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Biology In Elementary Schools is a Saint Michael's College student project. Link under 'toolbox' for a printer-friendly version. Click on handouts to print full resolution versions. Please see Wikieducator's disclaimer our safety statement, and the creative commons licensing in Englishand in legalese.

This page has been established for students from Biology In Elementary Schools to reflect on their experience using Wikieducator. I encourage contributors to sign using four tildas (top left on your keyboard beneath the Esc key): ~~~~ which will insert your username, time, and date automatically. You can choose to sign with your real name in addition.

Words of encouragement for group leaders

Whether you are leading a group of your colleagues or your students through Wikieducator, it is important to know that everyone on this site started as a new user at some point. Most of the users who commented on this page in April 2008, had never edited a wiki before January 2008. By all means read their comments, but also go to the history tab above, and click on any user's contributions; follow the links to the pages they have created. Keep in mind that developing wiki skills was not their primary goal, but simply a tool that facilitated collaboration. See what can quickly be accomplished when a non-computer experts collaborate using this powerful but simple tool.

Reflections

I began using wikis in 2007 as a tool to facilitate collaborative student projects. Working initially on a commercial wiki, I found that the process was very successful and offered several advantages over other potential approaches. Having a single version of a document online eliminates version creep, and also means that no student is dependent on the notes or computer that may be unavailable because a classmate is ill for example. Wikieducator has additional advantages in that we are not bombarded with commercial advertising, and more importantly, we share common goals with a larger community of educators. I may reflect more at another time, but until then I'll leave it to the students who generously contributed their energy, ideas, artwork, and educational content to this project Dmccabe 16:46, 18 April 2008 (UTC)

Declan -- this is a showcase project in WE, and look forward to our community building on your foundations. --Wayne Mackintosh 02:58, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

I thought that the Wiki was a great way for all of us to share our ideas with. It was a bit challenging at first when I was not familiar with the site, but i think that is for everything. Having a template set up was a great advantage, so we knew exactly what we needed. I am hoping that in the future I will be able to use not only my lessons, but other peoples lesson plans as well!

Thanks for your contributions --- I hope that you'll consider developing more content for WE when you have a spare moment. Yeah, the template approach is a smart way to get started. --Wayne Mackintosh 02:58, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

At first the Wiki made me very nervous because I am not usually good with computers, but the little step by step movies and directions were very helpful. Now that I have been using the Wiki for a few months I have become much more comfortable with it and I plan to use it more in the future. I think it is a great tool for current and new teachers and that it will be very helpful when I begin to make my own lesson plans. I am glad that the Wiki was brought to my attention and I am very happy to know that all of our hard work will be helpful to others for many years.

You're hard work on these lessons will be an inspiration and example to educators around the Commonwealth. Thank you. I've been most impressed with the wiki skills demonstrated by you class -- you have certainly mastered all the skills you need to develop content on WE. --Wayne Mackintosh 02:58, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

When we first began working with the wiki at the beginning of the semester I felt a bit overwhelmed. It definitely helped to watch and read the tutorials before starting our first page. Once we got started it was a lot easier than I had imagined to use the basics. Throughout the semester we learned new tricks as we needed them by seeing what other users have done. Overall, I have enjoyed this process because we are creating a product that can be used by so many different people. As the wiki continues to grow I believe that this site will be a great source for teachers of all experience levels. Award3 22:05, 19 April 2008 (UTC)

Working with Wiki was an overwhelming experience for me. I am not good with computers, so when we were expected to make pages with links and pictures, etc. I became very nervous. At first I had no idea what I was doing; however, as the semester went on I became more comfortable with the site and had a better idea of what to do. Looking back on it I am happy we were asked to do this because it gives us all a chance to look back at what we accomplished this past semester and it give us possible ideas for the future.

