"Wiki Learning" - Sci department trial with WIkispaces

 

 

The Science Department is using a new wikispaces website this year. The wikispaces platform makes it easy to design the web page, upload files and pictures, and also features discussion boards that students can log on to and ask questions.

Our website has a page for each GCSE and A level science course offered in our department. On these pages, students find links to the specification and past papers. Teachers are also able to upload power points, word documents, work sheets and excel spread sheets for students to download.  These documents can be accessed from home, and homework can be set. Some students do not have internet access at home, so if homework is to be set from here, you need to negotiate with them to access the page while at school.

 

 

I have used wikispaces for five years now, and have found it really useful for day to day teaching, as well as for revision time. My pages usually feature Youtube links, extension work, and class notes. I upload my A level Chemistry power points before lessons allowing students acess to the full notes at any time. The OCR website can be hard to navigate at first, so by linking to the specifications and past papers through the wikispaces site, students can’t accidently look at the wrong course.

Last year I used my website for Btec students when we were completing research assignments in the school's resource centre. As I could access my website from home, I could upload the resources they needed when I was planning out of school, so I didn’t have to then copy it on to the student drive before class the next morning. My students got used to logging in and going straight to my website at the start of the lesson. It cuts down on printing, as you don’t need to print instructions out, and it also means that students who typically take five minutes copying a URL from a printed paper could click on a link and instantly end up where I wanted them to be.

Our wikispaces site is a work in progress this year. At this stage its main purpose is to allow students easy access to the specifications, past papers and other various revision materials. So far this is proving to be successful with GCSE and A level students. If other departments in the school would like any help with setting up their own wikipages - then I am more than happy to help.

The link below should take you to our pages so that you can have a look at what sort of materials we have put up and how you might like to set up your own pages.

http://scienceathylands.wikispaces.com