So What is a Wiki?
What Can a Wiki Do for Me?
I started the West Ga MEDT program in the spring. Prior to my first class I would have considered myself fairly tech savvy. I was no doubt at the top of the scale in my school building, but maybe the scale didn’t go as high as needed. The first night of class Dr. Goldberg started tossing around the term wiki, and it was apparent to me that I should have known about wikis. She continued teaching, and I Googled wiki. The definitions I found were simple enough. Most just explained wikis as websites that allow users to work together and edit a number of pages with varied levels of access or control. I should have linked the term to Wikipedia to get a mental picture, but it just didn’t click.
I was still concerned about the purpose wikis would serve for me. With a little experimental mouse clicking and the occasional explanation form a friend I quickly learned about the collaborative advantages of wikis. I concluded that wikis were not necessarily finished products or WebPages for display, but places for sharing and collaboration of projects/assignments.
I also figured out that many wikis are private communities, groups of members who have, or can have, access. We find wikis in large corporations, educational organizations, medical training, travel agencies, legal groups, and hundreds (maybe thousands) more. My point is that wikis are everywhere. There is even a Tour Bus to take you from wiki to wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:TourBusStop
I located a great introduction to wikis with nice overviews. http://www.wiki.org/wiki.cgi?WhatIsWiki and a list of wikis that you can drill down/filter http://wikiindex.org/Welcome with a whole category on education. The education wikiIndex includes some open source (free) wikis.
Of course I know more about Wikispaces http://www.wikispaces.com/ than others because West Ga subscribes and provides student use http://www.wiki.westga.edu/ . There is a cost for organizations who want a little something extra to call their own (branding with logos and extra features), but Wikispaces also offers free wikispace for individuals and small groups. I think I should take a moment to explain this a little further. Wikispaces offers a private label option to large groups, organizations, schools, etc. It provides an exclusive environment with unlimited wikis. This option provides some advanced settings and central administration.
Wikispaces.com also provides single users and very small groups a free basic wiki to use for workspace/collaboration/projects. You can also upgrade to add extra features at a minimum yearly cost. I actually have a single user account that I use for my local GAE officers group, Dalton Association of Educators.
There is also a K-12 plan that allows for free use for education and has added security without ads. The similar Higher Ed. Plan is also free with extra privacy settings. I have a free K-12 account as well that I used with my class and peer teachers last year.
As I wrote this blog I tried to think of the best reason I should promote wikis for media specialists or teachers and it has just now surfaced. I have been looking for a way for students to post their work and work in groups on projects they are creating using our new iPads & iPods. We started the year with 47 student iPads & iPods for our high school social studies department, but I realize that I need a plan before the other 372 arrive in two weeks. Wikis can be a solution. I have only to download an app, probably QuickOffice Pro HD, to provide students with the tools they need to create most of their projects to document their learning, and Wikispaces could provide the workspace for students and teachers. I feel sure the high school students could use the advanced features and embed from Glogster and other sites to create presentations that would shock their teachers.
As far as uses with teachers and professional learning, I have used Wikispaces to collaborate and design lessons and units of study as well as pathfinders. I’m certain there are many more uses. Please share any ideas you have for wikis in elementary, middle, or high school settings. Here is an idea from a librarian in PA who uses it to share information with teachers http://palibrarians.wikispaces.com/ Decatur High uses their wiki like a webpage. It is full of information for teachers and students. http://dhs.wikispaces.com/
A quote from three wiki experts/teachers, Naomi Augar, Ruth Raitman and Wanlei Zhou (2004), “Wiki unto others as you would have others wiki unto you.” http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.133.1456&rep=rep1&type=pdf
Thanks for blogging with me.
Leigh Anne
P.S. If you are a West Ga student in the homepage at http://www.wiki.westga.edu/ offers many wiki tips, tutorials, and wiki blogs. Check it out!
Leigh Anne,
ReplyDeleteIt looks as if we followed the same wiki learning curve (via our coursework for UWG), but you’re clearly ahead of me now. Thanks for the info on free accounts for individuals and schools. Cost is too often one of the reasons we don’t get on board with technology.
