by Tara Seale
In an earlier post (Bogs, Wikis, or Nings? Part I), I brought up the question of where should teachers and students post content on the web with so many choices. If you are interested in learning about Nings, please visit my earlier post. In this post, I will focus on the use of wikis in a classroom.
Wikis
What is a wiki? A wiki is a website that allows online editing by one or more users with the ability to link several wiki pages together. A wiki is simple to use and share with others which makes it a popular tool in the classroom. Graphics are normally minimal on a wiki page, and the focus is on the written content or the incorporated links.
I currently use pbworks when I create a wiki, but I have used wikispaces and wetpaint. Because my school district is switching to Google Apps this year, I will most likely use Google Sites in my classroom, which functions much like a wiki page. If you have no prior knowledge of how a wiki page functions, I suggest watching the Commoncraft video Wikis in Plain English.
My favorite way to use a wiki page is as a quick website that provides information and links to other teachers. I recently taught a workshop called Instructional Technology in a Literacy Classroom. Instead of making copies of handouts that participants would later lose, I created a pbworks wiki page with minimal time. I also like to use a wiki page to provide my students with essential handouts, assignment due dates, and links to websites that we regularly visit in class. Last year I created a pbworks wiki page for my 9th Grade English Class. Although in both wiki examples that I have provided I am the sole creator, wikis were really created to enhance web user collaboration, Wikipedia for example. My students did add a wiki page link to my 9th grade English class wiki and posted writing samples on their wiki pages, but I typically did not use a wiki page for writing collaboration. I found that Google docs worked better for peer editing and collaborative papers, which students later posted to the wiki page. The wiki page worked more like a digital writing portfolio for my students. The nice thing about a digital writing portfolio is that students can access it at home or school, other people, such as parents and peers, can read the students' writing and leave comments through the comment feature.
I have used wikis with other educators several times. When I co-present a workshop, it only makes sense to use a wiki page. It cuts down on meeting time with my co-presenter because we can both add links, videos, and information to the wiki page that we want to include in the presentation. In another instance, my school district created a district wiki page in order to align our language arts curriculum and create a book list by grade level. The wiki page was simple enough that teachers who were unfamiliar with using a wiki page were able to edit and add the information related to their grade level on the appropriate wiki page link. We also used a wiki page to write a district technology plan.
I think wikis are an extremely useful tool for educators, and I will continue to use them in my classroom. My students prefer the Ning because asthetically it provides better visuals and graphics, and students enjoy dressing up their personal Ning page. A free wiki page is not visually stimulating, but it does serve its purpose to provide essential information without distractions.
If you are interested in learning more about wikis or creating your own wiki, pbworks provides handouts for presenters that explain all of the features available with a wiki.
I currently use pbworks when I create a wiki, but I have used wikispaces and wetpaint. Because my school district is switching to Google Apps this year, I will most likely use Google Sites in my classroom, which functions much like a wiki page. If you have no prior knowledge of how a wiki page functions, I suggest watching the Commoncraft video Wikis in Plain English.
My favorite way to use a wiki page is as a quick website that provides information and links to other teachers. I recently taught a workshop called Instructional Technology in a Literacy Classroom. Instead of making copies of handouts that participants would later lose, I created a pbworks wiki page with minimal time. I also like to use a wiki page to provide my students with essential handouts, assignment due dates, and links to websites that we regularly visit in class. Last year I created a pbworks wiki page for my 9th Grade English Class. Although in both wiki examples that I have provided I am the sole creator, wikis were really created to enhance web user collaboration, Wikipedia for example. My students did add a wiki page link to my 9th grade English class wiki and posted writing samples on their wiki pages, but I typically did not use a wiki page for writing collaboration. I found that Google docs worked better for peer editing and collaborative papers, which students later posted to the wiki page. The wiki page worked more like a digital writing portfolio for my students. The nice thing about a digital writing portfolio is that students can access it at home or school, other people, such as parents and peers, can read the students' writing and leave comments through the comment feature.
I have used wikis with other educators several times. When I co-present a workshop, it only makes sense to use a wiki page. It cuts down on meeting time with my co-presenter because we can both add links, videos, and information to the wiki page that we want to include in the presentation. In another instance, my school district created a district wiki page in order to align our language arts curriculum and create a book list by grade level. The wiki page was simple enough that teachers who were unfamiliar with using a wiki page were able to edit and add the information related to their grade level on the appropriate wiki page link. We also used a wiki page to write a district technology plan.
I think wikis are an extremely useful tool for educators, and I will continue to use them in my classroom. My students prefer the Ning because asthetically it provides better visuals and graphics, and students enjoy dressing up their personal Ning page. A free wiki page is not visually stimulating, but it does serve its purpose to provide essential information without distractions.
If you are interested in learning more about wikis or creating your own wiki, pbworks provides handouts for presenters that explain all of the features available with a wiki.
Jeff,
You are right. I left out Edmodo. I have not used it in my class yet, but I have looked into using it. Edmodo would be a great classroom management tool, and it would allow students to communicate and collaborate without intrusion from the outside world. I am fortunate that my district supports letting my students publish their work for the world to read, so I try to use tools that will allow my students to have a broader audience than just our classroom.
Tara
Posted by: Tara Seale | 07/30/2009 at 10:21 PM
Do not forget Edmodo!
Posted by: Jeff O'Hara | 07/30/2009 at 07:59 PM