wikis

Wikis seem like a good collaboration tool for class and for teacher communication. I like the opportunity to keep everything on one document rather than having it as a mess in your email. I see this helpful for students in my classes as they work on their written communication skills in Spanish. They could help each other find errors in a submitted starting document, share research notes on a group or even on individual projects. In the past I have had students research different aspects surrounding Picasso's infamous Guernica. A wiki would have been a great place for them to share all of their research since so many topics were interwoven. Students could even share drafts of their project for peer editing and revision so what they presented was ploished. I see this as a great monitor for the teacher that students are making progress by the record-keeping aspect in which times of edit are kept and colorcoding can be used for work. I think this may be better than a blog because it makes it seems less like one expert with followers and more like a community of learners. This would help some of my more shy students gain confidence in their ability and their contribution - rather than the vocal and attention seeking students dominating the discussion.