This is the kind of feedback I love to get when starting an integrated project:

The wiki is so cool! It is the perfect solution to group projects where you want the kids to collaborate but when it comes time to save information there is always a problem since one student stores everything in his/her account. WOW!

And this was the reaction after just one day of learning how to use wikis with the kids! It took us a solid month, but we’ve finally finished the integrated Social Studies/IT unit on Ancient Africa that we were planning back in October.

The students spent a good chunk of time researching the kingdoms of ancient Africa in small groups in the library and then came down to the lab to compile all their information into the three class wikis. Wouldn’t it be nice if all of this could have occurred in the natural learning environment? Oh how I miss the laptop carts (we called them “COWs” – Computers On Wheels) we had back in Munich…

Even without the laptops, though, we had a great time. The best part about this project (for me) was that all the students already had some experience with wikis from the Code Blue! science project in October, so they were ready to delve even deeper this time around. They were encouraged to focus on enhancing their content through appropriate media, structuring their content for exceptionally clear navigation, and delivering content that is appropriate for their audience (with no copy and paste action, of course). We also had a small group of students in every class make a short video introducing the topics covered in each wiki, which they loved.

I am so impressed at how professional they have become with web 2.0 tools. I watched them integrate their blogging experience into the development of their group pages, utilize the history tab to effectively determine who had done what, coordinate their posting efforts both in and outside of class, and enhance their presentation through expert navigation and visual media.

I’ve said it before, and I’m sure I’ll say it again: it amazes me how much the integration experience for our grade 6s has influenced the way they use technology at school. They are far more confident than the other grade levels, they are excited about how they can use technology as a tool for their learning, and they are picking up new skills so much quicker than the students that haven’t had the benefit of a fully integrated experience this year. I even ended up totally revising my grade 6 IT curriculum for this quarter because this group is so far ahead compared to last year’s classes. I definitely think we’re working toward 21st Century literacy…

Image 1: http://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/learning_history/1492/mansa_musa.jpg
Image 2: http://student.plattsburgh.edu/hyat6945/school_of_the_future.gif