I had first worked with a Wiki over the summer before taking this class. I was able to pick it up fairly easily. It seemed like a great idea for people at the company I was working at to be able to all contribute to certain projects they were working on. It wasn't until I learned of WikiEducator that I really began to see what lengths it could be used. I am excited that this tool has been created because it will be extremely convenient for me as a teacher when trying to come up with different lesson plans for my students. I hope that this site will grow and other teachers will find it as a valuable tool as well. KimSMC 17:43, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

Using WikiEducator was difficult for me at first because I had never worked with wikis before and did not understand any of the wiki "language". However, once I got the hang of it, I found that it was really quite simple and did not take a lot of time to do. I think that developing this resource now as a future elementary school teacher will serve me well down the road because I will always have science lesson plans that I can go back to. The fact that these lesson plans are online instead of in a paper portfolio will allow me to access them no matter where I teach without having to keep paper copies of them. Overall, I think that this is a good resource and will become an even better one once more teachers begin utilizing it and getting their ideas out there. JneillSMC 22:30, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

At first I thought WikiEducator was very difficult to navigate through but as we used it more and more it became easier. Looking at other peoples Wikis gave me my own ideas and helped me figure out how to maneuver on the site. I was worried about copyright issues in the beginning but learned that if I used Wiki Commons to find pictures instead of searching on the web, than I would be fine. Besides first learning how to use it, I think it is a great idea and something I look forward to using when I am a teacher. I hope that many teachers and professors in the generations to come will use it that way we can share our ideas with everyone and have a place to go that is easily accessible to help us find neat ideas for lessons. Kgrace21

Initially working with Wikieducator was terrifying. I often had no idea what to do. After a few tries at editing and uploading I began to understand the basics. I also used many of the 'Help' pages to figure things out. I can now successful create and edit Wiki pages with ease. I would by no means say I am an expert, but I have greatly improved. I'm really happy that our Professor introduced us to Wikieducator because it seems like something that will gain much more popularity and perhaps more teachers will create pages and exchange ideas. randysmc 20 April 2008 (UTC)

When Professor initially sent us the tutorial assignment on Wiki I felt completely overwhelmed and nervous about the upcoming semester. I was very unsure if I was going to be able to keep up with the curriculum and worried. But as I got more familiar with the program and worked on developing our own Wiki's, the web page because more of comfortable and inviting for me. I became very excited about using the resource for teaching ideas and I love contributing to our own educational science work page. I am very excited about my future classrooms where I will be able to use some of the many excellent ideas of my classmates and I hope that teachers today have the chance to experience some of our ideas with their students. Lmartinsmc 23:48, 20 April 2008 (UTC)

I, like many of my peers, was very intimidated by the wikieducator site at first. I am semi-computer savvy, but I would never call myself an expert. The great part about using the site was that our whole group could work on the pages together or apart. It made collaboration really easy and fun. It has already been helpful for me also to use these lesson plans for other classes that I am in. I think this was a great idea and it should be implemented into schools across the country because of its usefulness and convenience. Smcdbartos 17:05, 21 April 2008 (UTC)

Going into this class, I was pretty excited to work with WikiEducator. I've never been in a class that has emphasized the use of internet resources so much, and I thought it would be neat to make wiki pages for lesson plans that I and other teachers could have to use in the future. I have enjoyed using WikiEducator because it's not too hard to understand, and it is convenient to have the tutorial pages available to refer back to when I run into problems. I hope that current and future teachers use this helpful tool more and more and that it continues to grow! --Jgriggssmc 19:01, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

When I first found out I would be working with this WikiEducator I didn't think it was going to be that hard. When I began to learn how to use the program I noticed that it got really complicated, for example adding pictures and citing everything the right way. I did like that the group as a whole was able to work on our sites at the same time though. I feel that this is a resource that I will defiantly look back on as a future teacher, and I hope more and more teachers begin to add their helpful resources. Cgarrity 20:47, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

