Got Wiki?

[Karolee Smiley]

When I mention wikis at school, the common response is "What's a Wiki?". I think that in tech-savvy circles, wikis are well known as a collaborative online tool. Wikis seem like such a great educational tool... I wonder why more people aren't using them.
So, I'll throw this out here.

I just completed my master's research in wikis and really liked what I saw. I plan on expanding the use to all my classes, but I am concerned about the logistics of moving from only 30 students to over 160 students. I also work in a low-income area, where many students do not have internet access at home (a few do not even have homes). I have several ideas on how I might incorporate them, but I want to have a solid plan in place before the school year starts so I can do it right.

So I am wondering...
Who has used wikis, either personally or professionally?
How have you used them?
Obstacles you have found to using wikis?
Ideas and suggestions for using wikis?

I am so exciting about having my kids create wikis to share!

[Jessica Fries-Gaither]

Hi Karolee - We used wikis here in our project work at Ohio State, but I never used them in the classroom. I didn't know what they were when I was teaching! I do know that there is a professor of anthropology here at OSU who uses a wiki for one of his classes - you can see more at his web site.

Todd Williamson also wrote a nice article for our Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears magazine about using wikis in the classroom!

I'm also eager to hear some "real world" advice from our teacher members!

[Jessica Crooker]

Hi Karolee,
Thanks for the note on my page. I'm new to MSP2, so it's fun to get those emails saying someone wrote on my page! :)

I am currently using wikis in two ways:
1. As a collaboration tool for my district's Teachers of Secondary Striving Readers Committee. We created a page for each topic we thought was essential to our instruction (Vocab Instruction, Fluency, etc...) and then made a template for each page so committee members could post and share materials they have either created or found.

2. I teach all striving readers which tends to mean "students who aren't crazy about school." :) As a result, they have lots of fun barriers like not having pencils, paper, books, and losing anything I give them. And I also travel in my building, so my classroom is not near my office and I would often find myself without extra copies of handout from previous days. I created a wiki as a place store important documents. If students missed a day or lost something, I would tell them to go to the wiki and print it off themselves. We have a small lab right outside the classroom, so it was easy for students to do that if they didn't have a computer or printer at home.

I also posted links to websites or surveys. Rather than having to give instructions on a computer lab day, they would go to the wiki and work at their own pace. It was also useful for those parents who keep tabs on their kids and want extra copies of assignments or more explanation on a project. I received great feedback from parents.

I used pbwiki to create the page. It does have some minor glitches, but their tech help is excellent.

[Tom Jenkins]

I use Mead Map for my work at the Dayton Regional STEM Center. We have teams (made up of various occupations/schedules) that have a specific area of expertise and write curriculum for Ohio STEM schools. Mead Map is great because it allows multiple people working at once and keeps things very organized and has a nice flow. That being said, it's hard to beat some of the good products that are free.

[Karolee Smiley]

Yeah, I am stuck in the free realm. But, since I no longer have access to a computer lab, I won't have to worry about all my students online at the same time competing for access to the wiki. Best I can do is half the class, so it should be even easier to juggle.

Tom Jenkins said:

I use Mead Map for my work at the Dayton Regional STEM Center. We have teams (made up of various occupations/schedules) that have a specific area of expertise and write curriculum for Ohio STEM schools. Mead Map is great because it allows multiple people working at once and keeps things very organized and has a nice flow. That being said, it's hard to beat some of the good products that are free.