Getting+to+know...Ms.+Taylor

= My Practicum Commences.. = After being offered the chance to have a students wiki space of my own this year, through La Trobe University, I thought, why not set up a page for student use during the 5 weeks I am with them? And here we are.

What is a wiki?
A wiki is a shared online space where learners can share ideas, plan projects, contribute and edit their own and other ideas. Watch this [|short video] to get an idea of how they work and how they might be used. The following is a list of some of the activities for which you may choose to use a Wiki. Can you think of any others?
 * Any class project which includes content, websites, instructions, manuals, glossaries.
 * Activities which require students to take collaborative notes.
 * Create an interactive course page.
 * Create an ongoing database for shareable lesson plans.
 * Student-created texts. Students build a a resource about a chosen topic. Every student has a stake in the project and the finished product.
 * Plan an event.
 * Create a story or online book.
 * Reviews of books, movies, games etc
 * Create a study guide
 * Create a presentation

What is the difference between a wiki and a blog?

 * In short, a blog is** a "website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in reverse chronological order".
 * A wiki is** "a website that allows visitors to add, remove, edit, and change content...and allows for linking among any number of pages".
 * Blogs and wikis share some common traits:**
 * They are both websites.
 * They are both user-generated (the content of blogs and wikis is created by the actual people who use the blogs or wikis.)
 * They both allow users to comment on the content.
 * What are wikis better at than blogs:**
 * Wikis are better at archiving information for easy access.
 * Wikis are better at gathering information from a group of people. ...
 * What are blogs better at than wikis:**
 * Blogs are better at quickly sharing new information.
 * Blogs are better at starting and maintaining a dialog between the publisher and reader.

Unfortunately the first few wiki names I thought of were already in use (science rocks, science-rocks, scienceisawesome... and so on). So I thought I would name it art-vs-science. Yes, the name of an Aussie band, but also a statement of two, of my many, passions.

I try to paint, draw and create as often as I can. I completed my Medical Science Degree, at [|Curtin University] in Western Australia, in 2001, here I majored in Haematology, Medical Microbiology and Diagnostic Cytology. Until late 2010 I was in the Cytology industry - please note: do not confuse Cytology with Scientology or Psychology! For the final two years of my Cytology career I accepted a role that saw me travelling throughout Australia and occasionally Asia training scientists, pathologists and technicians to use and diagnose a specific type of Cytology testing preparation. I thoroughly enjoyed the teaching aspect of this applications role. I made the decision to study to become a teacher, primary and secondary, to be able to spend more time engaging with people. You will soon learn that I love people, especially young people like yourselves, and as much as I enjoyed working in a laboratory with microscopes, they have nothing on you! See you soon (: