A wiki is essentially an encyclopedic web page that anyone can edit. Wikis can be in-house sites meant to serve a limited number of editors or wide-open sites where almost anyone can contribute. The most famous example of a wiki is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia whose articles are edited by volunteers and whose content is subject to change by nearly anyone. Wikipedia is one of the most popular reference sites on the Web, with around 60 million hits per day.
“Anyone can edit anything at any time, in a true wiki.” (Will Richardson)
Wikis are a pretty exciting technology for classroom teachers:
Students, teachers, and even parents could collaborate to gather, edit, and present information on a wiki.
A wiki could be used to build a classroom dictionary of terms in a subject area. For example, students could build a list of historical or literary definitions for a course.
Students could also use a wiki as a class notes page that serves as a study guide for tests. Each student could contribute a set of notes and add comments to existing notes.
Another idea is to break kids up into small groups for a project or activity and have them paste their work on a wiki. One could then invite other student groups to comment.
Wikis could also be used to enhance professional collaboration. For example, teachers in a department or district could build a curriculum unit together or simply post their lessons and assignments.
A teacher could post words for students to expand into definitions.
Students could research new topics and contribute their findings
A wiki could be used as a portfolio showing development of a project
Teachers could develop and edit curriculae
Wikis in Education Resources
Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (Paperback) by Will Richardson http://www.amazon.com/
Wikipedia -- http://en.wikipedia.org/
The world's most comprehensive encyclopedia DisInfopedia -- http://www.disinfopedia.org/
Disinfopedia is "a collaborative project to produce a directory of public relations firms, think tanks, industry-funded organizations and industry-friendly experts that work to influence public opinion and public policy on behalf of corporations, governments and special interests."
Wiktionary -- http://en.wiktionary.org/
Wiktionary is "a collaborative project to produce a free multilingual dictionary in every language, with definitions, etymologies, pronunciations and quotations."
Wikiquote -- http://en.wikiquote.org/
Wikiquote is "a free online compendium of quotations in every language, including sources (where known), translations of non-English quotes, and links to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/) for further information."
Education:
Romance Audience Project - Bowdoin College http://ssad.bowdoin.edu:8668
A Bowdoin College Professor brought together his teaching and a wiki to allow his students to annotate and discuss poems. The site, the Romance Audience Project, was used in Mark Phillipson's English 242 Class in the spring semester of 2003.
Nobles Wiki
The Nobles Wiki was built by Chris Smick, Academic Technology Advocate for Math & Science chris_smick@nobles.edu
A wiki by independent school educators with the hope that educators will use this Commons to develop an understanding of The Read/Write Web, and in doing so make connections for collaboration, be it discussion or planning of joint projects. The wiki platform is from editme.com
Wikis are not without some significant risks. The open-source nature of a wiki makes it vulnerable to vandalism and content errors. Also, a teacher would have to monitor a class wiki to make sure that inappropriate content is not put on the site.
Consider: How could Wikis help your class become more interactive and student-centered?
"Your examples showed how we can maximize student participation in every class activity, and thus have them take ownership of their own learning."
Margartia Curtis, Head of School, Deerfield Academy, Deerfield, MA
