I think that avitars would be a powerfully motivating tool for writing assignments. Allowing students to create a character, themselves or someone else, place them in a setting and give them an accessory is so cool. Then they can write about the character, the location (social studies link?) or the activity the avitar is doing. Some students who may be reluctant to speak in their own voice may feel more comfortable "talking" through their avitar.
The application of wikis is very exciting. I can see the teacher starting a story with one sentence and each kid adding on the next sentence (like the old fashioned game we used to play in school). Reading skills and writing skills would be used in a fun and engaging manner. Teachers would have a clear picture of how each student contributed to group assignments because their contributions would be in written form in a wiki. This would be useful for middle and high school settings where many times one student is pulling the entire weight of the group. It also would be useful in a elementary setting where parents can sometime be overly enthusiastic and impact group assignments rather than allowing students the opportunity to discover and express themselves. I also think wikis would be a powerful way to discuss literature within a classroom or across all the classes that are reading the same text. The same would apply for specific topics in other subjects.

I really enjoyed this week's lesson. Wikis and Avatars can not only enhance learning for our students, they can make that learning fun, engaging, and interactive. If we want students to be motivated, we need to provide a learning environment where they feel safe and comfortable. We need to approach them with methods of learning that are familiar and kid-friendly. As I stated before, our students are much more at home in the Online community than many of their teachers are. It behooves us to at least attempt to keep up with the technology they use.

We need to go where they go. We need for them to see us, if not as digital natives, at least as digital users. We ought to be seen on Facebook and Myspace. I was thrilled when a former student who is now in college, saw me on Facebook and asked if I would mind looking over a paper for a class he had. I looked it over, made some corrections and suggestions, and sent it back to him all within a matter of minutes. This interaction caused me to think just how far we can go as an educational community.

I see a lot of real-life application from this lesson. I would definitely like to include these applications on my school's library Web page.

Wikis have endless uses for stuent achievement and engagement. First, PBWiki is free, FREE! Wiki's will allow less paper to be used and will allow for more access. If a student cannot stay after to complete an assignment they could complete it at home using the internet. Students will be more likely to display their best work when it is going to be included in digital format. Students who are not interested in school may participate more due to the technology and interest.

Avatars would be great for characters. Students can create their own characters and then create posts that go along with their character. The posts could be in the form of a journal or a list of character traits. I liked the idea of creating an avatar for a certain time period and then creating a journal for their events. This is a highly engaging example of combining technology and history.

Wikis can help with student recognition. Students would be able to show their work at home to their parents. Principals would also be able to view what exciting work is being produced in the classroom through a wiki. I believe it would boost the school as a whole to have a functioning wiki.

Wiki's ARE free and educationally centered. I personally adore the little welcoming tips each time, and don't turn them off. I created a practice WIKI, and have tried uploading a podcast to it (my son playing guitar). As a special educator, I feel there are some great applications of Wiki's for support for students. One example: students who benefit from hearing vocabulary words several times can go to the classroom WIKI and listen to a podcast left there by their teacher or another student, hearing words used in context- a mini-lesson that's like an asynchronous tutor-but with a recognized voice. (Use of content vocabulary is one of the BIG ideas it's important to focus on across disciplines.)

I have created an avatar, who is in Second Life, and the avatar has visited the fireplace in the lodge at ALA and Science Friday-to get the free virtual t-shirt, of course. I have created a Voki who is in Beijing at the moment. It's so much fun to fly around and travel free!

My thoughts simmer, and may actually be scorching the bottom of the pan, to be honest...So many tools, so many students, so much accountability. My struggle is how to be the most efficient as a teacher...

The concept of harnessing a wiki to respond to literature, and have a conversation about the literature with other students, supporting one's own opinions with textual references, is one that I believe has immediate usability in the English classroom. Why?-The conversation is real. The audience is a peer group as well as teachers. The medium is writing, and therefore encourages development of print literacy. The process is not cumbersome or distracting from the VSC. Also, the same rules of respectful discourse apply as in the classroom.

Research shows students who participate in online courses are more likely to attend college and do well (NACOL, 2008). A wiki is a PIECE of online classware...it is one model of conversation used for the purposes of lifelong learning. I believe using the Wiki may actually predispose students to become more amenable to lifelong learning.

I understand in the Philippines (Nacol, 2008) brick and mortar schools shut down for one week each year and the students attend school virtually instead. The reasoning is preparedness for disasters that would close traditional schools. A hurricane is not a good example of such a disaster, because of course online learning tools are dependent upon electricity. However, a pandemic of swine flu IS an excellent example of such an occasion. Wiki’s are not necessarily best seen as ‘extra’ or bonus activities. To set up options within a school system for online/ distance education may very well be a modern necessity.

There are certainly many reasons synchronous and asynchronous, online teacher- student conversation options could be considered critical, at this juncture in time in the US school system. Digital Directions (see “Disruptive Innovation,”10/2008) published a piece stating basically that school systems without online options will become like dinosaurs.

Interesting and motivating!

P.S. When I cut and pasted from Microsoft Word, some of my underlining on titles-and some italics- vanished, so please forgive the above missing mechanics…in this venue!…I still have much to learn.

After reading through everyone's postings about wikis and avatars, I feel that there are so many uses for this new technology that we haven't even thought of yet. Technology seems to be advancing faster than we can learn it.
I think I would like to set up a wiki for my book talk club. We only meet once a month and our time together is limited. I think it would be great to set up a discussion where students can discuss other books that they have read and enjoyed. When we get together, I try to leave some time for other books, but we mostly stick to the one book for the month.
The more I learn about technology the more I want to use it in my classroom. I just wish I had more time in the day.
I am currently in the library/media specialist cohort and we are using online learning. If we are using online learning now, imagine what it will be like for our students years from now. It will benefit them to start learning how to learn in an online community before they go off to college.

As we are seeing with our own learning, wikis have tremendous use in the education process, and avatars are FUN and engaging! By eliminating physical barriers and time constraints, wikis allow for thoughtful conversations to take place across many planes... the possiblities for use in the library are growing as we choose to bring our students to this forum.

One of the best things about Wikis is that they are a resource that can be accessed in one's home. Wikis can be created to be "how to" sites that can help students and teachers learn to do something or explain something. Wikis can be used to extend the educational process of students. Many students who do not like to participate in class are willing to record their opinions in a wiki. As for avatars, students would get totally engrossed in creating an avatar.