Technology is a great enabler of community building. Through its various means (such as Wikis) individuals are able to build all sorts of communities. It helps provide a link between individuals and gives them a space where they can build strong collaborative relationships. Through Wikis, individuals are encouraged to construct an environment that encourages discussions and the building of communities. Individuals are able to select topics of interest and collabortate with others on it, creating a world of resources and work that can continuously be modified by another individual. Every person working together to help each other achieve one common goal. My first experience with a Wiki was within my Creative Arts class. Our professor had constructed a Wiki, where former classes and new classes could come together and build a resource that can be used by each other. We all worked together to improve, modify and add to it, so that we could ensure we were getting the best out of it. This helped bring in the diversity that existed within our classroom and really helped us create a community between ourselves. Through his teacher philosophy, we were encouraged to build a community, work as a team and problem solve effectively.
A classroom is all about forming a community. Students and teachers need to be aware that both parties are needed to develop an effective learning environment. I was lucky enough to be brought up with this kind of philosophy. Many of my early years teachers, gave us the opportunities to build strong relationships with each other in order to develop a community within the class. This was evident through various activities such as the weekly monitors list. In developing a simple schedule that enabled each child to get the opportunity to be in charge of a certain task, the teacher was building a community. She was giving each of us to the opportunity to work towards one common goal, and that goal was a collaborative classroom environment where everyone helped out one way or another. This of course was the way teacher did it prior to the development and popularity of certain technologies. Now that things such as Wikis exist, teachers need to take the opportunity to build a community while integrating the various curriculum subjects. By using Wikis, children can learn to become their own educators, building off each other’s ideas and working as a team. Wikis are beneficial learning tools that can and should be used within the classroom.
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