Online Classes – Parallel Play or Collaboration? (Thing 13)
The K12 Online Conference is a great idea for professional development between teachers. The website hosts podcasts of 4 years of the conference, is easily navigated, and provides links to conference materials such as blogs, wikis and other resources for that topic.
I watched (actually listened to) the “Parallel Play or Collaboration – leveraging the wiki platform for high quality work” podcast and looked at the accompanying wiki designed to allow conversation about collaboration and successful engagement of students in online assignments.
The content was thought provoking; however, I had problems with teh technology. I finally had to settle for just listening to session with no video because the video link would not run for more than 30 seconds without resetting. Also, I found that the resolution on the part of the video I could see was lacking because the webpage words were blurry in any screen larger than the embedded 3″ x 2″ screen. This made reading the pages Paula White was describing very difficult. I finally pulled up the accompanying wiki and followed along on it.
The questions posed were valid questions and the session probably created more questions than it answered. However, it did provide resources and thought provoking starting points. I am currently investigating using wikis in my AP chemistry class (my current wiki is very basic) because I think that they provide a great way for my students to learn together. There is a level on integrity that is required when doing group work that must be explored, too. And I find that I have even more responsibility for correcting and guiding through this assignment than through straight lecture.
One resource that Paula White referenced is a visual Blooms taxonomy that lists different web resources for each level. I found this fascinating, so I link to it here.
