I personally use Wikipedia and YouTube on a weekly basis. Typically, when I am looking for information on a topic and google the subject, a Wikipedia page pops up. I like to use Wikipedia as a starting point when searching for information. I use YouTube periodically in my classroom to link videos to my instruction. When it comes to using it for instruction, its important to preview the video and to be sure that the information you are about to show your students is accurate and appropriate.
Since I teach kindergarten, its safe to say that my students do not use Wikipedia. My school district blocks students from searching YouTube for the sole reason that it cannot be filtered. I, as a teacher, am able to you YouTube as long as my computer is logged into my teacher account.
I also use Wikipedia regularly, mostly for quick reference-type stuff, particularly for names, dates, or statistics. Those are the same kinds of things I used to go to the trusty set of World Book Encyclopedias my parents kept hanging around for years, until they were overtaken by the Internet.
ReplyDeleteYou are absolutely right about previewing YouTube. Many schools in my district have made the decision over the last few years to block it from all school computers (including those used by teachers), but with some many kids armed with their own technology, they can easily get to it anyway. My school didn't go that far, thankfully, but the admin team mandated that any YouTube video to be used in class had to go through the formal approval process. That was a pretty fair compromise from my perspective.