Tuesday, June 17, 2008

From Lankshear and Knobel:

“A wiki is about as easy to set up as a web log. There are various free wiki hosting sites where one can register and establish a wiki for the purposes of a collaborative writing project…goal of wiki sites is ‘to become a shared repository of knowledge, with the knowledge base growing over time’” (p.89).

I chose this quote about wiki’s because my group is using one to write our final paper. I had never used a site like wiki before, so the whole process of creating one was a “new” literacy for me. The quote says that it is a place to collaborate, and so far my group has done this. We have each posted our individual writing excerpts online, and some of us have made slight changes to others writing. It is a great space to easily view others work, and it makes the writing process much easier. I agree that it is a warehouse of knowledge. Doing this project online has made me realize that there are so many forms of technological literacies out there that I am unaware of. If I am unaware of them, then most likely most teachers are too. The first quote said that educators who have a broader knowledge of student’s literacy practices will be more successful increasing students learning. I agree with this statement, but how are we supposed to become more knowledgeable with technologies such as wiki’s? Are we just supposed to explore the possibilities ourselves? I have a better understanding of “new” literacies from this course, but what about current teachers who have been teaching for a long time and are unaware of technology in general? Any thoughts?

No comments: