WikisFall-2-08

"A **wiki** is [|software] that allows users to create, edit, and [|link] web pages easily. Wikis are often used to create [|collaborative] [|websites] and to power community websites."

I think wikis are cool!

Check these sites out:

[|MediaWiki]

[|PBWiki]

[|Scribe Post Hall of Fame]

[|Seed Wiki]

[|Wiki Search Engine]

Please feel free to tell about your experiences with wikis and add any links (To add a link, click on the World with the link icon and put your link text in the box that comes up.) you feel appropriate. As you add your comments (just click on Edit This Page at the top), I can click on recent changes and see who made them. You can also do this. My comments are in Green. **Please post you comment below mine and put your first name at the end**. Thanks, Barb

I was introduced to Wiki's this past Monday in my ED 520 Assessment class. Up in till this point, I had never heard of wikispaces. I heard good and bad things in regards to wiki's. Some classmates stated that the owner of the page has the right to set the webpage to private or public access. One teacher stated that she created a page for her student's to access and retrieve homework. One of her finer student's decided to edit her wiki page and post some nasty comments about her on that page. Needless to say, she turned her webpage into a private, view only blog. I do agree with my other classmates that this is a slightly confusing website, but once you start to explore, one can become familiar with all of wiki's options. I think this would be a great site to implement in my Social Studies classroom. All of my classroom assignments and requirements could be posted on this site for parents and students to __view__ only. I currently use the school's homework webpage to post my homework and project due dates. This website, however, does not allow teachers to download the actual assignments for my student's to print at their homes. Therefore, this wikispace would be very beneficial!

I have never used Wiki before. It took me awhile to figure this out, but the way students are with computers these days, I'm sure they would figure this out easily. Once you get the hang of it, I think it would benefit older students, like middle school or high school. This is a great source for writing assignments. It would allow for students to collaborate with one another and use technology instead of the traditional paper and pencil. Robyn

I have seen Wikis being used in a high school English class last year and became very curious on what they were and how to use them in the classroom. I have not had an opportunity to use Wikis in my classroom, but I think they are a great way to get students to write freely without a pencil and paper. It is sometimes difficult to get a student to write a response to an open-ended question or even in a journal. Wikis would be great preparation for the PSSA for the upper elementary grades and higher. Students love to use the internet and cell phones to communicate with friends, so using Wikis to get students to write in the classroom seems like a perfect motivator. Jessica

I have never used Wiki before but I can see it as being helpful. Provides another form of communication for teacher and student or parents to teachers. It allows for an ongoing dialogue of any subject that can be easily referenced. I'm not sure how I would use it in my PE class but given a little thought I can probably come up with a way to do so. Mike  I never really new what Wikis were. My only encounter with Wikis has been Wikipedia which I was previously warned by other teachers that anyone could post to the site and the information provided isn't always reliable. I never really thought much about it until I had asked my fifth graders to research composers last year and some of them immediately went to Wikipedia. It was very difficult to explain to the class that the information wasn't necessarily factual when they were sitting there staring at it on the computer screen. Simple things like the dates when some composers were born and their nationalities were wrong, so I can't imagine what else might have been wrong. There are sometimes discrepancies for some of these things because of the lack of accurate record keeping or the survival of those records, but these weren't obscure composers. I think students need to be made especially aware that what they see is someones opinion or interpretation of the facts and might not necessarily be true. Jaim e My knowledge of wikis prior to this class was only hearing the term. I explored some of the sites and felt that they were a little challenging to navigate, but I think if I would use wikis more frequent, it wouldn't be as much of a challenge. I like the idea of using wikis, but I feel that it is more age-appropriate for middle school and high school students. I teach 4th grade, so some of my students are still developing their typing skills. It has been a challenge enough getting them to type in a username and password for a math and reading computer program we use in my district. I would be leary of using this tool with my students just because of the time it would take for them to type and the time it would take to train them to use wikis. -Daisha   <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0)"> I have heard the term wiki before but have never heard about how teachers use them in the classroom. I think it could be an effective tool to use in a classroom to allow the students to post comments back and forth to each other in regards to an assignment or project, but this would be something that as a teacher you would have to read often for appropriateness. My question, would be if you did it as a read only, how is it different then a web page or even a blog? Corey

<span style="color: rgb(126, 48, 109)">**This is the first time I have used any wiki. I think this would be a great way to let students create a newsletter. They could type directly on the page since it is so easy to edit. This provides a different way for students to communicate, or even for the teacher to communicate with parents. I am still getting a handle on many of the features, but it seems easy to use.** Rachel

I learned about wikis about a year ago. I have since become an active member of several wikis like [|www.eduwikius.wikispaces.com], [|www.cffenglish.wikispaces.com] , [|www.cffmath.wikispaces.com] , [|www.cffscience.wikispaces.com] , and [|www.cffsocialstudies.wikispaces.com]. I refer to these wikis for content related resources and if I happen to find something no one has yet to post, I post the resource. The motto of the eduwiki project is, “We are only as strong as our network.” I truly believe the collaborative spirit that is fostered on the abovementioned wikis has helped make me a stronger educator. I hope you will consider joining any of these wikis. No need to be involved in Classrooms For the Future, just the desire to network and share what you have.

I have also assisted in the creation of a wiki for a video conference project I am working on with MAGPI. The Science and Technology Team uses the [|www.murdermysterycase.wikispaces.com] wiki as a way to gather and share the details of our video conference project to the participants. We have posted a mock forensic scenario complete with photos of evidence for the participants to evaluate. Participants have also contributed class summaries of the first video conference and a list of questions to be addressed in our next video conference. The goals and objectives, assessment, and standards addressed are located on the teacher resource page. The wiki allows our team to contribute our individual part and present a cohesive project to our participating schools.

I LOVE WIKIS!! Allison

I have never heard of wikis before this chapter. I am very interested in exploring wikis further so I will be able to impliment it into my health and physical education classrooms. I believe that I can start off very simple by posting my homework, course outlines, district standards, PE's weekly schedule and make my worksheets availiable to my students at home. I currently use our schools website to post items like these. Interestng site. Daniel

 Mrs. Moran, I have never navigated anything like this before....I feel like Orville Wright. I have only ever visited Wikipedia, as I'm sure, has half the country.....but I've always found it full of interesting topical information. After exploring several links on your space, I thought I'd try to make this pertinent to my own teaching life, so I explored and found a music wiki. It specializes in translating lyrics in several different languages, which makes it quite universal. I found the words to Judy Garland's Over The Rainbow in German and French! Here's the link: www.**musicwiki.info** Hope I did this right. Regards, Sharon Ambrozia