Willettwallwisher

 

Hello Class -

I found a web 2.0 tool called Wallwisher. This is a pretty cool tool that works similar to a bulletin board. All you have to do is create your own account and set up a page. Once the page is set, many different people can go to that page a post what they call "stickies to the wall. Everyone can add their own two cents. For my class, I am going to use this to help facilitate my discussions. At the beginning of each class, we have about a 20-30 minute guided discussion from questions that I have written on the board. The only problem is that it usually ends up with half the class talking and half just sitting. This would allow everyone to add their thoughts and I could call on the students from the stickies. The link to my wall that I might try next week is listed below. Theory X means the manager assumes their workers are lazy and he/she has to be very strict on them. Theory Y means the manager assumes the workers take pride in their work and they want to do a good job so the manager can be more laid back. Which are you?

[] (mine) [|http://www.wallwisher.com] (homepage to create your own)

I can see this being used a lot in elementary classrooms. Teachers could use it to have their students say what they are ordering for lunch, answering open-ended topic questions similar to the way I am using it, or even posting the weekly homework assignments and the students could post questions from home if they have any. That way the teacher and students could have safe, easy contact out of school for relevant questions. This would also be helpful for all of the students because everyone can view the posts and they can get help from each other.

The biggest and coolest use for this that I can think of is to use it for birthday wishes or for sick loved ones. I had heart surgery 5 weeks ago and I was getting cards in the mail every single day. It was a nice gesture but got pretty expensive for all of those cards being bought. In hindsight, we could have created a wall, and all the loved ones could go on there and post their concerns and comments. I could have checked them daily to stay in contact with everyone.

Overall, this is similar to a discussion board but is a little more appealing to the eye and helpful for the students. It could definitely be used at the high school level but I think that the elementary students would enjoy this much more.

Thanks and let me know what you think!

-Matt