A wiki is software that allows users to create, edit, and link web pages easily. Wikis are often used to create collaborativewebsites and to power community websites." I think wikis are cool!
Please feel free to tell about your experiences with wikis or how you used them or would like to use them in your classroom. Add any links you feel are appropriate. (To add a link, click the "Link" icon and put your link text in the box that comes up.) 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 blue. Please post your comment below mine and put your first name at the end. Thanks, Barb
I have only used wikis a few times before, but I have found them to be very useful. I have been required to use them in past post-graduate classes to share resources and information. Most recently, a friend of mine has shared her wikispace with me in order to help me gain access to a wealth of SMART board resources that she has had, since I am just getting started with mine. I think that if I were to use them in the classroom, it would be more for sharing information that I want my students to see. I could add a link to my web site and have a wikispace with valuable resources for parents and students to access at home for homework help, assignments, or games, or I could use it to store web sites that I use in the classroom throughout the year and would like to have in one centralized location so they are easily accessible. However, I think my fifth graders wouldn't handle posting discussions on a wikispace very well. Although, I shouldn't underestimate them...the never cease to amaze!
Beth Lyons
This is my first experience with a wiki page. Before this assignment I really did not have any knowledge on wikis. I visited the page that Lauren posted and found it to be very helpful. I think this would be a great teaching tool. My middle school students enjoy all activities that incorporate technology. I can only imagine how excited and engaged they would be if I incorporated a wiki page into my lessons. I also liked Amy's idea of using it as a classroom chat room for comments and questions. In addition to using a wiki page in the classroom, I also think this would be a great resource for teachers to share ideas, lessons, and articles. I never realized that several of you are already doing this.
Beth
I commented on my experiences with wikis on the discussion page, but now I am realizing I should have done it on this page. Yes, I have used a wiki at school. We have a professional learning committee that meets every month to discuss educational topics (as well as personal topics) Before each meeting we all pick an educational article that we find interesting and would like to discuss with the group. We post our articles on our wiki site. Members of the group can go to the wiki and read the articles before the meetings. Some of the teachers at school also have wikis for their students.
Elizabeth
It seems like I am in good company because this is completely new to me as well. I have used Wikipedia many times but had never contributed to it. I didn’t even know that it was possible to change the information on Wikipedia until I saw it being done on a television show. I agree with Lauren in that it seems like it would be more advantageous for older students. This tool would be great to use in my district among colleagues or specifically throughout the different departments, like Tiffany mentioned. It seems as though this tool is very easy to utilize and would be more use to me through professional development rather than in the classroom because of the young grade I teach now. If this changes, I would be very open to putting this into practice. I also think that Danielle’s experience with the other student from Texas is neat. To share ideas and find out what is going on in schools in another part of the country is so cool.
Katie
As many of you, I too have very little/no experience with Wikis. As a matter of fact this is the first time I have ever been exposed to one. I can imagine that it would be a great tool to use in order to communicate with other teachers, whether they be in your district or from another one. I think that being able to communicate with other educators and professionals and seeing their feedback all on one page makes things easy to follow. Since I did not know much about Wikis to begin with I found this website (as shown below) to assist in educating myself about their purpose and how effective they can be. I hope that it may help you also in understanding Wikis a bit better as well. That is, if you are like me and do not know much about them. I think that incorporating Wikis in the classroom would be more successful with older studnts (late middle school to highschool level). It is a great way to get students to utilize technology in a manner that is effective. For example, if students are working on a project and each student has the wiki software then they can easily share ideas, have discussions, and ask questions about specific topics. Lauren helpful wiki website
This is the first time I have ever heard of Wikis. What a great tool! I would love to use this in my classroom, but I would feel a little concerned about what 7th graders would post. There would definitely need to be a huge lesson dealing with the what's, how's, when's, and why's with all of them to insure they know what is expected of them. One thing this would be amazing for is student interaction dealing with homework help, peer study groups, or even a classroom chat room for questions, comments or concerns about our class I'm am definitely going to think about using this next year.
