I’ve seen a lot of articles on the use of wikis and blogs in the k-12 classroom. However, I have yet to see 
anything that puts it all together quite like my own virtual classroom.
This is not to pat myself on the back or say I’m a better teacher than anyone else. I think there are plenty of excellent teachers who are integrating technology in creative ways. I only want them and others to consider the methods I’m using — marrying wikis, blogs, message boards, chat rooms, private student web sites and more in my own web-based instruction in a middle school class.
So, I’m hoping you’ll join me periodically in sharing ideas and discoveries of bringing virtual learning to the k-12 class. Hopefully, in the not-so-distant future, we’ll all be teaching in The Paperless Classroom.
Filed under: Blogging, Education, Internet Instruction, Message Boards, New Technology, Teachers, Wiki Tagged: | blogs, Education, k-12, Message Boards, paperless classroom, technology, wikis
Hi Mark,
Glad I’ve found your blog – it sounds like you’ve gone in some areas of technology in the classroom that I haven’t fully explored yet: wikis, message boards, and chatrooms. I’ll have to peek around your site to see what you’ve done. I assume it’s around the lines of collaborative learning, but do you find that forums / message boards offer a different benefi than chatrooms or wikis?
There was a recent article in my local paper today citing a European study about technology in the classroom: moderate technology use had corresponding increases in student performance, but extensive technology use did not have any more significant increase in performance. I believe the article went on to suggest that a completely virtual classroom was detrimental to student learning.
I’ll have to find the study, but in your experience as an educator who regularly integrates technology, do you agree with that statement?
Thanks for your two-cents. Yours in Blogging, Kisu.
Hi Kisu, I use my classroom site for much more than just collaborative learning. All of my students have their own private, secure web pages, where they place 80 percent of their class activities.
My experience shows me that students love working in cyberspace and the turn-in rate for school work increases exponentially, when you give students their own online work spaces.
Although I have not seen the study, I’d be willing to bet that the research to which you refer focuses on using online programs, such as Compass Learning and Study Island. What I do is entirely different.
We still do plenty of traditional, in-class activities. Most of my lessons, though, are online for students and parents to see anytime. This, along with the ability of students to work in cyberspace is the real benefit of the Paperless Classroom.