Well what to write... I have found this task somewhat more tedious and frustrating then I initially thought it would be. I sat thinking to myself 'pfft I have a blog (or two) and find it easy to sit and write pages upon pages about what I'm thinking and what I'm doing (although I'm sure its boring as all heck and noone really reads it anyway) but now faced with using a blog as an educational tool, I find myself sitting here dumbfounded with no idea of what to write. Perhaps it is because I'm a sucker for perfection and I'm not entirely sure what I'm meant to do so I'm having difficulty doing something that might be wrong. I read back over what I've written and I have already started to waffle and over wordy and confusing, great work Clare, where are all the witty anecdotes that sum up what you are trying to say succinctly and humorously? I haven't even started writing about the course or wiki's or learning theories yet....
So this week (well week one) we had to read information on a section of learning theories and create a PMI wiki about what we read. I for one find wiki editing to be annoying, as I personally prefer blogs and the editing options available to me on them. Most likely because I am used to blogs and have no previous experience with wikis's, but I'll learn eventually.
I surprised myself when I actually found the wiki activities helped me learn a lot about the learning theories in a relatively short amount of time ( bar that of reading my text which was tedious). The PMI strategy made me think about what my article actually had to say and made me use my brain more which lead (hopefully) to a higher order thinking. It also helped me see what my peers were gaining from the activity and what they find interesting.
I found this activity to be beneficial to my learning and in a classroom environment I think wiki;s could, if utilized correctly add another dimension to learning that would greatly aid both students and learning managers.
Well that's all folks, I'm not entirely sure that this answers the questions I was meant to but meh, I tried.
Feedback is welcome! I need to know if I'm on the right track.
signing off as a more than slightly confused,
Clare
