Ok, we are in day two of the conference and things are starting off well. I am currently in Jon Orech’s presentation on “High-tech Lit Circles using wikis.” Jon is an English teacher and curricular technology specialist at Downers grove South high school. Right now he is providing a well structured, interactive, and poignant presentation.
This is what the entire conference should be like. He is presenting technology through an easy going manner and presenting from a solution standpoint not just doing tech talk. Amazing! This is a true view into integrating technology into the curriculum.
Jon is presenting on how he is using wikis and discussion boards in real class situations. Realizing that not all districts have (or can afford Blackboard) which CSD99 utilizes, he is minimizing the actual workings of Blackboard, yet highlighting the key ideas that cross all wiki and discussion board tools.
Finally, he is presenting his thoughts, cautions, and suggestions on analyzing how to assess use of the web 2.0 tools. Way to go Jon! Oops… Jon just made a comment which with I don’t completely agree.
“I only assign one of these a year.”
- Jon Orech
While I love the focus and how Jon is using wiki technology to enhance his students ability to write and work collaboratively WITH accountability, this really needs to be done more that only once per year. When our students go out into the working world, they will need these collaborative team skills as they will be using them almost daily… Kudos to a great presentation Jon, but I hope you will find a way it incorporate more assignments like these throughout the year.
1 response so far ↓
1
Jon Orech
// Jun 25, 2007 at 12:52 pm
HEy,
It’s me, Jon. Thanks for the praise and the encouragement. I took your advice. This year, I had kids do a second wiki during the reading of Lord of the Flies. Students researched a particular theme together and created a Micro-Inquiry project for others to complete. Each inquiry project required a group of 3 students to research one paticular theme, create an article for peers to read, links to other helpful articles, and a research record for peers to complete. Since they had already completed pre-made Inquiry projects, it was a logical step to have students MAKE the inquiry projects for others to complete. This allowed collaborative research as well as student-generated assessments. At the end, students were to complete the research records of the other 4 inquiry projects, enabling them to share thei expertise on each topic. While there were a few bugs, it was a successful project. Thanks for inspiring me to go “back to the drawing board”! I will be presenting that topic in Sprinfield in the fall,
Jon
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