Personally, my experience with Wikis has been extremely negative in terms of actively participating in collaboratively creating and maintaining a Wiki. My lack of knowledge about developing a Wiki led me to remain frustrated throughout the entire process. Just when I thought the Wiki looked perfect, I would click the save button and all of sudden everything on the page was rearranged. On the other hand, my experience with the free online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, has been extremely positive. This is a Wiki that you can always rely on for reliable information which is easily accessible. While all of my Wiki experiences have not been terribly positive, I know that as a teacher and/or media specialist I cannot allow my personal beliefs to interfere with technology that may be beneficial to students.
My initial thought about the use of Wikis in the library is that maybe the most effective concept is for the media specialist to create a Wiki which serves as a resource bank, providing teachers with ideas of how to use Wikis in the classroom. As teachers develop original ways of using Wikis in the classroom, they simply add the idea to the school Wiki. The Wiki would serve as a collaborative space for how to integrate the Wiki technology into the classroom. Since adults would be the only editors, the media specialist would only have to invest minimal time monitoring the Wiki.
When first creating the Wiki, the media specialist could provide examples for various grade levels and different subject areas. Some examples may include using a Wiki for students to brainstorm science project ideas. It has been my experience that one of the most difficult aspects of the science project process is identifying a question to be tested. Upper elementary, middle, and high school teachers could create a Wiki for students to post science fair topic ideas. Some students have numerous ideas while others have a difficult time generating ideas. A Wiki would allow students to have a resource bank created by peers. Another idea is to create a Wiki for Literature Circle conversations. Students can post and answer questions about the book being discussed.
Wikis have many benefits, such as providing a connection among students who may have minimal interaction during the school day. Middle and high school students do not spend all day with the same students so Wikis provide students with a chance to work in a group without having to be in the same physical location. All you need is an internet connection and a Web browser. Another advantage is the ability to access the information from any location. While Wikis have many benefits for teachers and students, there are some drawbacks. Because students can edit the page, monitoring the Wiki can be time consuming and personnel intensive. Also, content can easily be deleted with the simple click of the mouse. Students will require the appropriate training to reap the rewards that Wikis can provide.
I remember feeling frustrated when working on my first wiki as well. After learning the basic though, I have found wikis to be a very useful tool. I haven't had as great of an experience with wikipedia. I feel that there is some great information on there, but the content is not monitored and can't always be found true. As a media specialist, I always recommend that my students find other resources instead of using that resource.
ReplyDeleteI like your idea about using a wiki as a teacher resource bank headed up by the media specialist. I agree that this would be a good tool that requires less monitoring because only adults are using and editing the information.
To use the wikis with student, I agree that appropriate training and boundaries are required for reaping the rewards of a wiki. Students can really become engaged when a wiki is used as opposed to traditional methods of learning.
You really made me think about the pros and cons of using wikis in education. I see both sides. There has to be a "happy medium" where time consumption, monitoring, and use of the wiki are effective. I wish I had a solution!
Thanks for the excellent post!
I hate to say it, but as an English teacher, I HATE Wikipedia. I wish that website would crash and never come back. In my research unit, it is so hard to explain to them that yes, Wikipedia will be one of your first options, but you should not use this site. We have the whole conversation about people editing the site to contain inaccurate information, but it is so easy that they gravitate towards it.
ReplyDeleteI like your suggestion of having class/group work completed on a Wiki. This would be wonderful for students who are working with others and need to collaborate. You brought up a great point though! Students would have to be trained on how to appropriately use a Wiki. I know I have students who would post inappropriate items on there or who would delete items just for spite. It is like the internet filtering debate. There will always be the majority of students who use technology correctly, but then there will always be the few bad apples who ruin it for everyone.
This semester has been my first experience with a Wiki, and I found it to be easy to use and effective. I like the idea of being able to access the site from anywhere, share ideas, see others' work, and edit my portions quickly. My only concern with having Wikis, blogs, and the other social networking sites is that teachers would try to do all of them (or even a few), and it would not work out well because the students would dapple in a few rather than delve into one.
Ashley H
Jill, I appreciate you talking about your negative experiences with wikis. When I am thinking of taking on a new task that I am unfamiliar with, I want to know the good, bad, and ugly. If these things were difficult for you, I know that I may have to devote more time to the project and find someone that successfully uses wikis to be close enough for me to call on for help.
ReplyDeleteWhen I figured out what a wiki is, I wondered how I could use this in my life as a media specialist or teacher. I like your idea about teachers using a wiki to post ways that they use wikis in their classroom. As a teacher, there is nothing like someone in your same position encouraging you that your idea can be done in the real world.
Good ideas for students to use the wiki to brainstorm ideas. If I ask students to write a persuasive essay, I do not want my whole class to write about the same topic. Having ideas from all students will give my students an abundance of ideas that will interest them more that my “old person” ideas.
I wonder if will be easier to monitor the contents of the wiki if there was a way to allow edits during a particular time period. For example, I may want my students to only post during my class time or on a certain day.
MEDT 7477 is my first experience using a wiki, and I can tell you I was very nervous about it having heard several negative things about wikis in the past. However, after the initial scare, I have found myself enjoying using it.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of a collaborative wiki for teachers to share technology lesson ideas! What a wonderful way to begin the process of letting teachers see that a LMS can be a collaborative partner for them.
I agree that wikis would be wonderful tools for brainstorming ideas for students. Often in my language arts class, I let students work with a peer or peers to create a collaborative paper. This often takes longer than necessary due to time limits. With a wiki, students would be able to edit and work from home on their collaborative paper. Thanks for the great idea!