T6- Wikis

Wikis are something I'm quite familiar with. In addition to the widely popular wikipedia, some of the other Wiki's I've enjoyed include: IMSLP (a wiki of public domain music), Wikimedia Commons (which I've found useful for diagrams, such as ones on plate tectonics), and Mythology @ Wikia.

Due to the ability for wiki's to be edited by just about anyone, they tend to get a bad wrap as far as credibility goes. For lesser known wiki's, this is certainly a factor.

However, credibility is always an issue, whether webpages or even published materials. Wikipedia, with the wide amount of users, and vast number of uses interested in keeping it credible is supposed to be about as credible as a printed encyclopedia. Not too shabby. In addition, with good use of the citations and footnotes, a conscientious reader can fact-check the details.


basic diagram of how a wiki works
While it has yet to materialize, creating Wikis as a teaching tool is something I've considered in every area I've taught so far. In the science classroom, I had considered the idea of letting students use Wiki software to share their notes and create a comprehensive guide of content covered. The concept was that it would double both in reiteration of content as well as a resource material for them. I had also played with the idea of instead of a traditional research project (paper or powerpoint), the project would instead be a wiki article for the class blog. This idea became having to do with art and artists when I began teaching that. I imagine this could be used in almost any content area.

As for teaching yearbook this year, the idea of using a wiki as organizational and compiling tool for the class, with each article representing a page in the book. I still need to play with the idea and the yearbook software to see if I want to implement this idea or not. Even if the yearbook software works perfectly well for this, a wiki could still possibly be used to allow content and text to be reviewed and a record and catalog of changes.

As far as within a teaching community, a wiki has a multitude of potential uses. Content, curriculum, lessons, activities, and a number of other resources could be included and allow educators to share resources as well as provide feedback on the talk page as well as make improvements and updates to the content in a mostly user-friendly way.

Few resources of Wiki Tips and Ideas:
- What is a Wiki? (and how to use one)
- Wikis for Supporting Distributed Collaborative Writing
- How to use a Wiki for Marketing