Amy
I have had very little experience with Wikis. I had some trouble accessing this page and then responding to the question so I'm a little tainted before I begin! I did attend an in-service for social studies and the PDE Wiki was used and it was amazing the information that could be shared. I liked Danielle's comment that she was able to work on a project with someone from Texas to collaborate and share information so I can see it's importance in that respect. I'm not sure how I could use a Wiki in my classroom and monitor the 8th grade responses. My other concern is the fact that Wikis can be edited by the community. How would you monitor the validity of the information. As I said, Wikis are new to me so I would have to have more exposure to appreciate their application in the classroom.
Lori
I have had some experience with Wikis. I started to make one for next year but I stopped because the classes I am going to teach are going to be changing. I think Wikis are great if you want to make something for a department. Everything can be in one spot and everyone in the department can make changes to it if necessary.Another good thing about a wiki is you can update it anywhere from any computer. If you are just making something for yourself I would prefer to make a website using wix.com. You can embed wix pages into a Wiki so others can have access to it, but if it is just for your class others don’t really need access to it. Wix.com is user friendly with 100’s of templates, clip art images, and backgrounds to choose from. It is easy to embed documents and create new pages. You can create a nice one in an hour or two.I added the link I used below to create a wix. Tiffiny www.wix.com
I do not have much experience with wikis, this proves true because I had a hard time figuring out what to do here. I did create a wiki for one of my other classes, but have not really used it. I find it hard to keep so many things up to date. Wiki's, blogs, webpages, email parents, etc. it gets a little overwhelming at times. I do see how wiki's can be useful in the classroom though. For example, I could set up a wiki about a topic discussed in class. The students can then enter the wiki and post any questions, comments, or important information about the topic we are discussing in class. The problem here is that it opens the door for my middle school kids to act, well, like middle schoolers and they might use the site in an inappropriate way. So, I do not have really any experience using a wiki and keeping it up to date, however, I do see some possible uses for them.
Mike
I have some experience with wikis, I would not call gTmyself a wiki expert by any means but I have used them before. My school district has encouraged the usage of wikis and has had several school workshops on wiki concepts and the integration of them into our lessons. I don't feel I have used wiki spaces to its full potential because I basically used mine as a power point with some simple attachments and photos. That being said, I am going to try and do my final lesson for this class while incorporating wiki spaces. At some point I would like to get more involved in posting and group editing. I know some teachers in my school district that are more comfortable with using wiki spaces have students complete assignments where everyone can add and contribute on their own. The teacher is then able to monitor who added what and when to that project to access. This is something I would definitely like to be able to do in the future.
Brad S
I recently took a classroom management course through PLS, and for some of the assignments we had to use a Wiki. I acutally thought this wiki was really neat because each student was assigned to a group and we had to do a group project. It was a neat way for us to work together without being anywhere near each other. One girl I worked with was from Texas. We were all able to post our ideas together and then edit them. It was my first time with a wiki and I was quite nervous, but it was extremely easy to use as long as you edited everything in HTML. I think I could use wikis in my classroom for group projects. I would not allow the students to talk out loud, but instead work on a group project on the wiki. I could also have multiple classes working on the same project. I think the wikis would give them good practice with the computer, teach them computer ettitique, and work on their nonverbal communication skills. I may try to design this for next. Does anyone have any tips? I do not have any links to add as I am very new to this.
Danielle
I really have no experience with Wikispaces. I had a teacher induction course a few years ago that discussed technology and they did bring up Wikispaces. I'm not going to lie... I had a bit of a challenge figuring out what to do, but like with most things if you play around with it enough it eventually works. I could see Wikispaces as a useful tool. You could put up all of your assignments or have students create a wiki for your class. If I had a better understanding, I could probably use this in my classroom and get students interested in using technology.
Derek S.
This year, my Professional Development project with a team teacher of mine was to create and use wikis with our students and "wiki pals" from a 5th grade classroom in Michigan. Besides using the wikis monthly to help students communicate with their wiki pals, I have not had much experience with this form of technology. My team teacher and I have used Animoto to created a slideshow of pictures to introduce our students to their Michigan friends which we posted on a wiki page, and we have also posted videos of school-wide events that our students really enjoyed and wanted to share with their northern friends. The link we chose to use, PBWorks, (http://pbworks.com/) allowed us to set up a wiki page for each individual student and his/her wiki pal. One downfall to the page was that only the site administrator (the teacher in Michigan) was able to see all of the options for the wiki page (colors, fonts, HTML layouts, etc.)
