Module 10 - Wikis/Ning

In this final module I gained a better understanding of wikis and how they can be used in a classroom. The YouTube clip helped me to understand the functionality and ease of using wikis. The fact that you can have multiple users to visit one location where they can add, change or subtract information like the camping list, prompted me in thinking how this can be used in my Entertainment class.  Let's say students are broken into small departments: staging, lighting, audio, vision - by using a wiki as their primary communication tool they can produce lists for equipment, schedules, define roles and responsibilities, whilst adding to or changing them at one single location. This makes the planning process more efficient and enables the students to making contributions and changes outside the classroom.

This module also introduced me to the Education Social Network NING - The thing I liked priumarily about Ning was its benefits to share experiences, strategies, ideas with other teaching practitioners throughout the world, nationally or locally, even with your own colleagues.  The benefits of using NING in the classroom tend to mirror the functionality of a BLOG, the only difference is their are communities to join and participants can interact through discussion forums with other practitioners on topics.

To answer the question about how does web 2.0 assist in improving learning outcomes for all students?, I think is because it engages students in a variety of creative learning experiences. The web 2.0 tools create learning environments that are fun, interactive, creative and challenging. Many of the tools have been designed to be user friendly, and when transfered into the classroom they can cater to a variety of skill levels and learning styles. Another factor to consider is a majority of students are frequently using web 2.0 tools and quite competently. These factors I believe increases students learning outcomes because it is enables them to develop and refine their knowledge in using these technologies and practices and acquire new and improved learning of a topic or subject interactively, collaboratively or autonomously and promotes their confidence to accomplish tasks and receive pleasing results.