Assignment+5.1+-+Wikis

**Social** **Media/Social Networking: Wikis**

A wiki is a website whose users can add, modify, or delete its content. It has been described as “the simplest online database that could possibly work”. They are often powered by wiki software and created collaboratively by multiple users. These sites sometimes permit different levels of access. The editing rights may or may not allow changing, adding, or removing information and sometimes the creators enforce the amount of access control. One downfall to the use of wikis is the uncertainty about trustworthiness. Many people first assume that it is a website that can be edited by anybody, making the credibility questionable and the information useless. However, the amount of vandalism a wiki site receives depends on how open and accessible it is. Wikis that are larger and more prominent also tend to be more reliable because they have more sophisticated security settings to prevent vandalism from happening.

Although wikis serve many different purposes, the most common relate to education. There are publicly available wikis, such as Wikiversity, that allow for self-education. Wikis are most often times used in classrooms as a way to work collaboratively with others, though. As teachers, wikis can be a great tool to use for or as a part of group projects. It is easy tell which students are and are not providing quality input, thoughts, and ideas, which makes it easy to appropriately grade students individually on their contributions to the group. Wikis can also provide a ‘safe space’ for students who are shy about sharing their opinions and work with peers. Below is a list of websites that provide more in depth ideas about using wikis in the classroom.

//Wikis in the Classroom:// I have used different wiki sites since my senior year of high school. I think they are a great way to work with and learn from others. You are exposed to so many different viewpoints by recognizing and acknowledging the information and contributions of other users. You learn to reflect on your own ideas by participating as a user. They create a sense of unity and community in the classroom. Wikis are also an inexpensive and easy way for teachers to incorporate new technology into their lessons. It is great that wikis are, or can be, accessible to students whenever and wherever they want to view them.
 * []
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 * http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Classroom+Wikis

//Common Wiki Pages/Tools://
 * Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/
 * Wikipedia: []
 * Google Sites: []
 * PBworks: <span style="color: #0066cc; font-family: Georgia,;">[]

(Carly Turk) __ ====<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">Another important aspect of the Wiki is that it is not a "carefully crafted site for casual visitors", instead it is a site that is made for use by specific individuals either working in a group for a specific purpose or for those interested in a specific topic. It involves its visitors in an "ongoing" process where the visitor actively contributes to its material on the Wiki. The key word that is the most successful aspect of a Wiki is "Collaboration". Wikis allow for an entire classroom to collaborate and add input to the page. ====

====<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">I have used a class wiki in my Creative Writing class and it was a great way for ALL of the class to contribute lines to a poem or story in a very organized and timely manner. Instead of going around the room and everyone reading off their contribution, then taking to the time to write them all down (some students embarrassed by their input along the way), the Wiki allowed everyone to get on their computers and type their input on the class Wiki page without any embarrassment or time wasted. Afterwards, everyone could see what everyone wrote on their own individual computers. This tool would definitely be helpful in the classroom for group work, projects, etc. Every student is held accountable and is able to freely provide their own input. ====

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 120%;">--Kelsey Fallon's input

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Some more ways of having a wiki be a great contribution to educational purposes is for communication between students, teachers, and even parents. For students, as stated above, everyone can contribute. If working on a group project, each member can contribute and add on to what their other group members already posted. They can include all types of files, images, videos, etc. Having it all on one wiki will make the project more efficient and beneficial to the students and teacher.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Teachers can easily access everyone’s wiki and be able to see how well everyone worked together and the outcome that resulted from each student. Having a wiki available to parents would be helpful in the way that they can ask questions and be apart of their child’s learning experience and follow what they are learning in the classroom. Along with keeping up with their child’s experiences, they can communicate with the teacher and fellow parents. Have a question? Maybe another parent knows. Wiki is one of the greatest technological advancements.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">Another website that gives very important insight is: [|TeachersFirst] <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">With these different ideas you can create a technology-friendly classroom. Having students working together in different ways will get their minds thinking while having a fun time. Its a good time to change up the routines, offer the students different ways of learning and communicating with others efficiently. <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 120%;">-Kimberly Johnson