I was introduced to wikispaces in another course, but I don't feel like I understand the whole meaning and purpose for wikis because I haven't been exposed enough to the value of this tool. ---Kristen
I have been using a wikispace in my classroom for a few years now as a sort of hub for students when using the internet. If I am directing them to a valuable sight for an activity, they know that the link will be posted on their period's wiki. I love wikis because they are so user friendly and any changes that I (or any other members) wish to make are instantaneous. I have control over who is given editing access, so security of the information I post is not a concern. I feel that wikis would also be extremely valuable as a spring board for ideas in lieu of meetings. Instead of emails being sent back and forth with "reply all," the information could be condensed and neatly found in one location. For this reason, I have considered creating a wiki page for my dance team as well as for a wedding party that I am currently in! I have heard of teachers having students collectively add to chapter pages as study guides. I think that is a great idea! It would be difficult for me, however with the inability to type in mathematical notation.
-Katrina
I have never posted to a Wiki before, but a class I took had one available for information. I think it would be neat for the students to trade information when working on a group project, or to ask each other questions. My concern, as others have mentioned, is monitoring it for inappropriate remarks or even cyber name-calling. I know you may be able to trace the post, but it would need oversight. My district has access to Moodle, which gives some of the same benefits and I am slowly learning to use that and plan to use it as a parent and student communication tool next year. I think keeping that up to date, as well as my grade book, will keep me busy. I'm guessing it cost money to set up a Wiki. Does anyone work for a district that pays for that?
Wendy
I have limited experience with Wikis. I am familiar with what they are and their purposes. I have used them as a student, and look forward to using them as a teacher. Frequently, my students email me with questions about homework, tests, and lab reports. For a student, a wiki is an excellent forum to share questions and answers with the teacher and other students. Teachers can monitor what information is posted, and they only have to respond to a question once (not 20 times in different emails). My students created their own facebook group in which they interacted and helped each other, but I was unable to monitor or filter the postings. The wiki manages this issue appropriately.
I find that a wiki can be an extension from the classroom. The discussion and thinking that occur in the classroom continue and students can build their understandings.
Check these sites out:
Article from T.H.E. Journal about wikis
PBWiki
Scribe Post Hall of Fame
Wiki Search Engine
Please feel free to tell about your experiences with wikis or how you used them or would like to use them in your classroom. Add any links you feel are appropriate. (To add a link, click the "Link" icon and put your link text in the box that comes up.) 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 blue. Please post your comment below mine and put your first name at the end. Thanks, Barb
I have only used wikis a few times before, but I have found them to be very useful. I have been required to use them in past post-graduate classes to share resources and information. Most recently, a friend of mine has shared her wikispace with me in order to help me gain access to a wealth of SMART board resources that she has had, since I am just getting started with mine. I think that if I were to use them in the classroom, it would be more for sharing information that I want my students to see. I could add a link to my web site and have a wikispace with valuable resources for parents and students to access at home for homework help, assignments, or games, or I could use it to store web sites that I use in the classroom throughout the year and would like to have in one centralized location so they are easily accessible. However, I think my fifth graders wouldn't handle posting discussions on a wikispace very well. Although, I shouldn't underestimate them...the never cease to amaze!
Beth Lyons
This is my first experience with a wiki page. Before this assignment I really did not have any knowledge on wikis. I visited the page that Lauren posted and found it to be very helpful. I think this would be a great teaching tool. My middle school students enjoy all activities that incorporate technology. I can only imagine how excited and engaged they would be if I incorporated a wiki page into my lessons. I also liked Amy's idea of using it as a classroom chat room for comments and questions. In addition to using a wiki page in the classroom, I also think this would be a great resource for teachers to share ideas, lessons, and articles. I never realized that several of you are already doing this.
Beth
I commented on my experiences with wikis on the discussion page, but now I am realizing I should have done it on this page. Yes, I have used a wiki at school. We have a professional learning committee that meets every month to discuss educational topics (as well as personal topics) Before each meeting we all pick an educational article that we find interesting and would like to discuss with the group. We post our articles on our wiki site. Members of the group can go to the wiki and read the articles before the meetings. Some of the teachers at school also have wikis for their students.
