Throughts on Wikis

I am realizing more and more how powerful Wikis are. My first experience with them was two years ago when most of our sign-up sheets for things would be posted to the school's Wiki on Blackboard. As a school we now manage PLC meetings and collect and share committee information using Wikis. So, I have seen how efficient this tool is when collaborating and communicating from a distance. Experiencing it from the designer end this semester with our advocacy project and our ITSopedia entries has made me even more of a believer. I think as we educate kids for a global society this is going to be a huge part of their lives and it makes sense we incorporate it sooner rather than later in the sequence of teaching and learning. I will say, however, that I am not as quick to get on the bandwagon for Wikipedia. With all we learned in 1st semester about the Halo Effect, I just can't get on board with something that seems to make the dissemination of incorrect information so easy.

Getting My BLog Face On!

I have been thinking all day about what to write as my blog entry for this week and then I finally realized why this doesn't feel organic to me. I am NOT a center of the universe kind of person!!! I don't feel the need to 'have the floor' in a conversation and prefer listening than talking. So, writing just so that people can hear what I have to say seems a bit narcissistic to me.

Don't get me wrong, I am not opposed to Blogs as I have experienced their value as stated above and have enjoyed how entertaining all yours have been. Not to mention that my new favorite movie is Julie and Julia. But I think for me, I will need a particular focus - other than me - in order to "get my blog face on"!

My experience with blogs

The only blogs I have really read have been to follow medical updates. The first was a friend in Va. Beach who was very ill and in the ICU and not able to receive visitors. Her son kept everyone informed via a blog. Then a few months later my Principal's infant daughter had open heart surgery and she used it to inform everyone as to her daughter's progress. Both created their own blog on this very site, but recently I have been following a blog of a friend's niece who is 5 and receiving treatment for leukemia. Her blog, I noticed, is sponsored by the children's hospital. I found all of these to be an extremely informative and efficient way to keep many people 'in the loop' as treatment/illness/recover progresses. Not to mention that it saved them having to repeat this information on many occasions and provides a way to document the experience. I even loved how they posted pictures and made the experience so real to everyone.





When I returned to school this year our principal had started a Principal's blog using Word Press which she updates regularly and posts on the school's website. Check it out. I love the look and feel of this and think it is so crisp and clean looking. I love how she adds the photos to help encode her message. About a month ago I sat with my SBTS and created my own, also using WordPress, but I haven't made any posts yet. I am working toward using this as a communication tool to update parents of what our AA lessons have been that week. Stay tuned.