So far I’ve only used wikis for course work, collaboration, and pathfinders, but they can clearly be used for so much more. One of the ideas I came across that I like a lot is a wiki book club. I belong to two real time books clubs and love the camaraderie. We sometimes spend a fair amount of time catching up on each other’s lives, and I think that’s an important part of book clubs, but our main reason for getting together is to be able to share our ideas and any questions we may with others who have read the book. But it’s not always possible to make it to book club, and sometimes a question or idea occurs to me after the meeting. A wiki would make it possible for us to continue the discussion after the meeting or “be there” virtually when we can't be there physically. I think students would particularly like the idea of a wiki book club because they are so much more in tune with virtual communication. We’ve been trying to get a book club off the ground at my school, but it’s been slow going. Students have as many, if not more, before and after school commitments as teachers, and they have transportation issues as well. Finding a time that works for the majority has been a stumbling block. A combination wiki/real time book club might be the solution. Some students could come to meetings, some could contribute via the wiki, and some could do both. It just may be possible to have it all!
Liz
P.S. Read any good books lately?
Great job Leigh Anne! Your details and outline made reading about the wiki a very pleasant experience. I appreciate the tips on tutorials and tips for use on all grade levels.
ReplyDeleteI believe the more we, as educators, include the use of technology in our instruction, the more our students will become engaged in learning. Teaching students to become live-long learners is the ultimate goal; the use of a wiki helps bring this goal a little closer to reality!!
Thanks again, job well done.
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ReplyDeleteI am fairly new to Wikis as well and Wikipedia helped me to have a little understanding of what it meant but your definition of Wikis' purpose for you really helped me to get a better understanding of it...even though I have created Pathfinders and collaborated with my fellow classmates at UWG in the SLM program.
ReplyDeleteI hope all works out for you and your students using the iPads and Wikis. Keep us posted!
Leigh Anne,
ReplyDeleteGreat job on the introduction of WIKI, you gave some excellent,valuable resources and information.
You did state that many of the private communities, groups members who have, or can have, access in large corporations, educational organizations, medical training, travel agencies, legal groups, and hundreds (maybe thousands) more.
Your point is that wikis are everywhere and this could also be a very scary though of the types of group and people that ca be storing information and using this tool.
I have a better understanding as to why it is blocked in educational and library settings. It could lead to disastrous results if they are not filtered properly.
Thank you for sharing this tool with the class.
Barry
Leigh Anne,
ReplyDeleteIt looks like we've both been introduced to many new technologies while in the program at UWG...Wiki being one of them!
I also was introduced to a wiki over the summer when I was taking two classes.
Long story, short--by the end of the summer, our groups had produced 4-5 wikis in order to better collaborate for pathfinders, group projects, backward design and other projects.
In the school setting, wikis can also be helpful when developing departmental plans/goals when the group is not all sitting in the same room with a projector on.
Each person can contribute what they feel is important and remove or edit it as well.
I appreciate your wiki resources regarding free and minimum cost wikis. This is important when the funds don't seem to go as far as they used to.
Merci for your excellent ideas and resources:)
I can completely relate to what you are saying. Just over a year ago, I did not even know what a wiki was for. My first experience with a wiki was, like yours, a media course, probably the same one you mentioned, where we discussed wikis and set up teacher accounts. I loved your note about wikispaces. (never made that connection either)
ReplyDeleteThis would be a great tool to provide online space to complete a classroom project and have the children communicate and upload their projects. It sounds like such a wonderful idea for your ipads and ipods. This truly takes learning to a new level. I love how you mentioned that it is not only for students, but is a collaboration tool for teachers as well. It would also be great if we could get our teachers to use them and share online resources as well as their own files.
You shared some great ideas, and I can't wait to try out the wiki tour bus to see some other examples. Thanks for the post! .......Christy
Thanks for the Decatur High School link. During my full day field experience at Centennial High School, the librarian showed me a similar site she set up for teachers and students. However, I wasn't very aware of wikis at the time so I didn't examine it fully but now I'm sold. I'm all about organization and helping students do the same. Providing a wiki like DHS has is an excellent service to teachers and students. It is perfect for consolidating research projects, especially on the high school level where research seems to be the focal point across the curriculum.
ReplyDeleteLeigh Ann,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your informative post. Before reading your post on wikis, I did not know they were so widespread as to extend to travel agencies and medical training. I also did not know that Wikipedia requires a “neutral point of view,” before I followed your link to the TourBusStop . Well, “requires” would be a bit much for Wikipedia, considering anyone can edit it. Wikipedia words it thus: “Neutral Point of View: This is the guiding principle here at Wikipedia. An encyclopedia article must not advocate a position on any given issue; rather, it must describe the various positions fairly and accurately,” and, of course, the edit button is prominently displayed next to their guiding philosophy. Could I change their guiding philosophy to “argue as vociferously as possible on every issue”? I clicked edit. Yep, I can.
It was also a great idea to add the comment inviting others to post their uses of wikis in education, at the end of your post. It fits with the communication-friendly atmosphere of a blog. Thanks again!