WallWisher

Wallwisher, my colleague, Mandy has been using WallWisher in her teaching for a while, and whilst I was interested I must admit as to not being as interested that I made time to investigate it - what a fool!! Briliant piece of kit!
I have been thinking about using Twitter in my teaching for some time, but have been unable to really figure out how to make it really effective. My problem is that I wouldn't want it open to all users, not even all followers but to groups of followers, and I haven't been able to figure that one out. I can see how Twitter can be invaluable with a lecture hall and hundreds of almost anonymous students all wishing to put a particular point across, but in an ICT suite with 15 - surely the personal approach must prevail.



What worried me was those members of any ICT group that may think they know more than they actually did, because their mate showed them a particular application once over a beer! So I got to thinking is there a way I can get the students to reflect on their own learning - whilst they are learning. Reflect on the tasks they are being given, ask questions almost privately if they don't want to admit that they have missed the answer.

Wall wisher is an electronic notice board that is held n the web, can be set up in seconds and the students can interact with. Once the wall was set up, I gave the students the URL and the instructions that they should double click and leave comments periodically throughout the session. These notes can be about anything they want related to the session, learning something new, a question anything.

With wallwisher anyone who knows the site / wall is active can click and leave a comment, though the likelihood of someone external to the group finding the wall is remote. If you are a member (i.e. if you have registered) then your nickname is attached to your post-it, if not it is posted as anonymous.

Wallwisher

OK the students enjoyed it, but educationally, what does it mean, well for me I was able to give instant feedback on any questions that arose, and use the student participation to steer the session.


Next plan is to build on the wall session by session which can then be used to trigger evaluation at the end. - WATCH THIS SPACE