What were your goals for using Spark?

For the course, CD 173 Curriculum for Young Children: Math, Science, and Technology, I wanted a way to share resources and for students to document their creations throughout the semester. Also, I wanted to offer students the experience of creating wikis and blogs, as many are becoming teachers themselves.

To get started I read the Quickstart pages on the Spark site, and looked at featured wikis and blogs to get ideas. Then I began experimenting and creating pages on the wiki.

Much of it was self-explanatory. I also emailed the Spark staff when I needed help (for example, adding students as authors to the blog). The Spark staff have now created a page with [how-to videos|
https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/SparkSupport/How-Tos] which is very helpWiki Markupful.

What impact did using Spark have on your goals?

The greatest benefit for me is having a way to easily create web pages and flexibly share resources - including images, videos, links, and documents.

I encountered a couple obstacles in setting up permissions, but received rapid responses from the Spark staff that resolved those issues. Everything is working well now. Occasionally there are minor formatting glitches when editing text, however, retyping always works.

How do you hope to use Spark in the future?

We will continue to make use of the wiki and blog in the course. For example, each person in the class has created a page on the wiki about a favorite school lesson from childhood, including photos or drawings. Many of the students had used Wikipedia, but had never added to a wiki nor made their own webpage before.

I have also begun using wikis for other initiatives at Tufts. In one of our student organizations we are using a wiki with a shared calendar. I have also started a wiki for planning a collaborative research project.

I appreciate the availability of these tools, and the opportunity for Tufts community members to explore new ways to collaborate and communicate.

"This semester I am teaching a course on math, science, and technology in early childhood education. I am also studying in the doctoral program in applied child development at Eliot-Pearson."

To provide a way for course participants to share resources.

To provide a way for students do document their work throughout the semester.

To provide students with experience of blogs and wikis.

To provide a platform for my students to post their work and also individually control who could view it.

CD 173 Class Blog

Natalie's class wiki is accessible only by her students. However, you can [view a slideshow of samples from the wiki].

To find out more about how Natalie uses Spark email her at Natalie.Rusk@tufts.edu

For more information on how Spark tools can be used to achieve your teaching, learning, and research goals email spark@tufts.edu or call 7-2859.