You may have heard the term "wiki" before as in Wikipedia. While Wikipedia is one of the most popular wikis, there are many others. Basically, a wiki is a website that people can edit. Depending on the wiki, only certain people may be given access to edit the information on the page. Wikis exist for all types of purposes, from professional to personal. There is a bit of disagreement as to the credibility of wikis since the general public can edit them, as opposed to works published solely by educated professionals. Still, many professionals (including teachers) use wikis.
Teachers may use wikis with students as part of an assignment or routine, with students commenting on the content of the lesson, sharing thoughts as part of a discussion or response to a question and more. A teacher may also refer to wikis in planning lessons/units. Some school systems make a variety of resources available in the form of a wiki. In this way teachers can add and revise information as changes occur within their school system. I know many people, teachers and otherwise, who use Wikipedia to find and check information.
Below you will find two links. The first is a link to Wikipedia (more specifically, the definition of "wiki"). The second link is to an example of a wiki used by a school system to aide teachers in planning and instruction.
Wikipedia's Definition of Wiki
Clark County School District Teacher Wiki
Do you recommend Wikipedia to your students and now to those you see through the technology program? Even after reading numerous articles and David's chapter on Wikipedia, I am still not sure that I am sold. I am definitely going to look into it more with my critical information literacy project.
ReplyDeleteAfter viewing your link to the Clark County teacher Wiki I see more and more just how useful and beneficial something like a Wiki can be. I've never really held much stock in them, but the more I learn about them, the more comfortable I am becoming with them.
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