Experiments in reflection

I’m experimenting with ways to use a wiki to help students reflect on a research process, as I was writing about a couple of days ago.

I’d like some feedback on this Process Journal site I created.  The idea is to give students some guided questions, but instead of having them “write” their reflections, have them “chat” about it, using the embedded YackPack chat on pbwiki.

One downside I see is that it doesn’t record the chat for later reflection.   Skype or the regular YackPack site would allow that.

But since there are a variety of ways to go about this self-evaluation process, I thought this might be a worthwhile one to try with students.  Comments welcome…

2 thoughts on “Experiments in reflection

  1. Carolyn,

    Do you actually have to speak (when I pushed “talk” I was asked about camera and microphone access – not available in our computer labs)? Could this also be scripted like the Skype chats? Will you use the same questions at every session or change them periodically. I like the reflection and collaboration aspects. Will the instructor see/hear the conversation, or will the students report back on their conclusions? I could imagine these conversations being incorporated into a journal (blog) – will that be possible? Perhaps I could use your wiki as a model and create a lower tech version.

    I’ll be interested in reading other comments.

  2. You have to have two people press talk in order to chat, so you could have a group “chat” even if they weren’t all in the same place.
    I agree, though, the lack of a log might be a downside, although I view this tool as doing something like –turn to your neighbor and share your experience–except they might not be their “physical” neighbor in this case.
    I have a lowtech printable version–check that long post I did for a link or my library website. What I’ve done in the past is cut out the shets in strips, and hand those out the last five/ten minutes of the class period for students to complete. But that misses out on the networking or conferencing aspect, so people aren’t helping one another.
    The wiki also has a “comments” tab so that might be another way to do it.
    Skype would be a great tool for something like this as well.
    I was just trying to create a sort of “permanent” site which our teachers could use.
    You can also add separate “chat” boxes so you could have several “groups” chatting, I think.
    Mics are pretty inexpensive and some computers have them built in.
    Just testing this as an idea….?

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