wiki time

as a teacher it can be very difficult to maintain enthusiasm especially when you have a class full teenagers looking out at a lovely sunny day across to the sea, next to a lovely gentle sandy beach. sounds idyllic and to some degree it is, but when it comes to getting the same students to get interested in spreadsheets its and formulas as well as completing a project. it can be challenging to say the least. however I thought I would try something (not new of course) but new to them. most web 2.0 functions have been accepted and used by pretty much all the students I teach. rather less however have been adopted by my colleagues. no matter. the risk I took in order to at least get them to look away from the beautiful day (after all the evening are light they can enjoy it later), was letting them loose on a wiki that I set up through wetpaint last week. I was amazed at the ease at which most of them adopted that way of working. so bebo, myspace, facebook, et all are not always 'the route of all evil'. as some where focused on there work for the first time in a short while, communicating and working together, creating profiles and new pages with ease as well as learning about spreadsheets along the way. I will remain cautious for the moment but hope that the wiki is a way forward.