Websites as education tools - analysis

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Choosing between a website and a wiki and a blog is like saying you can either have a biscuit or a toffee or a chocolate bar, knowing full well that a Twix combines and provides all three :o)

A website can include wikis and blogs, but strictly speaking, in order to differentiate, a website is “static”, its content only being changed by the ‘webmaster’ rather than viewers.  That said, it is possible to lock wiki pages, thus further blurring the benefits and differences.



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Back to the basics.  Creating a website is both constructivist and connectivist.  It enables pupils to express themselves imaginatively.  It supports use of technology for inquiring, creating, and communicating (as well as operating the technology itself).  A pupil’s website could be a repository of information and research for a project on almost any subject: gathering videos, images, maps, stories, statistics and quotes from anywhere around the world, before finalising a presentation on video, interactive PowerPoint or interactive time-line (or a host of other applications soon to be blogged about).  Due to the pupils’ choice of resources and working speed, it supports a diversity of learning styles.  It is however subject, as all ICTs are, to a) the availability and reliability of resources and b) the issues of safe, legal and ethical guidelines (including copyright, plagiarism, online security and cyber-bullying), which a teacher or school must communicate thoroughly in advance.

A combination of the three tools: blog, wiki and website, is easily achieved, thus securing the advantages and avoiding the disadvantages of all three (unless, of course, there’s a power cut).