Monday, October 14, 2013

Thing 10-Wikis

It was great to see such a wide variety of Wikis examples.  Obviously, teachers of students of all ages have found them useful.
 Some were used generally to post pictures of school events and others could post pictures that they had as well.  Other Wikis had a page for each class that they taught.  Elementary teachers had a page for each subject area and also just to post great student work.  I saw some Wikis that were a specific author study.  For example, one Wiki's focus was Lois Lowry.  Students were working on reviews and projects about two of her books.
For older students, I can really see some genuine collaboration going on as the teacher posts a project of inquiry or exploration and students must upload what they discover and learn.  In this way, students are learning from each other as well as the teacher.
The teacher can also post notes from lessons and students can read them as many times as needed to understand a concept or topic.  They can also post questions or ideas or segues into new avenues of thinking.
Projects can be posted individually or as a collaboration.  Since these can be living documents, students can edit as needed as they go along.
I do understand the concern that some have about the "openness" of a Wiki and its susceptibility to spam and vandalism. I have never used one at school up to this point.  My only experience is with the ones we are currently using, or have used, for our graduate classes but I think that if it's well monitored, then its ease of use and flexibility will outweigh the disadvantages.

No comments:

Post a Comment