Wikis - What are they, how do they work, are they reliable sources of information and how can they be used in schools? Not to long ago the word wiki wasn't known by many people. Now many people have heard the term but many still do not know what it is. In a much simplified definition, a wiki is a website where people can participate in creating an online encyclopedia of sorts. An encyclopedia??? If you remember using books called encyclopedias for research while in school then you probably didn't grow up using the Internet everyday. While encyclopedias contain a wealth of information the accumulation of the information, the sorting and organizing and eventually the publishing of the information in book form can take awhile and changes or updated information doesn't appear until the next release of the books. Online Wikis can be changed almost instantly. Different people can contribute to the wealth of information with their own expertise.
Reliability of the information on a wiki is the most concerning to many educators. After all, if anyone can contribute to a wiki how reliable can the information really be? The answer to this isn't technical but more of a numbers issue. If you consider the number of people that would like the information on a wiki to be accurate versus the number of people that would like to see false information posted those looking for accuracy will (should) win. This is where it is important for educators to place emphasis with students that multiple information sources are needed for reliability. Students should not trust anything from anyone or everyone but rather should look for multiple sources of the same information, compare the material found and make decisions based on what they find as far as accuracy. The same methods that applied when doing research with magazines, books, encyclopedias and other sources still applies today when using online resources.
What are your favorite Wikis? Do you have some websites that you have found a good educator wiki? What uses of a wiki can you think of for a class, hobby or student activity? Do you have a wiki that you have found that you think would work for teachers? If so please post your thoughts on Wikis and be sure to share a wiki favorite of your own if you have one.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
11 comments:
I do not have a wikki that I like but I do use wikipedia. I just finished reading the article that Dan sent out. I found it funny that the education site got spam so bad that she had to change the way she set up her blog. (BLOGblog) I have found away to use my blog within my classroom that I think will work well for me. Not sure if is going to work. If you go to my blog I have some blogs and wikkis on there that I go to sometimes. spedteacherhelp.blogspot.com
I found a great article online entitled "Which Wiki is Right for You?"
http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6438167.html
...it gives info on the most popular wikis used by educators, including pros & cons... a good explanation of the various wiki sites.
One of my favorite wiki sites is wikipedia. I know this may sound like an obvious choice, and for me it is. I've used this site to research vacation destinations, recipes, road races, brush up on some quick history, evaluate neighborhoods and cities I've lived in before I moved there, and numerous little curiosities I have. I like to use wikipedia as a starting point for research and sometimes planning a lesson.
I also like the site wikitravel.org. I backpack and travel as often as I can and I have found some good tips and tourist information on many locations for free on this site.
Richardson has some good ideas for wikis in his book and one I would like to adapt is the wiki textbook. Within this wiki students could post projects, podcasts, presentations, and pictures to update their own version of history. I really like this idea because history is what you make of it and how you interpret it. This would be an exciting way to put history into the hands of my students.
As an English teacher, I wanted to search for a site that I could use in class. I found wikibooks.com while perusing the gutenberg.org/wiki site Dan or Dave mentioned. I found the gutenberg site did not have as much literary review as I wanted to find. Actually, I could only find the instructions on how to post, no posts though. Under this page’s “How to submit” page, I found wikibooks.com. Great site!
You can search for specific books or browse by category. There are online books written on pretty much any subject (cookbooks, software, chemistry, music, etc…) by online users like ourselves or our kids. Obviously, I searched for some 1984 and Lord of the Flies. For 1984, I found reviews/summaries divided into sections of the novel. Some text was in blue, some in red. The blue text was where people had already posted something about that section (which can be edited by anyone), and the red text took me to a blank place where I could begin a review or a summary!
This has great implications for my class. I can have my students each post something to add to a review or summary on any book I teach. They could probably print out the page with their updates to prove it, plus they can see their work immediately in a place where I do not have to worry about issues with inappropriateness (if that were to ever happen).
Where can you find available wiki sites? The only one I knew existed was wikipedia. Are some more common than others, or is it blind luck if you find one that is relevant to your field?
The idea of having the students combine all of their information into one place for any class would be helpful. They would have to apply information they learn not just retain until test time.
I've attempted to get into several wkis, but had been websensed on them. The one's I did get through to were ok but not related to my content area and had not be updated in a year or longer. I was rather disappointed by the whole ecrises. I am looking for a way to contect students with information about the days assignments to assist them with homework and possibly reduce any potential frustration they may feel. I was somewhat overwhelemed by the wikkis I did veiw. There was a lot of content, but it didn't seem to be organized in any great fashion.
I have been emailing back and forth the last day or two regarding where a wiki can be found. The two most common questions revolve around either being filtered on a wiki that someone wants to view or where relevant wikis are for education. I often use the Wikipedia and do searches within this site to find a wiki that is relevant. Wikispaces also has some good sites. According to their site they have given away over 100,000 wikis for K-12 education since 2006. A search can be done on their site for a specific instructional topic. I did find that once I had searched that often it didn't have information other than a blank white page with options on the left of the screen. When I selected some of these options then it showed more information. I would probably find that with a different computer that had more updated software. Rather than being frustrated I'm interested in checking out the site at home on a different machine. It really can come down to time spent and time available. The more time used to do some searching the more likely good sites will be found. If you like scavenger hunts this may be fun. If you like results right away it may be frustrating. My best advice is to hang in there and use the saying, "Good things come to those who wait." Be persistent and keep looking. You may find something great on a wiki or you may find that there is something better for your own classroom to use in a blog or other technology. Just be sure to keep the focus on what you can use in your own instructional area, not just what the weekly task is. Sometimes we may have someone report back something they stumbled into.
Good Luck,
I had a difficult time with this assignment. I was looking for math wikis that dealt with teaching and learning but I didn't find any. I found many wikis that discussed the history of math or theories in math well beyond what the students see in high school. I found many more useful blogs than wikis. Most of the wikis were out of date or didn't have the information I was looking for. I was looking for information about teaching specific concepts. I was disappointed in my search efforts.
I've looked at many wikis but wouldn't call any of them my "favorite". For me it was more that I liked something about each site. It was hard to find sites related to what I teach that I actually liked. Many had some good ideas but overall they weren't that great.
blog and wiki or twitter and pownce? Learn to walk before you run.
I have not used wikipedia for much besides definitions of current technologies. I checked it out by searching the topic I know the most about (natural gas utilization). I was disappointed by the response. The entries ranged from obviously simple to archane information that would be interesting to very few people. The 'current' post asked the temperature of a natural gas flame (3600 F)and was unanswered. The entries were without any logical sequence or index. Without editors it seems to me that the best use for these tools is for sharing opinions and collaboration and not as a resource for serious research. I also like the 'textbook' that students develop in a wiki format - I have one out there somewhere. It will be good to have a shared space.
Post a Comment