Wiki Wanderings

I love to go a-wiki-wandering…

This week’s journey was to explore the wiki world (try saying that 5 times fast) and create one of my own for classroom or personal use.

What better place to start this exploration than to look for a definition on the best known wiki of them all, Wikipedia:

“A wiki is a page or collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language.[1][2] Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.
"Wiki" (/wiːkiː/) is a Hawaiian word for "fast"[4]. "Wiki Wiki" is a reduplication. Wiki" can be expanded as "What I Know Is," but this is a backronym. (A backronym (or bacronym) is a phrase that is constructed "after the fact" from a previously existing word or abbreviation, the abbreviation being an initialism or an acronym)”

--Wow, who knew all that??

Basically, a wiki is a collaborative, social website where anyone can interact, contribute and edit content. Anyone can write anything…okay, this concerns me somewhat.

Sounds like I might not be alone with this concern. When students start looking to sites such as Wikipedia as a research resource, Richardson states, “The idea that “it might be wrong” is a tough one for most people to overcome.” (p. 59) Especially for educators! Before looking into the wiki world, I too often dismissed Wikipedia as being inaccurate or, at worst, all out wrong because anyone could put anything and who’s to know what’s the right or wrong information? Then, Richardson reassured me that there’s a group of editors whose main concerns are to “make it right” and “set it straight” (p.56). As well, Richardson sited several studies where wikipedia had been tested and reviewed for accuracy (pp 56 & 58) and was found to be a fairly solid resource. Also, I found out that accountability on other wiki sites is established by ensuring that every change to the site is recorded and by having various permission levels so that only people invited can make changes to specified pages.

Now that I felt more trusting, I began to explore how wikis could be used in a classroom setting. For lack of a better statement, there’s a lot of really cool stuff out there!!

Wait, yet another nagging question…how is a wiki all that different from setting up a blog? I was directed to the “TeachersFirst” website by a classmate and it was here I found a great answer:


“…blogs are often the vehicle of choice to express individual opinions.


A wiki has a far more open structure and allows others to change what one person has written. This openness may trump individual opinion with group consensus.”


Individual opinion versus group consensus-- this understanding of blog versus wiki is consistent with Richardson’s view:
“As we continue to move toward a world where everyone has access to ideas and where collaboration is the expectation rather than the exception, wikis can go a long way to teaching our students some very useful skills for their future.” (Richardson, p. 59)


Now, on to the cool stuff…


Here’s a good summary from the Wetpaint wiki-host site on using wikis in the classroom:


“How can wikis be used in the classroom?

Group projects

: Students work together in one place to research, outline, draft, and edit projects within the wiki
Assignments: Post homework, course materials, study guides, and more.
Resource Collections: Organize articles, websites, videos, and other resources for students
Peer Review: Post questions for student brainstorming, or have students post papers for peer feedback
Group FAQ: Students and/or teachers post and respond to questions on a given topic
Parent Involvement: Give parents a chance to be a part of the classroom and stay up to date on classroom news and events
Online Newspaper: Create a student-published online newspaper”

Other examples of using wikis in the classroom that I find intriguing are based on writing and novel studies, such as the following:

• Wikibooks is a very cool wiki recommended by Richardson (p.63). The goal is to produce a series of non-fiction booklets for children aged 8-12yrs made by the collaborations of students. Students can create an account, sign on and contribute information they know about the subject. What a great way to evaluate what students have learned by seeing what they’ve added to the collection of information. Or challenge students to find new information that hasn’t been posted or to edit the information (check facts) of what has been added to the booklet.


• Creating collaborative stories. Two such examples done in an elementary school are terrythetennisball a wiki created by a grade ¾ teacher in Australia, where students have written many versions about the adventures of a tennis ball, and a grade one wiki where the students continue to add to the adventures of a hockey player. A fun, motivating way to create a story and practice writing skills that teaches students how to work with others to build a better whole.


• Novel Studies. A great example is given in Richardson’s text about the book Turn Homeward Hannalee a wiki where students have created interviews, presentations and reference pages based on this book using all sorts of web 2.0 tools. As Amy Bowllan states in a 2008 School Library Journal article:

“Ideal for collaborative learning, a wiki allows students to engage the novel beyond the pages of the book. Students can use the wiki to research, outline, draft, and edit a
collaborative project on the book. They could also organize articles, site links, video, and
other resources”

The benefits of using a wiki as a tool for teaching and learning are summarized really well
in the Teachersfirst website--connections, creativity, engagement, interpersonal skills, writing skills, metacognition—all great reasons for using a wiki in the classroom.


How to go about creating a classroom wiki? Here are some options:

1. PBwiki for classrooms -a good feature of this educational wiki is the student accountability. Teacher’s can see who has changed what and reverse any changes. As well, PBwiki has “webinars” that teach the basics about using the site and setting up a wiki for classroom use.


2. Wetpaint education wiki has a free ad free version for the classroom.
   
3. Wikispaces has a good video tour to get you started as well as a complimentary upgrade to “Plus” (includes increased security, ad-free) for K-12 educational use.
   

Looking through Wikispaces, I discovered this book club wiki which inspired me to try and create a wiki for my own book club. I used the tool Wikispaces and found it to be extremely easy to navigate and straight forward to use. My book club wiki that I created is here and I’m sure it will prove to be a fun and creative way to come together as a club. The ease of collaboration is certain to inspire us all!

As a final note, Richardson sums it up well when he states:

“The collaborative environments that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort.” (p. 69)

Happy wiki wandering!