Wiki On!
How lovely to be sitting here in the luke warm sun at my own desk in my own home after four weeks of extensive workshopping and cluster visits around the country. I have been to Invercargill and back (Waikato, NZ) twice in that time, plus many places in between. It has been inspiring but exhausting, and blogging has been high on my mind, but bottom of the priority list as I moved further into survivial mode.
Today, however, our Time4Online Conference begins, and online everythings are top of the list. If the sun continbues to shine and all is alive and calm in the conference area, I may just catch up on the months of blogging that have been lying low.
Top of my thoughts is how wonderful wikispaces are. Gone are the days of photocopying (except for readings for the workshop) and even burning things to CD to give away. Now when I run a workshop, I create a wikispace – right then and there int he workshop, to show people how easy it is, and how useful! These web 2.0 tools really are the best thing since sliced bread, as they enable us to capture new ideas, share old and new ones, and collaborate beyond the now in a way that was not previously possible. Thanks you a million times over to wikispaces.com for their free wikis for educators – this is a great asset to education around the world. When I’ve used your 100,000th one, I hope you will grant another lot, as this really is the way forward for us all. Of course there are other free wikis available, such as pbwiki, but wikispaces is top of the charts for me right now as it takes a minute to set a new one up, and 2 more minutes to make it look good and get under way.
If you haven’t heard of or used wikis before, check out some of the ones that I have created in the last few weeks, and then go to the Time4Online Conference and take part in the workshops and tutorials that will guide you through the process and extend your thinking on how to use them to greatest effect.
My wiki for workshops on facilitating adult learning in workshops and peer mentoring http://androgogy.wikispaces.com
My wiki for a workshop on 21st Century learners http://21stcenturylearners.wikispaces.com
My wiki for a two day national workshop and regional meeting in the lower South Island http://sthregional.wikispaces.com
My wiki for a secondary school teachers national workshop and regional meeting http://chch2ndary.wikispaces.com
My wiki for an Early Childhood Workshop in Hamilton http://ecehamilton.wikispaces.com
You will see that these wikis, many of which are still in their raw state awaiting a few minutes from me to look good and add in some more info, have been used to:
- Brainstorm ideas from discussion sessions
- Share readings and resources
- Provide links to online resources, software etc.
- See the potential for online web 2.0 tools.
Check them out.