Elizabeth
It seems like I am in good company because this is completely new to me as well. I have used Wikipedia many times but had never contributed to it. I didn’t even know that it was possible to change the information on Wikipedia until I saw it being done on a television show. I agree with Lauren in that it seems like it would be more advantageous for older students. This tool would be great to use in my district among colleagues or specifically throughout the different departments, like Tiffany mentioned. It seems as though this tool is very easy to utilize and would be more use to me through professional development rather than in the classroom because of the young grade I teach now. If this changes, I would be very open to putting this into practice. I also think that Danielle’s experience with the other student from Texas is neat. To share ideas and find out what is going on in schools in another part of the country is so cool.
Katie
As many of you, I too have very little/no experience with Wikis. As a matter of fact this is the first time I have ever been exposed to one. I can imagine that it would be a great tool to use in order to communicate with other teachers, whether they be in your district or from another one. I think that being able to communicate with other educators and professionals and seeing their feedback all on one page makes things easy to follow. Since I did not know much about Wikis to begin with I found this website (as shown below) to assist in educating myself about their purpose and how effective they can be. I hope that it may help you also in understanding Wikis a bit better as well. That is, if you are like me and do not know much about them. I think that incorporating Wikis in the classroom would be more successful with older studnts (late middle school to highschool level). It is a great way to get students to utilize technology in a manner that is effective. For example, if students are working on a project and each student has the wiki software then they can easily share ideas, have discussions, and ask questions about specific topics.
Lauren
helpful wiki website
This is the first time I have ever heard of Wikis. What a great tool! I would love to use this in my classroom, but I would feel a little concerned about what 7th graders would post. There would definitely need to be a huge lesson dealing with the what's, how's, when's, and why's with all of them to insure they know what is expected of them. One thing this would be amazing for is student interaction dealing with homework help, peer study groups, or even a classroom chat room for questions, comments or concerns about our class I'm am definitely going to think about using this next year.
Amy
I have had very little experience with Wikis. I had some trouble accessing this page and then responding to the question so I'm a little tainted before I begin! I did attend an in-service for social studies and the PDE Wiki was used and it was amazing the information that could be shared. I liked Danielle's comment that she was able to work on a project with someone from Texas to collaborate and share information so I can see it's importance in that respect. I'm not sure how I could use a Wiki in my classroom and monitor the 8th grade responses. My other concern is the fact that Wikis can be edited by the community. How would you monitor the validity of the information. As I said, Wikis are new to me so I would have to have more exposure to appreciate their application in the classroom.
Lori
I have had some experience with Wikis. I started to make one for next year but I stopped because the classes I am going to teach are going to be changing. I think Wikis are great if you want to make something for a department. Everything can be in one spot and everyone in the department can make changes to it if necessary.Another good thing about a wiki is you can update it anywhere from any computer. If you are just making something for yourself I would prefer to make a website using wix.com. You can embed wix pages into a Wiki so others can have access to it, but if it is just for your class others don’t really need access to it. Wix.com is user friendly with 100’s of templates, clip art images, and backgrounds to choose from. It is easy to embed documents and create new pages. You can create a nice one in an hour or two. I added the link I used below to create a wix.
Tiffiny
www.wix.com
I do not have much experience with wikis, this proves true because I had a hard time figuring out what to do here. I did create a wiki for one of my other classes, but have not really used it. I find it hard to keep so many things up to date. Wiki's, blogs, webpages, email parents, etc. it gets a little overwhelming at times. I do see how wiki's can be useful in the classroom though. For example, I could set up a wiki about a topic discussed in class. The students can then enter the wiki and post any questions, comments, or important information about the topic we are discussing in class. The problem here is that it opens the door for my middle school kids to act, well, like middle schoolers and they might use the site in an inappropriate way. So, I do not have really any experience using a wiki and keeping it up to date, however, I do see some possible uses for them.
Mike
I have some experience with wikis, I would not call gTmyself a wiki expert by any means but I have used them before. My school district has encouraged the usage of wikis and has had several school workshops on wiki concepts and the integration of them into our lessons. I don't feel I have used wiki spaces to its full potential because I basically used mine as a power point with some simple attachments and photos. That being said, I am going to try and do my final lesson for this class while incorporating wiki spaces. At some point I would like to get more involved in posting and group editing. I know some teachers in my school district that are more comfortable with using wiki spaces have students complete assignments where everyone can add and contribute on their own. The teacher is then able to monitor who added what and when to that project to access. This is something I would definitely like to be able to do in the future.
