Like a lot of new technology, Wikis seem scary at first. People may think, what if I log on and edit something that totally messes up or erases everyone else's hard work? What if nobody agrees or respects the information I'm posting? The benefit of most Wikis is that they have the flexibility to be changed, edited, and fixed. People can share lots of information while at the same time collaborating quickly and easily. After looking over several different media centers' Wikis, I was totally impressed! The way students and teachers can share information relative to their current needs is so helpful. I especially enjoyed looking over Decatur High School's Wiki and noticing how the media center set up specific sections listing tips and links to educational pathfinders, college information, teacher pages/projects, and school events. It seems many high schools are finding ways to share their resources with students and teachers through this medium. I think elementary and middle schools could also benefit from using Wikis in many of the same ways. An important thing to remember is that Wikis should be updated and edited frequently so the information they is evolving and changing to meet the needs of its readers.
The biggest drawback to Wikis is that they can be changed so easily. As any graduate student can tell you, DON'T USE Wikipedia as a research source! The ability for anyone to edit pages leaves a large door open for errors and false information to be posted. For schools, it's best if the media specialist and a select few teachers/administrators have the ability to edit the Wiki. This will help keep "trouble makers" from posting irksome information or editing the wrong thing.
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Hollie- Your reference to Decatur High School's wiki caused me to check it out. You are right that it is impressive with it's different sections and links to help students and teachers. I even checked out the College Resources page since my daughter is starting to visit colleges, and I found some useful information. Thanks for mentioning this wiki in your post!
Even thought it's an informative wiki, it appears to me more of a container of information instead of a true collaborative project. I assume that the various teachers who have their projects listed put this information on there. But in my mind, this wiki is like a glorified website that can be updated easily and quickly. This is one of the uses of wikis, but does it take advantage of the collaborative possibilities with students?
I did look at the history page and noticed only 3 entries (last one dated Oct. 2007) all done by the same person, so maybe the media specialist is the only one adding information. I also looked at the discussion page. Out of the three entries, one was marketing Child Art publications and one concerned Business and Retail trade. I guess there's no telling what 'spam' a wiki might get. Some wikis are set so the administrator has to accept the post before it appears- good idea.
I'm wondering how we might be able to create a wiki for our media centers that aren't just glorified and easy-to-create websites but can fully become collaborative.
I don't know about you Hollie, but all of this new technology that we are learning about in this class has been a little intimidating to me...maybe it's just overload. I like the idea od using wikis in the media center and linking sites and various other things to it. would like to see it as a tool where there is some collaboration going on with other teachers within my school and with other teachers/ media specialists within our county. I want My wiki (when I get it up and running) to be more than just a place that I put information, I wnat it to be a collaborative effort. Like you, I am leary of others changing what I put on the wiki, so would definately put some restrictors on it.
I am also overwhelm by the massive amount of technology that we are learning about. I was also very suspicious of Wiki's because the information can be so easily changes. However, I believe there will not be a problem if it is strictly limited to teachers and administrators. In addition it could be set up by grade levels so teachers could collaborate with others on their grade level. For high school it could even be set up by subjects. So I guess there is a was that it could be done without worrying about someone comprimising the information.
Hey Hollie,
Your idea about having only the LMS and a select few teachers and administrators have the ability to access the Wiki made me start to think about one of the concerns I have regarding Wikis. The point of all of this technology is that students learn from it and how to use it, right? It's not just about creating more work for the teachers. If we don't let students participate, what's the point? I too, though, fear what many students would post and how teachers and/or media specialists will possibly find the time to read every post by students. I think it would be a great idea for individual teachers to use Wikis in their classes. Unfortunately, though, previewing all student edits would be such a time consuming process. I really liked the idea of Literature Circles that was highlighted in "Wiki in a K-12 Classroom." I would love to adapt this for high school students and have them use Wikis to facilitate discussions about the works we were studying in class. I think the LMS could likely best use the Wiki as a communication tool with colleagues rather than as an open forum that students post to because of the worry about monitoring postings, but as mentioned in a previous comment by anne, you would have to monitor diligently to make certain the wiki did not become merely a "glorified" website. Anyway, you brought up some interesting points. : )
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