What+is+a+Wiki?

= = = What is a "Wiki"? =

Mindy Clawson Dr. Dirkin EDU 709 8 March 2011

** What Is a “Wiki”? **


 * 1. Introduction: **

“Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” —Charles Mingus (ThinkExist).

Have you ever wanted to encourage your students to communicate about classroom activities outside of school, but weren’t sure how to make it happen? Have you ever tried to find a way to keep students that were absent from your class in the loop and participating in classroom activities, but found it nearly impossible to accomplish? Have you ever wanted your students to plan a project outside of your classroom on their own, but weren’t sure how to give them the structure in which they would need to be successful? Have you ever wanted to help your students develop skills in leadership, communication, and organization, but found this hard to manage? Have you looked for ways to encourage your students to be self-motivated learners and become accountable for their learning, but haven’t been sure how to oversee this “from the outside looking in?”

If you answered “yes” to any of the questions above, then a wiki just might be the tool that you are looking for. So, what is a wiki? Well, a wiki is “a piece of server software that allows users to freely create and edit Web page content using any Web browser. Wiki supports hyperlinks and has a simple text syntax for creating new pages and crosslinks between internal pages on the fly” (Wiki.org). It also allows its users to do collaborative editing, from any location in the world that has Internet access. It is important to know that “wikis are an exceptionally useful tool for getting students more involved in curriculum. They’re often appealing and fun for students to use, while at the same time ideal for encouraging participation, collaboration, and interaction” (SmartTeaching).


 * 2. Impact on Education: **

Wiki is beginning to impact education more and more as time passes. It is now mostly recognized through Wikipedia, though many technology users know that Wiki has much more to offer. Wikis allow for students to work together on a number of different levels, including the ability to “quickly and collaboratively build reference lists and outlines, brainstorm instructional strategies, and capture suggestions” (Lamb 3). Wikis also allow students to communicate, collaborate, and make plans from the convenience of their own homes if needed. With teachers constantly feeling like they are in a time-crunch to cover the curriculum, state standards, and work in standardized test preparation – any tasks that students can perform outside of class will help to alleviate some of this time. Jim Sebley, an Education Technology Coordinator, said that “The ability to spawn whole sites or a series of pages astonishes people when they first see it. . . You can quickly map out pages to cover all aspects of complex processes or projects” (Lamb 3-4).

There are countless uses for including wikis into the classroom. The possibilities include, but are not limited to: virtual field trips, presentations, study guides, glossary, exam reviews, peer reviews, student portfolios, peer editing, vocabulary lists, getting feedback, sharing notes, timelines, brainstorming, collecting data, calendars, scrapbooks, classroom newspaper, classroom policies, recipe book, local history, and achievements (SmartTeaching).


 * 3. Issues and Implications: **

The use of Wikipedia as a valid source is a controversial topic that not many educators agree upon. Some teachers allow their students to use information that they find on Wikipedia, while others do not allow them to use it at all. The main issue causing the controversy, of course, is the ability for any user to add information to the site, therefore, putting a crack in the validity of its content. In other words, “anyone can change anything” (Lamb 2). Questions are always raised, such as “How do we know if the information is accurate?” to “I’m finding totally different information on this other website, so which one is correct?” Some teachers also complain that by allowing students to use Wikipedia as a researching tool, it rules out the use of other great sources, such as print sources in the library or scholarly web articles. Our young people today often want the quick-answer or quick-fix route to any information that they need. Wikipedia provides them quick and easy access to a multitude of information, whether it is accurate or not. A possible way to resolve this issue, or to at least meet half way, would be to allow students use Wikipedia as somewhat of a stepping stone to find other reliable sources for their research. They could use the information on Wikipedia to pinpoint key names, dates, and terminology that they can then use in a different search engine. Perhaps it is a good idea to warn students of the potential validity issues with the content and the importance of finding a valid source.

Wikispaces, on the other hand, is a great tool for the creation of wikis. Students can individually create their own wiki or they can organize projects on a shared group wiki. Some educators cringe at the idea of several students having the ability to access and edit content that is shared as a group. Content can be deleted, purely by accident! Some students that lack social maturity could easily target or sabotage a student that they do not like by changing the information that had been previously posted. For example, if students were doing collaborative editing on their introductory paragraphs for an essay that they were writing in class, any student could log in and change the content that a classmate had posted. If a student wrote, “I laughed really loudly in the movie theater and got in trouble!” – another student could change the word “laughed” to something completely different (and possibly inappropriate) that would change the meaning of the sentence. With several users logging in and out, a teacher might have a difficult time determining which student is responsible for the occurrence. Overall, any immature or inappropriate behavior would become distracting to the overall lesson, activity, or project. To resolve this, a teacher would have to make the expectations very clear to all of the students and teach them some netiquette! Students should practice good behavior and manners and show each other respect, just as they would if they were blogging in class or having a class discussion.

Wikis have already found standing room in the realm of the education world. School districts and individual teachers are often times trying to find ways to implement more technology into the classroom and every day lessons. Our students are always “plugged in” these days, so giving them tools to collaborate with others and organize information (while using technology) is a great way to grab their attention. A wiki can do just that.
 * 4. The Future: **

To continue the growth of wikis in the classroom, a couple of things need to happen. First of all, teachers need training. A district doesn’t have to spend big money to accomplish this. It is very likely that at least a small handful of teachers in every district are aware of what wikis can do in the classroom, so these select teachers could train the others. It would be great if administrators would allow for this to take place on a PD day, so it doesn’t take up precious time in after-school hours. Secondly, more funding for technology in the classrooms would greatly help the use of wikis to grow in our regular teaching activities. Technology for schools in general (libraries, labs, media rooms) are great, but if we could get every classroom equipped with the tools needed, the possibilities would be endless.


 * 5. Report three web resources or journal sources that you used for this assignment: **

====SmartTeaching.org. “50 Ways to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom”. August 4, 2008.====

Wiki.org. “What is Wiki?” June 22, 2002.
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