Brad S
I recently took a classroom management course through PLS, and for some of the assignments we had to use a Wiki. I acutally thought this wiki was really neat because each student was assigned to a group and we had to do a group project. It was a neat way for us to work together without being anywhere near each other. One girl I worked with was from Texas. We were all able to post our ideas together and then edit them. It was my first time with a wiki and I was quite nervous, but it was extremely easy to use as long as you edited everything in HTML. I think I could use wikis in my classroom for group projects. I would not allow the students to talk out loud, but instead work on a group project on the wiki. I could also have multiple classes working on the same project. I think the wikis would give them good practice with the computer, teach them computer ettitique, and work on their nonverbal communication skills. I may try to design this for next. Does anyone have any tips? I do not have any links to add as I am very new to this.
Danielle
I really have no experience with Wikispaces. I had a teacher induction course a few years ago that discussed technology and they did bring up Wikispaces. I'm not going to lie... I had a bit of a challenge figuring out what to do, but like with most things if you play around with it enough it eventually works. I could see Wikispaces as a useful tool. You could put up all of your assignments or have students create a wiki for your class. If I had a better understanding, I could probably use this in my classroom and get students interested in using technology.
Derek S.
This year, my Professional Development project with a team teacher of mine was to create and use wikis with our students and "wiki pals" from a 5th grade classroom in Michigan. Besides using the wikis monthly to help students communicate with their wiki pals, I have not had much experience with this form of technology. My team teacher and I have used Animoto to created a slideshow of pictures to introduce our students to their Michigan friends which we posted on a wiki page, and we have also posted videos of school-wide events that our students really enjoyed and wanted to share with their northern friends. The link we chose to use, PBWorks, (http://pbworks.com/) allowed us to set up a wiki page for each individual student and his/her wiki pal. One downfall to the page was that only the site administrator (the teacher in Michigan) was able to see all of the options for the wiki page (colors, fonts, HTML layouts, etc.)
I was introduced to wikispaces in another course, but I don't feel like I understand the whole meaning and purpose for wikis because I haven't been exposed enough to the value of this tool. ---Kristen
I have been using a wikispace in my classroom for a few years now as a sort of hub for students when using the internet. If I am directing them to a valuable sight for an activity, they know that the link will be posted on their period's wiki. I love wikis because they are so user friendly and any changes that I (or any other members) wish to make are instantaneous. I have control over who is given editing access, so security of the information I post is not a concern. I feel that wikis would also be extremely valuable as a spring board for ideas in lieu of meetings. Instead of emails being sent back and forth with "reply all," the information could be condensed and neatly found in one location. For this reason, I have considered creating a wiki page for my dance team as well as for a wedding party that I am currently in! I have heard of teachers having students collectively add to chapter pages as study guides. I think that is a great idea! It would be difficult for me, however with the inability to type in mathematical notation.
-Katrina
I have never posted to a Wiki before, but a class I took had one available for information. I think it would be neat for the students to trade information when working on a group project, or to ask each other questions. My concern, as others have mentioned, is monitoring it for inappropriate remarks or even cyber name-calling. I know you may be able to trace the post, but it would need oversight. My district has access to Moodle, which gives some of the same benefits and I am slowly learning to use that and plan to use it as a parent and student communication tool next year. I think keeping that up to date, as well as my grade book, will keep me busy. I'm guessing it cost money to set up a Wiki. Does anyone work for a district that pays for that?
Wendy
I have limited experience with Wikis. I am familiar with what they are and their purposes. I have used them as a student, and look forward to using them as a teacher. Frequently, my students email me with questions about homework, tests, and lab reports. For a student, a wiki is an excellent forum to share questions and answers with the teacher and other students. Teachers can monitor what information is posted, and they only have to respond to a question once (not 20 times in different emails). My students created their own facebook group in which they interacted and helped each other, but I was unable to monitor or filter the postings. The wiki manages this issue appropriately.
I find that a wiki can be an extension from the classroom. The discussion and thinking that occur in the classroom continue and students can build their understandings.
-Maureen L.