What is a wiki? Well, it’s not a 6’11” native from the planet Kashyyyk that is distrustful of strangers, but loyal to friends. Of course, they (wookies) could be useful in the classroom as well - as long as they were a friend of yours.
In plain English, a wiki is a means of communication between individuals in an editable web format.
Huh?
Imagine this – using Geography for an example. You – as the person in charge of the wiki (called an organizer) go to http://www.wikispaces.com/ and create an educational wiki. You register your students on that wiki. Your assignment to the students: create a country report, providing whatever guidelines and choice of countries you currently use. Each child can create a “page” on the wiki with the name of their country. Then, following the format you provide for the report, they can incorporate text, images, video, sound media (how about the national anthem of the country?). If they work in groups – of say two or three – on a specific country, they can add to/edit/delete whatever is on the page. You could have students from different classes working together. They could communicate through the web (it has email capabilities), and you can communicate with all of the wiki members (students)
The reports would be there for all students to see and learn by – perhaps to fill in a “10 things I didn’t know” handout on someone else’s report OR even make a (gasp) blog entry – but blogs are another story for another time.
You, as organizer, can track any edits made, and who made them – which should limit horseplay on the project.
It’s a project that the students would enjoy, would work at, and would be successful at. The biggest problem I see is access to computers for children who do not have a computer at home. But, problems are made to be overcome, and the wiki is a tool that I believe has a place in our scheme of things in the Social Studies classroom.
Our Social Studies webpage has a Web 2.0 link that guides you to a page with some resources on wikis – all the way from what they are to how you use them, to examples. Check it out and think of the possibilities.
Essential Question: What is the role of technology in today’s classroom?
2 comments:
I've done 2 wiki's this year. The kids seem to enjoy them, though Ii haven't gotten the parent response I had expected.
It's great to hear your exploring the Web 2.0 technology. I think it'll give you a leg up in a couple of years. With the price of textbooks they have got to start going more online.
What topics were the wikis on, and what kind of parent response were you looking for?
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