. This year I've been pretty down on myself because I started a Ning with my class, we were enjoying it, the kids were excited, but I've failed as a Ning master. I guess I wasn't quite ready or prepared to implement it, then today this link came across my Twitter page. Ning is no longer going to offer free sites. While I still consider this a failure on my part, I don't feel so bad about it, because I wasn't willing to pay for it. It feels like I'm even Steven.
Jason,
ReplyDeleteIt will be interesting to follow what Ning decides to do with the pay option. If I was a betting man, which I am not, I would suspect that Ning will do what PBWorks does, offering a free service that has a cap on the number of members, but then a pay site for larger groups. Either way it will be interesting to follow what is decided. I like the look and functionality of a Ning better than a Wiki, but it would appear that the Wiki is a more stable choice for future use.
The fact that you are establishing a baseline for using technology with students is admirable. I also tried to do too much too soon, but that is also how we learn. We can continually polish what worked with students while eliminating what didn't throughout the years. I think we will learn far more with those failures than we will with the successes. Hopefully, we will be able to take that knowledge and experience and share it with those who are interested in adding technology to their classrooms. :)
Ahh that's why I always went the wiki way.... sorry to hear though as the nings looked so much better. Congrats on the collaborative work with your classes
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