An Extended Classroom in India
October 17th, 2007 by Sarah
Suryaveer Singh, a geography teacher in Delhi, India learned about wikis from Shiksha India, an NGO which promotes technology for the improvement of education. In July 2007, Suryaveer joined Wikispaces and begin a classroom wiki for his 15-16 year-old students. “Most of my students do not have Internet connection at home or are not able to access it freely from cyber shops. But still we have managed to incorporate it in our day-to-day teaching and learning processes.”
The wiki is a place where students can find most of the resources taught in class. If someone is absent, the child can learn what was taught that day through the lesson summaries. Suryaveer also uses it as a space to address questions that he doesn’t have time to answer otherwise due to limited weekly meetings.
Suryaveer says most parents have responded positively to the idea of Wikispaces. “Students collaborate with each other in preparing lesson questions and answers to be posted on the space. Some passive learners have started to think and write a few lines for the lesson summaries and are happy when they see their line on the web page.”
Dear Sarah,
Thanks a lot for sharing wiki through this blog. Infact I recieved one message from Connecticut, USA to join and collaborate with their students. This way we hope to learn and appreciate the wonderful world around us. This was what Mahatma Gandhi use to spread - “share and unite” and I believe your wikisapces is just doing the same.
Thanks again for making this platform where teachers and students can share and re-learn. It is tremendous motivation for me and my students to do more.
This is a wonderful news. Teachers are using new strategies for making teaching learning interesting and effective. It has added a new dimension and also has expanded the boundaries of the classroom.
Great news!
Suryaveer,
You’re welcome. I’m glad to hear that you and other teachers are finding this a valuable resource for connecting and learning with one another. Good luck with your future collaborations.
Suryaveer,
we are finding your website very useful as it is providing the reading material also to the children and they can prepare directly for their board exams
Please provide the reading material for the remaining chapters of class xii and also the map variables .
Good Morning Suryaveer,
I am a middle school (12-14 year old) physical education teacher in northern New Hampshire, USA. We are introducing ‘blogging” to our faculty and students. My students asked me to write to you and ask if your students have physical education/sports in school…….and if so, could we exchange games and activities.
If you can get on edublogs.org…..look for suepowers or physical education made fun…..from Kennett Middle School. Looking forward to hearing from you. Sue
I am glad to hear that wikispace has worked for you…i am a student right now, and we also use it. It really helps if you forget a Hw assignment, or if your not at home and quickly need to catch up on things… Im glad it has done the same with you and i hope it continues with your success with wiki.
Good Morning Suryaveer,
How exciting for your students. I am a librarian in Houston, TX. If your students need info, they can search for Ashford Elementary School on the Houston ISD website and go to class pages. Look me up there. And no, the average Texan does not ride a horse to work!
Joan
This is in response to sue powers comment at wikispaces.
In our school - yes we have physical education at senior levels for classes XI & XII (16-18 years) & Sports for all the age groups. There are three teachers in our school who teach physical edu & sports. We play Volley ball, Basket ball, Cricket & Khokho (touch and run before you are caught). Yoga is an important part of physical edu. in our school. I have forwarded your request to the teacher concerned. They are not so computer friendly still I think they will manage or I will share with you.
Pl. suggest a platform where we can interact with each other.
dear suryaveer im glad you were intro. to wikispaces i like playing volly ball and i think yoda is cool well this is all i have to say it was nice writing to you talk to you later. bye
Since this post, UNESCO Bangkok has noticed Suryaveer’s space as well. UNESCO Bangkok has yearly awards for people that bring innovative practices to ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in education. They awarded Suryaveer a Certificate of Commendation in the Teacher and Teacher Educator Category. Congrats Suryaveer.
You can find more information about those awards here: http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=7744