Wiki actually stands for “what I know is”! This is why it works so well with education and the classroom because the purpose of education is to share knowledge between teachers and students and between students and their peers and the purpose of a wiki is to share knowledge with others. As you can see from the other posts, there are many different ways to incorporate a wiki into a classroom, in order to do so, you will need to know how to set up your own wiki. Here are some helpful hints to aid you in creating a classroom wiki from the following site - [|How to start a wiki] Now you are ready to start using your wiki as a collaborative learning tool.
 * 1) Choose a site to host your class’s wiki. There are many options to choose from, and Wikispaces and PBWorks offer free space without ads for educational purposes.
 * 2) Consider the appearance of your wiki. Most wikis have easy to use commands that allow you to customize site appearance.
 * 3) Set the security function of your wiki. Consider the needs of your school, students and parents. Remember to protect your students from privacy violations.
 * 4) Build a class page on your wiki.

- Holly Young

Recently, I designed a curriculum with a group of students in my EDL 318 class. As a group, we decided to have our curriculum focus on the use of technology in the classroom. When I read that the assignment for 5.1 involved technology I was very interested. My group and I identified many forms of social media and web applications that could be used in the classroom, however, Wikis were not one of them. I have heard of Wikis in the past, but I'm not sure what exactly they are. To learn more about Wikis I conducted research. According to wiki.org, ([]) a Wiki is a software that allows for its users to create and edit content on the web page.

Wikis are able to be utilized in the classroom. For example, we we are using a Wiki now to post our ideas, the same can be done for the classroom that we teach in in the future. An assignment can be given and students can collaborate by putting their ideas and findings on a Wiki. Other students can learn from one another's ideas and reflect on their own.

For my group project in EDL 318, we specifically focused on two aspects of what the use of technology allows for:

1) Cooperative learning

2) Global awareness

Wikis are a great way to allow for students to work cooperatively. Also, as links are able to be placed on Wikis, students are able to hear other's views on ideas from a global perspective.

In Kimberly's post, she commented on how Wikis allows for student communication. I believe the communication Wikis allow for will cause students to become better learners and more prepared for a technologically advanced society.

--Joseph Muhlberg

As many of our fellow classmates have stated, a Wiki's most important component is the collaboration that takes place within it (much like our current wiki page). Each Wiki is very specific as to who its audience is, and may range from any number of useful topics pertaining to education. While it was generally discouraged from using Wiki pages as a trusted source of information (due to the freedom of anyone being able to add input to the page) in my high school, the number of resources listed and sources cited in each page are carefully monitored by the pages' editors, and may actually be more useful in education due to the collaboration and communication that is used in its creation.

I have used Wikis on many occasions, but in pertaining to the classroom they can be very useful in assisting one's own learning of the material. Specifically, I used this wiki page in organic chemistry and the sources within it to better my understanding of Aspirin Synthesis: [|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspirin_synthesis#Synthesis]

Similar pages can be found on any number of topics, and the wealth of knowledge that they can convey at the click of a mouse is nothing short of incredible. With all of the information readily available, easy to access, and easy to collaborate with, I believe that Wiki pages will become an ever increasing factor in the classroom, and will become invaluable to the many students who use them to better their own education and understanding.

--Bryan Richmond

I think many of the posts above me bring up very interesting points related to how well wikis fit into the educational realm. In some ways they are almost perfect for collaborative efforts to complete an assignment. However, the most important aspect of wikis has been ignored to a certain extent. It is what we have all done so far to this very wiki, and that is the ability to build upon knowledge.

When I first opened this wiki, I had a very specific set of things I wanted to talk about, but since most of them had been covered, I was forced to build upon my peers ideas and create new opinions. This is what makes wikis so useful to the educational process. Ideas are formed and evolved in a single forum that is accessible to the world for the most part. Often times, wikis can be great ways to gain a overview of the subject. Whether it be through a world famous website like wikipedia or smaller forums like this, it enables students to learn while also form their own ideas about topics.

I can totally see myself using wikis as future educational tools. They are interactive and students will jump at the chance at having their thoughts up on the internet and accessible to everyone. I think more importantly, students feel they are contributing to something, which is very motivational. Motivation is at the heart of every educational venture, and therefore, if students re motivated, they will do their best work.

-Will Goodspeed