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=media type="youtube" key="bmXrnUSdT78" height="385" width="640"= Wikispaces, Project-Based Learning and 21st Century Skills

Welcome!

Goals for today: Learn about Wikispaces and their possibilities for project-based learning. Create a Wikispace.

Before I go any further:

[|What do you know about Wikispaces?]

A Wikispace is a FREE web-based forum for sharing information. It's more like a blog than a website. They are easy and fun. They can be frustrating too.

How did I get here? This is my story.


 * 1) 1.I had become disillusioned with the research project.


 * 1) 2. NCTE had acknowledged multi-modal literacy.


 * 1) 3.Gayle Hartigan

Booz, Allen, Hamilton [|Booz, Allen, Hamilton]
 * 1) 4.Halifax County Schools / April 2007

So this is what I did. I created a whole-class collaborative project based on the problem-solution research paper. The class divided into the following teams:


 * proof of the existence of the problem
 * causes of the problem
 * effects of the problem
 * prognosis for the future with no intervention
 * research-based solutions

For each section, students researched political, economic, environmental and social aspects.

Year One:Water http://globalmotleycrew.wikispaces.com/2A
 * __AND THIS IS WHAT MY STUDENTS DID!__**

It was project-based learning:
 * students had grappled with an open ended question---several actually
 * the project was driven by standards
 * the project resulted in a product
 * However, no culminating event

Year Two:Food http://globalfoodcrisis.wikispaces.com/2A+Global+Studies

We presented at Great Decisions!

Year Three: Globalized Crime

I'm living proof that it's possible to take a really good project and mess it up, and ..... from the beginning, my students did not like this project.


 * the Wikispaces limitation
 * too hard to use
 * hated the discussion feature
 * it's all about the presentation
 * more media; less time
 * vague project is preferable

Then I went to San Antonio where Don Tapscott explained how the following terms apply to our learners, and I came to understand their unhappiness with the project.


 * freedom
 * customization
 * scrutiny
 * values
 * collaboration
 * entertainment
 * speed
 * innovation

Visit [|http://www.bie.org] to tour the Buck Institute for Education's resources.
 * Project based learning can meet these needs.**

Be sure to go to the online project libraries. You will never make fun of West Virginia again.

It's all about the rubric.
 * Grading Wikispaces**

What are your ideas about ways to use Wikispaces?