The day before classes started I got this email from my professor and wanted to quit college. It was about how to use a wiki site, how to set up a page etc. all of the steps and processes associated with the tool we'd be using in class. It was extremely stressful and time consuming for a first assignment and I was very nervous about the upcoming course because of this wikieducator. Throughout the semester I started to get the hang of navigating and editing around the site and my pages and realize that it is an interesting way of collecting grades, but an amazing tool for us students majoring in elementary education. I can't wait to go back to this site in 5 years when I am finally a teacher in a classroom and find my ideas and my classmates and be able to finally use them to my full advantage. If other teachers (maybe more experienced)could get in on this website that would be so cool. I think it is just going to be so helpful to someone one day and that is the beauty of this sort of set up. Mpalmer 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I, like most of the students in this class, had a roller coaster experience with WikiEducator. I felt incredibly overwhelmed at first and while the tutorial was very helpful I found it hard to manage. Perhaps there would be a way to link to a particular section when you encounter a problem. For me, all of the information got jumbled together and the tutorial became insignificant. I am now comfortable navigating WikiEducator but it took some frustrating nights to get there. I think that this is a great program and hope to utilize it when I'm in my classroom. The process itself was great because I learned some useful techniques. I think that I would like to use this in my classroom to collaborate with other teachers. A wiki site for children elementary school age may be incredibly beneficial. I would love to see so that I could utilize it in my future classroom. Overall my experience has been a positive one. Thanks for the great site:)

Personally, I really enjoy the concept of wikieducator. I think the idea of sharing education worldwide is a wonderful idea! In general, I've found the wiki to be a simple method to get on and add pictures, videos, and text to. However, when I first began to use it this past summer I felt as if I was somewhat over my head. Now, here I am, and I feel as if learning the wiki is like any other learning experience. . . it's intimidating until you get the hang of it. Thank you so much for the time and effort placed into all of this! I know that this site will be sure to save me years down the road. Kelikea04 23:47, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

I was so scared to use the Wiki site at first, and when Professor McCabe explained to us everything that we had to do on it, I became even more worried. After I started getting into in much more, I was more able to understand the things that I was supposed to be doing on it. I think that it is a good idea to have this, but it would be great to have it be more publicized. I had never actually hear of WikiEducator before this course. I think that if it was introduced more to other teachers it could become a great thing for them to use, especially in elementary schools where some teachers struggle to keep their students entertained and still have them learning something. Everyone in my class came up with awesome ideas that I would love to incorporate in my teaching in later years. EmmaKoziol 23:49, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

Like many other students in my class, I was completely lost when I first started working with wikieducator. Once professor McCabe helped us through the process, it got a lot better and now I am very confident when using the site. I think that this site is a very good idea because it allows teachers from all over the world to share their ideas with each other. It also allows people to add things to lessons that the person who wrote it might not have thought of. I am very glad that this course has introduced me to wikieducator because now I will be able to use this when I become a teacher. Hopefully more student teachers, such as myself and my other classmates, will begin to use this site just as we have been using it. Mcasey3smc 02:42, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

It was fun to use the wikieducator once we got the hang of it. Honestly, when we first started, it seemed to be something that was fun if you got into it but seemed like too much work to get to that point. However, once I gave it time, energy and a little more credit than I had been previously, it worked out really well. It would be nice to incorporate a way to get downloading pictures onto the wiki (at least size wise) to be easier. The one suggestion our professor had was downloading Irfinview which was used to resize pictures. I never did this and, while I’m sure it would have been helpful to do so, I never did. It would be nice to be able to add different code directly to our uploaded pictures so that we wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of resizing with a different program. That said, everything else was awesome. After working an entire semester on another education class where I will be left with a notebook of papers and sources, I can definitely appreciate the benefit of having this information on the internet and not on paper. I can imagine that it will be helpful when I am applying for jobs to be able to direct future boss's attention to work that I have already done in the class room including materials lists, reflections, and step by step. It's a lot of work now that I think will pay off in the long run. Using the wiki's also made things easier in terms of problems we had with our sites. If something didn't work we could email our professor who could, moments later access our site, and (hopefully) identify/fix the problem. It also helped with grading and participation. We had a very clear indication (even if it was just changing one word) who was doing what--contribution wise and this helped us when diving up work as well as helped our professor when seeing who really used it well and who didn't. All in all, it was an excellent tool, the template was so helpful and with any luck I’ll be using these lessons in the future as well as adding future lessons which I create and want to make available to everyone!! Thanks a lot!! Eahbelsmc 12:17, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

