Wikispaces: Connecting the Music Classroom with the
MySpace Generation
By James Frankel
Each December, I come with a list of New Years resolutions for myself, and for my teaching. My personal resolutions usually last a few weeks before I break them, but my teaching resolutions usually energize my teaching for the remainder of the school year. This year my resolution was to utilize Wikispaces with both my general music classes and my instrumental music program. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Wikispaces, it is a website located at: http://www.wikispaces.com that offers free web space for educators. You can set up as many websites as youÕd like, registration is fast and easy, and creating a website is as simple as writing a Microsoft Word document.
WhatÕs a Wiki?
Most people know the term wiki through the controversial online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, located at http://en.wikipedia.org. ItÕs controversial because of the democratic nature of wikis – they can be edited by anyone. This means that it is possible to find inaccurate information in each entry. There is a team of editors who are employed by Wikipedia to make sure that inaccurate edits are quickly corrected. I have had conversations with many teachers who do not allow students to use Wikipedia for research because of this, but I believe that Wikipedia can serve as an excellent example for students to be aware that not everything they read on the Internet is reliable. Teach them to confirm their findings on Wikipedia with other reliable websites.
As far as Wikispaces is concerned, teachers have the option to allow their students to edit any of the content that is posted on the website. You can track any edits and revert them, but I personally do not allow my students to edit. I use Wikispaces purely as a place to create and host my websites – especially because of the Discussion Board feature that Wikispaces comes with. While there are some cases where the full editing capabilities of Wikispaces might be useful (writing a group story in Language Arts, or teaching students about the editing process) I havenÕt found one for my situation just yet. But give me some time.
Setting Up Your Wikispace
When you log on to the Wikispace website, you will find an
option in the upper left hand corner of the homepage that says ÒMake A New
SpaceÓ. Next youÕll be asked to
name your site, and decide whether it is Public, Protected, or Private. The Public and Protected versions are
free. I would suggest creating a
Protected site that allows users to view the site, but gives you the option of
whether students can edit. A Public
site allows anyone to view and edit.
The Protected site is the best option, but there is a fee of $50
annually. Once youÕve named your
site, you are ready to go. First
you are taken to your home page that has an ÒEdit This PageÓ. When you click it you are presented
with what looks like a blank Word
document. You can import pictures,
movies, audio files, and documents (up to 10MB each) as well as write text for
your site. You can also create
links to outside websites as well as links to other pages in your Wikispace. Creating new pages is also very simple
– just click on ÒMake New PageÓ in the upper left hand corner, name it,
edit it, and then link it. You can
also create menu items for easy navigation.
The most important feature of Wikispaces is the ability to
create questions in the Discussion Board section. When you click on the Discussion tab, you can enter subject
headings and questions for your students to answer. In order for them to answer, they will need to join
Wikispaces – they need to create a screen name (I strongly suggest they
use only their initials) by entering an email address. Once they have joined Wikispaces they
have the ability to create their own Wikispace – and they will.
Implementing Wikispaces into the Music Classroom
I have created Wikispaces for my 6th & 8th
Grade general music classes and for my band program, and they have been
extremely successful. By
successful I mean that the students have been visiting the site quite
frequently, and the discussion threads have been very insightful. In the two weeks that the sites have
been up (at the time of this writing) the band site has had 20,000 hits, and my
general music sites have over 10,000 hits each. ThatÕs very impressive. The discussion posts have been very active with over 400
postings by the students. Managing these three sites has become quite time
consuming, but I am finding that the discourse going on with my students has
totally energized my teaching. It
is amazing to read what 6th graders write. They are all intelligent, insightful, and savvy online
personalities. What they write
doesnÕt always match up with their in class personalities. My shyest students are my most active
posters.
In my general music classes I use the Wikispace site to post
all of the notes from my PowerPoint presentations, as well as examples of
student work and links to relevant websites. My 8th Grade general music class studies the
history of Western Music. For the
Renaissance unit, I have created a separate page for the unit with all of the
notes, and links to relevant websites about the music, literature and art of
the period. In addition to the
content, I have a discussion thread that offers students a place to post their
reactions to music that I play in class for them. I also place unannounced trivia questions about music on the
discussion board for extra credit.
My students often answer these questions during school, and are almost
always correct.
On my instrumental music Wikispace, I post all of the
rehearsal information as well as other announcements. Each lesson group has their own page and I post their weekly
assignments on these pages. I also
created a survey on the site (using a website located at www.advancedsurvey.com) to allow the
students to vote on a piece to be played on the Spring Concert. I also post discussion questions asking
students to give their reactions to our past performances and performances at
our school. There has been a
overwhelmingly positive response to the site, and my band students are always
talking about the discussion from the previous evening in rehearsal.
Connecting with the MySpace Generation
The positive response that I have received since creating
these Wikispaces has made me realize that my students are part of the MySpace
Generation. They have online lives
that seem separate from their school lives. They are confident online and write very well. My sites have become a safe alternative
to some of the social networking sites that are out there. They are connecting with their friends
who share a common interest – music. They are very aware of netiquette – being friendly
online – and self-govern when anyone slips up. The discussion threads provide insight into how and what
students think about the music-making process.
One of the features of the site allows the site organizer to
track the activity of the site using the ÒManage SpaceÓ option. You can see how many visits your site
has, how many edits, how many messages, and how many hits. I have found myself checking these
statistics frequently, and have been stunned at the sheer amount of
activity. I believe that by
creating these sites, I have extended my classroom to an almost 24-hour-a-day
place for learning – in a way that the students connect with. I am looking forward to seeing how
these sites take shape over the remainder of the school year. I strongly urge you to try creating a
Wikispace for your music classroom.
To check out my Wikispaces, visit: http://fams-music-wiki.wikispaces.com,
http://famsgrade8.wikispaces.com,
and http://famsband.wikispaces.com.
As always, if you have questions about Wikispaces or
anything about music technology, email me at: jtfrankel@hotmail.com.