Educational uses of blogs and wikis. Flierl, R. and H. Fowler.

Flierl, R. and H. Fowler.  (2007, November).  Educational uses of blogs and wikis.  Phi delta kappan.  Vol. 89, Iss. 3:  C3.

An Annotation by Jeff Ayer

In this one-page article, Flierl and Fowler succinctly define blogs and wikis, and they list eight websites that educators could access for further assistance in preparing for and setting up a blog or wiki page.  They define a blog as “a form of online communication most often described as an online journal.”  They go on to define a wiki as combining “features of websites and word processors to create a new kind of application that allows multiple authors to write and edit content.”  Most importantly, the authors state that “[b]oth of these tools can be used by educators to engage students in digital discussions and to create a workspace for collaborative projects.”  Sites they recommend visiting include blogsavvy.net; edublogs.org; twht.org; opencontent.org; teachersteachingteachers.org; www.det.wa.edu.au; coe.sdsu.edu; and www.scienceofspectropscopy.info.  The full websites are listed in detail in the article itself.