Upon recieving our pre-class assignment to explore the wiki site I felt a great deal of stress. I attempted to use the sand box but I wasn't sure what the purpose was. Once we started our own pages with clear instruction the process made more sense. There are still some parts of using the wiki that confuse me, such as uploading videos, but that is because when working in a group everyone gets into a routine of doing a certain job. I have confidence now that I could learn to do any task through trial and error. Since science isn't my forte, I feel that I will resort to the site often for teaching ideas when I become a teacher.--Jrelyeasmc 13:31, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

When I started using wikieducator,like many others, I feared that the technology would hinder my progress in the class. Once I passed this issue, I became aware of the value attached to what we are doing. I feel as though wikieducator, and wikis like it, have the potential to change the world of education. I hope to come back and use this site in my future as a teacher, and I hope to find the site expanding to great lengths. Teachers are often encouraged to repeat ideas created by others, and this is the perfect way to do so. This is an easy way to obtain helpful lesson plans. I cannot wait to see further development of wikieducator.Melika28SMC 14:04, 23 April 2008 (UTC)

When I first received the email about doing the tutorials on the wiki site, I felt a little overwhelmed. The tutorials were helpful, but I was worried that this whole semester I would be struggling to figure out how to use this technology because the tutorials took me a long time to do. However, when I went to create our first wiki, I found it to be a great experience. It was relatively easy to enter all the information and to make it look presentable. When I needed to learn something new, such as uploading pictures, it was simple to find the information I needed to learn how to do this. I think my favorite part about creating this wiki is that it can always be improved, unlike something that is typed up and handed out to people. This makes the lessons more likely to be successful because lots of different people can take a lesson, try it, and give suggestions for what worked and what didn't. I look forward to being able to use the wiki site we created in my classroom someday and hopefully when I'm student teaching in the fall as well! Award2 00:14, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

The first time I logged on to Wikieducator I, like many others, thought that this class was going to be very difficult. After I went through the tutorial I found the wiki to not be as difficult as I expected. If I did not go through that I don't think using the wiki would have been as easy as it was. Although it is intimidating, using wikieducator is a great way to share ideas. It is easy, accessible, and offers a lot of options for teachers. I hope that in the future wikieducator will become more known and used by teachers to connect and share ideas. I will certainly come back to the wiki and use ideas that future students and we have created. I also intend on sharing this site with other teachers whom I meet. Kdesistosmc 02:34, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

Although at first sight, using the Wiki can seem extremely overwhelming because of all the standards you have to abide by, it really is not too difficult to grasp. I think that the concept behind the Wiki is a great idea because it allows people from all over the world to share information, regardless of their economic standing. As an aspiring teacher, I believe that Wikieducator is a great way to enhance the classroom. Hands on activities are needed in every aspect of the classroom, so by having free access to a site as qualified and easy to interpret as Wikieducator, it makes our jobs as teachers a lot easier. I will definitely be using Wikieducator as I progress as a teacher and would truly recommend it to anyone!Khiggins 02:59, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I have really enjoyed working on WikiEducator. At first, the fine details of actually using the codes seemed difficult, though the tutorial activity helped a great deal. Still, I found it easier to learn how to do certain things as I went along rather than taking the tutorial all at once. I liked that you can simply copy and paste codes from others’ wiki pages and adapt them to fit your own page. For instance, you can copy the code for an image and simply change the file name to the name of the file that you wish to display on your own wiki. I believe the best part about the site is the fact that it offers a place in which teachers can use and develop teaching ideas collaboratively. Not only that, but I can come back to the site later, when I actually am a teacher, and can use my ideas, which are probably even further developed if others on the site have contributed to my wiki page. Mpoquette2SMC 14:06, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

