Wikis
My entrance into Web 2.0 in the classroom started with wikis. Three years later, I continue to use wikis with my students, as a daily record of what happened during class as well as a place for students to discuss (665 topics on just one of 15 separate pages!) and collaborate with ideas about class, literature, and writing.
Using wikis with students aligns with NETS standard 4: promote digital citizenship and responsibility. When the wiki is in full swing, I have constant conversations with students regarding appropriateness of certain posts, since wikis can be seen by everyone. The first year I used wikis, a student wanted to quote a portion of her book that contained language inappropriate to a school setting. The discussion she and I had regarding whether or not she should include the original quote was extremely rich, and got both of us to think about this new media that we were enveloped in.
Wikis also align with ISBE English Language Arts standards:
1C —Students who meet the standard can comprehend a broad range of reading materials.
3C —Students who meet the standard can communicate ideas in writing to accomplish a variety of purposes.
5A —Students who meet the standard can locate, organize, and use information from various sources to answer questions, solve problems, and communicate ideas.
More recently, my time with wikis has been in the form of professional development. I used PBworks to collaborate with two peers for writing a grant proposal for our schools. I also worked with six peers via wikispaces and mediawiki to create a comprehensive resource on Web 2.0 in education. The wikispaces version can be seen by clicking here and the mediawiki version can be seen by clicking here.
My recent forays into wiki-dom align with the NETS standard 5: Engage in professional growth and leadership. Collaborating with peers whom I’ve never met, to explore a growing set of technologies, promoted huge growth in all of us. We were forced to think of the current technological trends in terms of education and our very diverse backgrounds, and together, we came up with some great answers.
I recently posted some in depth thoughts about my relationship with wikis over the last few years. They are located here.
