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Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Wikis!
In the simplest terms, Wikis are websites that can be modified by anyone.According to the Pearson book, “Wikiwiki means quick in Hawaiian, so Wikiwikiweb is a quick Web site” (Anderson, Grant, & Speck, 2008).Many of the Wikis I discovered were used primarily as a website to store information without the feeling of collaboration.
This particular wiki was created by a school librarian and has wonderful information.Although there are discussion boards for students, parents, and teachers they do not seem to be used.There is also a comment section at the bottom of most of the pages which would allow for others to contribute although, again, they do not appear to be used.That being said, the school year has just started for many districts and it is possible these features will get used as time progresses.The other elements, visual appeal, organization, hyperlinks to sources, multi-sensory tools, are evident throughout the Wiki.Occasionally the Wiki can be overwhelming with the sheer amount of information on the pages, but overall I believe the design works.The primary way in which this Wiki is being used to promote literacy is by connecting students to new books to read and providing background information.Reading is the key to this Wiki.
Mrs. Shanahan’s fifth grade classroom has been using a Wiki for at least the last three years.It appears she creates a new Wiki for each new class, but keeps a link to the past Wikis.I enjoyed looking through the various projects the students created and reading some of the comments.From a literacy standpoint, the wiki helps students share their work and find a voice as they comment on other students projects.Students wrote poems, shared stories, and created multi-media presentations. Parents were encouraged to request access to comment on student work.Past students also had access to the Wiki site and often commented.The one big downfall of this particular Wiki is the organization.It is hard to navigate and clicking on many of the pages causes an additional browser window to pop up.I ended up having six windows open simply from browsing through the site.It made it difficult to keep track of where items were located.The graphic from the front page also took some time to load and there were a few broken links to graphics on some of the older pages.
Finally I came across this Wiki.When browsing through the site, I was impressed by how organized and clean the site was.Several of the areas where comments and projects were located are password protected, but it is obvious the site is used for students to collaborate. Upon closer inspection, I realized the site was created by Vicki Davis and the effectiveness of the site made complete sense.I loved the Hall of Fame section although some of the older links no longer work.This site helps promote literacy by encouraging the students to share ideas and work together to create projects.
Using Wikis is fairly new to me.I have not used them in a classroom, although I have contributed to one for one of my own classrooms.I am unaware of any of the teachers in my district using one for any type of collaboration, however after reading and reviewing some this week I can see the potential for them.
Free Technology for Teachers highlighted a free Webinar for advanced users of Wikis and now has the archive up. The archive along with many other videos on creating Wikis can be found here.
Hi Valerie. I haven't used a wiki in the classroom yet either but I plan to this year. The more I have looked at them and read about them, the more I like the idea. I love that students can be a part of the big picture. Collaboration, sharing and feedback all in one place. It certainly has great potential doesn't it? I do some culminating projects with grade level teachers in my building and a wiki would be a great place to bring it all together. Now all I have to do is convince someone (classroom) teacher to work with me and give it a try.
Isn't that the big challenge--to get others on board with using these emerging technology tools? The idea of using a wiki for collaboration among teachers is a great idea to show them how it can be used in their classroom. Later in the school year, teachers in my building are going to do a book study on "The Daily 5". I thought it might be interesting to create a wiki around the study as a place for us all to collaborate. If teachers can see how effective (and easy) this type of collaboration can be, then maybe they will use it with their students as well.
I love the idea of parent participation with wikis! It simply makes sense. Parents are a child's first teacher... what a wonderful extended collaboration! This serves two-fold. Parents would not only be participating, but would be a part of the classroom with one more way to communicate.
Val, I would love to see the wikis you highlighted but am unable to connect to the links.
Mrs. A, Thank you for letting me know about the links. They worked fine when I tested them during the post creation. Not sure what happened, but all appears fine now! Thanks again!
You mentioned in the first wiki that the commenting and discussion board features were not utilized. Even though it is the beginning of the year, how do you think the librarian could garner more interest? As for the second wiki…six windows at one time? YIKES! However, I do like the fact that the teacher keeps an archive of past wikis. I belive this helps her students develop their digital footprint, and basically becomes somewhat of a digital portfolio as they progress in grade levels. I appreciate how you provide links for further study in your blog posts.
Hi Valerie. I haven't used a wiki in the classroom yet either but I plan to this year. The more I have looked at them and read about them, the more I like the idea. I love that students can be a part of the big picture. Collaboration, sharing and feedback all in one place. It certainly has great potential doesn't it? I do some culminating projects with grade level teachers in my building and a wiki would be a great place to bring it all together. Now all I have to do is convince someone (classroom) teacher to work with me and give it a try.
ReplyDeleteHi Lori-
DeleteIsn't that the big challenge--to get others on board with using these emerging technology tools? The idea of using a wiki for collaboration among teachers is a great idea to show them how it can be used in their classroom. Later in the school year, teachers in my building are going to do a book study on "The Daily 5". I thought it might be interesting to create a wiki around the study as a place for us all to collaborate. If teachers can see how effective (and easy) this type of collaboration can be, then maybe they will use it with their students as well.
I love the idea of parent participation with wikis! It simply makes sense. Parents are a child's first teacher... what a wonderful extended collaboration! This serves two-fold. Parents would not only be participating, but would be a part of the classroom with one more way to communicate.
ReplyDeleteVal, I would love to see the wikis you highlighted but am unable to connect to the links.
Mrs. A,
DeleteThank you for letting me know about the links. They worked fine when I tested them during the post creation. Not sure what happened, but all appears fine now!
Thanks again!
You mentioned in the first wiki that the commenting and discussion board features were not utilized. Even though it is the beginning of the year, how do you think the librarian could garner more interest? As for the second wiki…six windows at one time? YIKES! However, I do like the fact that the teacher keeps an archive of past wikis. I belive this helps her students develop their digital footprint, and basically becomes somewhat of a digital portfolio as they progress in grade levels. I appreciate how you provide links for further study in your blog posts.
ReplyDelete