Using de Bono's six thinking hats combined with a wiki was very similar to Week 1's PMI/Wiki approach as both support higher order thinking & collaboration under a Constructivist approach. The characteristics of the wiki that led me to thinking it was a Constructivist exercise was that as a group we were each given one thinking hat, on which to add information. As a whole we were each constructing on each other's ideas, hence a constructivist approach.
I personally (so far) do not like Wikis or should I say my experience with Wikis. My major complaint with wikis is that as a classroom, so far we have not been able to edit the same wiki page simultaneously without chaos. This is because one person's edits overwrite the other or in other words, you can't have 2 people working on the same page at once. So this is definitely a drawback. However, if a wiki is properly utilised/organised, then I think this issue can be minimised.
To me (or should I say, what I like), a wiki so far is more effective/holds more benefits as an online resources page, and there could better alternative avenues on which to hold class discussions or work collaboratively online. However, I am yet to become aware of these avenues but hope to throughout this course.
I feel a wiki could contribute to the learning of my students by acting as an online resources page, kind of like a central home to where they can find any information, links, powerpoints etc that they need to access. There could maybe be a section where students' leave a personal reflection on certain topics (because the students aren't simultaneously adding to the page all at once, this can work), or where they collaborate in groups to add information to group pages.
Also, for anyone that's interested, below is a website that has many examples of educational wikis that were constructed for use in the classroom;
http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis
Last but not least, my reflection on de Bono's Six Thinking Hats;
Personally I do not like them. To me, they are alien, difficult and partly silly (partly because I am extremely comfortable with the old trusty Positive vs Negative approach practised by the PMI Analysis), however being 'mature about it', I can appreciate their use in a classroom and that I must learn to like them, as I will be using them, however at the moment I am a teensy bit resentful towards them. This is when I knew, that for me to feel comfortable with de Bono's approach, I will have to conduct extra research on the utilisation of these six hats. I am hoping that de Bono will be discussed further upon in class because at the moment I find these hats difficult; particularly the red hat and the blue hat. The red hat; feelings; my first thought is how do you analyse a text with the red hat? How are students to break down a text under 'intution, hunches and gut instinct'. To me, it just doesn't make sense. The blue hat - thinking about thinking; my first thought; 'Aaagh! Get me out of here, what do I do with this hat?!!!"
That aside, I do think the Six Thinking Hats supported the collection of a range of perspectives on the use of mobiles in the classroom (more so than the traditional positive vs. negative). This is because it offered alternative ways of thinking, such as the green creative hat and the blue thinking hat (it's also a shame the text that was added to the Mobile Phones Wiki has since disappeared). As a whole, the thinking hats produce a higher order thinking approach and a deeper analysis of a topic or text, and I can see how they would be valuable in the classroom.
References:
CQUniversity. (2011). Readings: active learning, learning diversity and the theory (pp. 6). Retrieved from CQUniversity Course Resources Online FAHE11001
http://moodle.cqu.edu.au/mod/resource/view.php?id=186311
CQUniversity (2011). fahe11001Mackay. Retrieved July 13, 2011, from http://fahe11001mackay.wikispaces.com/Mobile+Phones+Wiki
Mindwerx Pty Ltd. (2011). Dr Edward de Bono's Six Thinking Hats [Image]. Retrieved from http://www.mindwerx.com/mind-tools/5970/six-thinking-hats
Tangient LLC. (2011). Educational wikis. Retrieved July 13, 2011, from http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis
0 comments:
Post a Comment