When Archimedes run naked and called out "wikis wikis!”

I  have opportunity to know various perspectives of the visitors who visited my blog. These opinions are great benefit for me. The issue is about advantages and disadvantages of wiki.  We are going to discuss further about them.

Have you ever assigned the students to search for knowledge from wiki and reported in front of the class? You may be seen that sometimes the information was not direct to the information that we have known before. An obvious example is about “the biography of significant”. Sometimes the owner of those significant had to correct his/her biography because it was not correct. The question is “Does wiki good or no good?”

Disadvantage of wiki: If the students only shallow search for information without considering carefully that there is “a note” from wiki that indicates that some information is during the process of reviewing, they may use incorrect information. Even though in case of the students may not consider the credibility of the references as well.

Advantage of wiki: It is a good starting point that allows the students to search for knowledge from wiki and  the students can link to various sources. We should thank www. because when we search for knowledge from www. ,it seems we enter “ Alice in Wonderland “.  We are enjoyable, exciting and be able to discuss or add the information from wiki. If Archimedes was born at present time, he was not necessary to soak in the bathtub and naked run with shouting Eureka! Eureka! He has just sat in front of the computer; there is a lot of information gushingly from around the world. Archimedes will run to the King and shout “wiki! Wiki! instead of  “Eureka! Eureka!”

We are the teacher of the globalization world. Do we want our students to be “Archimedes” for tomorrow?

The answer is at

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archimedes

Big Bang and Earthworms from the Backyard

Nowadays the advance of the technology is going rapid. From one generation, there is a lot of  change. If teachers cannot keep up, they become out-of-date. besides, the role of the teachers to be an expert and a leader in their subject areas. Otherwise he/she will be learning simultaneously with the students.

Just a small phrase of  Wikis  "the free encyclopedia "is the announcement of the revolution of the learning world. During the last 5 years,  educational institutions in Thailand including my school "Assumption College" had to spend a lot of money to buy encyclopedias in order that the students could search for knowledge. However,  the limited budget meant the school could not provide enough encyclopedias for all the students. It did not include underprivileged schools which looked  forward to  receiving the encyclopedias as donation from charity organizations.

However, the schools where  finance is available are able to support the best and most up -to-date set of encyclopedias for the students. Unfortunately, the contents from these encyclopedias were outdated because it took at least five year publishjng. This means that the information and knowledge does not  come from  events of the previous 5 years. The question is "How can the students learn new events?"

Wikis, the free encyclopedia is not only the knowledge assigned by the teachers  to search for knowledge but also the students can take part in improving, developing or writing new titles. The students may not able to search for knowledge about the Big Bang, but who will know that  "the earthworms that are dug by the students from the backyard and may be a  new specie who can create great benefits for mankind in the future years. This  is the role of the teachers nowadays!!

The Biggest Library is in Your Home!

Many parents always complain that their children are always in front of the computer. Actually it is true because  a lot of children spend most of their time each day by sitting in front of the computer. More than a half of that time is playing games. These games are the games for creating knowledge or increasing aggressive behaviors  to the children.

 

Parents and teachers are the persons who are closed to the children. They have time to be with them in each day. So they should have important roles to encourage the children to aware themselves when they use the computer.  Wikis is a choice that is appropriate during this time because computers  and their equipments are not too expensive. hi-speed internet is also widely serviced with reasonable price.

Teachers are able to assign the students to search for knowledge via the Internet.  Wikis is a tool for searching for knowledge. The teachers may assign them to do the activities with their parents by presenting knowledge and add the contents on the Wikis.   In addition, they can create new contents on Wikis. It is not only to create the studetns' pride when they have roles to create knowledge for the social but also encourage their eagerness of learning through the assignment topic. Furthermore, it can build a good relationship within the family as well as it will encourage the parents to take part in searching for knowledge of their children.

Wikis is created for a simple usage. It is not too difficult for students and parents who are not familiar with it can learn how to use it. Importantly, the assignment should be suitable to  the individual student's background. The teachers should consider each student's  background and lifestyle e.g. Somsak's family are the owner of noodles and inherit the business from generation to generation. The teacher may assign him to do a report about  NOODLES . The contents may include the information about noodles from the experience of Somsak's family.
Finally, I hope the negative attitude about computer usage will be cahnged to "The children will use the computer to create knowledge by using the Wikis instead of playing games".