When my professor e-mailed us saying we were going to be doing a lot of our class assignments online I thought I was done for. Technology and I are known for not getting along. However, I have found using Wikieducator not only to be easy, but actually quite enjoyable. I have had a great time creating lesson plans using the wiki and have found it is a great way to share ideas and information. For one of the projects I worked on I created my own handouts, and uploaded them to the lesson plan very easily! I think the idea of anyone anywhere in the world being able to use the information we have posted is a great idea, it really provides an easy to access area of teachers to share and plan. One thing that I think would be interesting to add to the site is a history of people who have visited the page and used the idea, not just who has added/contributed to the page in order to get an idea of whether others think of the idea and how it has worked for them. As an aspiring teacher I really enjoy this site and hope to come back in a few more years to find my lesson plans and many other ideas! Thanks for a great, easy to use site! Smcvt2011 18:07, 24 April 2008 (UTC)

I like your idea. I'll make a prominant feedback page as well as an E-mail link. I don't want to oblige people to respond to the point of discouraging them from using the ideas in any way. However, a place for feedback will be valuable.Dmccabe 00:26, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

And here it is: BESfeedback

Overall, my experience with WikiEducator has been a positive one. The the tutorial pages were very helpful, and the more I worked on the site, the more comfortable I felt. I am usually not great with technology, but this website is quite accessible and user-friendly. I think the best part about the Wikis is that we were all able to contribute to the pages and prepare our lessons with out having to work on the sites in person. I think this is important for educators who have limited time and can quickly access the site and make edits to pages. I agree that it would be interesting to be able to see a history of the people who have visited our pages. I would be curious to know if our lesson plans are being used by other Elementary School teachers! ErabeSMC 13:55, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

I am sure students before have noted before that when we first ventured on to WikiEducator its was quite intimidating, however, after a while it was easy to work. Is the way you have it set up now the same as you had planned it in the beginning or is it vastly different from your original idea? You have done a great job with it from making it user friendly by having an assortment of tutorials to making it accesible to anyone online. As we have been preparing to be teachers I have been quite nervous that I wouldn't be able to come up with variety of different lessons but this site has ease my mind for it helps teachers help each other. Thank you for all your hard work! 20:26, 25 April 2008 Gmail7smcvt

When Professor gave us the assignment before the semester started to look around wiki and learn to use it, i was set on not being able to use it. This is because i am not very good with computers and new sites that involve editing and such. However, i came to realize fairly quickly that wikieducator is very easy to navigate and participate in. Even us not computer savvy people! I am really happy that this site is so easy to use and i hope to use it in the future and take from all of the wonderful teaching ideas that my classmates and myself have worked really hard on. When i become a teacher i hope that many more people will have found this site and use it as we have. Cewing2 00:10, 28 April 2008 (UTC)

I have enjoyed reading through all of this. Thanks for a good your done on this site and please keep it up. --vmensah 12:57, 29 May 2008 (UTC)

Hi Declan -- This is a very intersting project. Our educators can follow your example and get their students actively involved in projects similar to this. You inspire minds with innovative thoughts! I will start thinking how I can implement a similar project to develop "Lesson Plans", involving our trainee teachers. Congratulations!--Godfrey 09:32, 1 June 2008

I loved finding information on Wiki sites previous to this biology course and had no clue Wikieducator existed but I think it's a very useful tool for both teachers and people working with children. The site was overwhelming at first just because there was a lot of information to learn about how to use it. With a little practice and assistance it was easy to get the hang of. Creating the pages for labs was fairly simple and convenient because we could work in groups but not all have to be in the same place because coordinating schedules can be tricky. It's also convenient to have everything online because it's easy to access, everyone can see and use it, and it's easy to make modifications. Ideas/lessons can continue to evolve with others adding their input and creating extensions. This is definitely a tool I look forward to using when I teach my own class! bpiercesmc23

Wikiflexion

This link will take you to the reflections recorded by Sandhya Gunness' group from The University of Mauritius.

http://wikieducator.org/Wikiflexion/Reflexions