Hello everyone,
A colleague of mine came to me today with a question as to whether or not a blog, a wiki, or a web page would be best for her high school juniors to work with.  She is the ELA teacher in an American Studies class and is trying to figure out which one would be best for students who have study different 20th century eras and create some way to show what they have learned.  Any thoughts?  Thanks.  Dan

Tags: american, arts, blogging, ela, english, history, language, pages, web, wiki

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In support of Amy's point, we have a case study about a teacher using blogs to encourage peer feedback. You may be interested, as the teacher discusses the pros and cons...

http://online.cofa.unsw.edu.au/learning-to-teach-online/ltto-episod...

Hope it may help inform the decision somewhat...
Well, all three, in a way, are similar. Wikis allow the students to go in and edit other people's works, so if you're trying to get the students to collaborate and share ideas, that would probably be a good tool. I always viewed blogs as more of an opinionated tool, so if you're trying to encourage the students to express their different viewpoints, then a blog would be good too. And a web page is good for letting the students know what's going on. Really, there isn't just one that will be more beneficial to the class/ teacher, the teacher just has to know how to implement it in the classroom.
I totally agree with you, all there are great for students to use.
All of them are great, but in my opinion blogging is the best because they get to share their work with different people in the world and communicate with them and share ideas and thoughts. They also learn about different cultures around the world and they get to see different opinions from teenagers like them.
I think a blog would be best so that when the students learn something they can post something to show what they have learned. They can post images or videos that are related and tell their opinion of what they felt was important in the lesson they have just covered. They can also posts research they have found useful in their learning such as online articles or websites that support what the students have learned. A web page might be a little too much for these students and a wiki is more public. There are educational blog sites that are strictly for the use of teachers and students that protect you all from strangers.
Hi Samantha
What is the best educational blog site that would protect my students from strangers and/or allow me to monitor incoming comments. I am very new to blogging but keen to use it my classes next year
We might want to add Ning on the discussion.
How old are the students - Ning is 13+ only and now costs money doesn't it?

You could use a Wiki.

Wikisapaces is free for educators. Using the user creator you can create users - any age - so long as you create them. Private, protected. They can all have their own page or pages.

Wikispaces info
if you want to know more about Wikispaces - scroll down the page for the link to create free wikis for education.
I agree with nlowell they are all web pages essentially but depending on what I was doing and who with I may well choose one over another.

See Dr Mark Wagner's comparison chart - I added it to my useful reading page some time ago.
Blogs, Wikis, Docs, which is right for your lesson?
I would go with the wiki for the project your are describing. The student can make the necessary updates and changes as they go along. The teaching professional can follow the students work progress easily. The wiki allows the attachment of pictures, videos, and links just like the others. If the work is to be solely that of a student then choose the wiki. (If the student is required to make progress based on the input of others then the blog would be the better choice.)
Really it depends on what she would like to use them for. A website is a great source for concrete information while a wiki offers the ability to comstantly update the info as it changes. Though sometimes both of those options can be lacking in the ability to communicate that blogs offers. All three have their benfits and draw backs, so it really will depend on the goal of the lesson being taught.
I love using wikispaces as a tool in the classroom.
Giving kids individual pages within the wiki allows for ownership - yet at the same time collaboration. I use the discussion tab a lot and can see it being very useful in other ways
I like being able to embed things like wallwisher and vocaroo onto pages.

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