Wikis in a Classroom

John Johnston pointed me in the direction of a wiki whichTom Barrett has set up looking for ideas about using wikis in classrooms. I made this point

Looking at the example of Wikipedia, it needs to be a more substantial and permanent piece of work than a blog. So I would suggest that wikis are suitable for children to collaborate on producing their own revision notes or their cumulative knowledge on a classroom topic. For example, studying the Romans, they could start with an introduction putting them into historical perspective, add a piece about dress, their military exploits, food, type of government and bio pics of some emperors. The wiki could develop over time, perhaps a term or the length of a project. A wiki is to a blog as a novel is to a short story.

Small Rural Schools

Harold Jarche as reported by Will Richards is advocating a return to the one room school as being the ideal model for loosely interconnected learning and e-learning environments.

So why are we busily trying to close rural schools? They should be at the forefront of the e-learning revolution and supported as such. I do remember being at a conference in the late 80s where Argyll and Bute were being proclaimed as pioneers in schools video conferencing and ICT in general.

History Matters

This is what I wrote for the History Matters blog today

The alarm went off at 7.05 but I had one “snooze” before getting up and taking the dogs and myself downstairs and putting them outside into a dull misty autumnal morning here in Angus, Scotland. Upstairs again, showered and dressed in blue / grey shirt and fawn chinos. It’s getting to the time of year where darker trousers would look better. Porridge in the microwave, yoghurt and orange juice for breakfast. My wife was already away to get her hair done. I left the house at 8.30 and got to work in Dundee by 8.55, along the new dual carriageway from Arbroath.

I am a retired teacher working a 3 day week as an ICT Staff Tutor (teaching teachers about ICT), a job I did full-time for two years before retirement. At present I have 5 colleagues in a single office which is usually a cheery, hard working place. This morning I updated an action plan using mind mapping software on my laptop. Apart from some help to others in the office I spent the rest of the day preparing to give an in-service using the Inspiration mind mapping software tomorrow in the later afternoon after school.

Lunch with a couple of colleagues saw a lively wide ranging discussion about how education must change to take account of modern styles of information and how the exam system which we experienced has dumbed down but is now totally inadequate to test present pupils.

I got home about 5.00 pm having stopped for petrol in a supermarket near Dundee (cheapest in area) and plan to spend the evening having a meal and watching some television after I have caught up with blogs that I watch and perhaps posted this to my own blog.

I should be in bed by 11.00 pm.