Use+of+Wikis+in+Education

**Wiki ideas appropriate for most subjects and grade levels in k12 Education:**
 * [|Wiki's In The Classrooms]**
 * Study guides made by student groups for themselves and peers: each group prepares the guide for one aspect of the unit or responsibility rotates: one unit guide per semester.
 * Vocabulary lists and examples of the words in use, contributed by students (ongoing throughout the year).
 * The wiki as the organizational and intellectual epicenter of your class. Wiki all assignments, projects, collaboration, rubrics, etc.
 * Products of research projects, especially collaborative group projects: on sevral different subject like computer education, math, science, english and history etc. Remember that the products do not have to be simply writing. They can include computer files, images, videos, etc. Creating an organizational structure for the content is an important part if the project.
 * An annotated collection of EXAMPLES from the non-school world for anything: supply/demand, capitalism, entrepreneurship, triangles, alliterations, vertebrates or invertebrates, etc. Include illustrations wherever possible.
 * What I Think Will Be on the Test wiki: a place to log review information for important concepts throughout the year, prior to taking the “high stakes” test, AP test, or final exam. Students add to it throughout the year and even from year to year.

**Wiki ideas for younger students (elementary):** > An elementary class “encyclopedia” on a special topic, such as explorers or state history – to be continued and added to each year! > A wiki “fan club” for you favorite author(s).
 * An annotated virtual library: listings and commentary on independent reading students have done throughout the year
 * collaborative book reviews or author studies
 * A virtual tour of your school as you study “our community” in elementary grades
 * A travelogue from a field trip or NON- field trip that the class would have liked to take as A culmination of a unit of study: Our (non) trip to the Capital and what we (wish) we saw.
 * Detailed and illustrated descriptions of scientific or governmental processes: how a bill becomes a law, how mountains form, etc.
 * Family Twaditionwiki- elementary students share their family’s ways of preparing Thanksgiving dinner or celebrating birthdays (anonymously, of course) and compare them to practices in other cultures they read and learn about.
 * An ongoing list of High Frequency Words that the students have mastered by reading and spelling
 * Create a story where each person adds a paragraph

Reflection on the postives and negatives of the wiki

I see on a postive note that the Wiki can be thought of as a combination of a Web site and a Word document. At its simplest, it can be read just like any other web site, with no access privileges necessary, but its real power lies in the fact that groups can collaboratively work on the content of the site using nothing but a standard web browser. I see on a negative note of a wiki is anyone can edit so this may be too open for some applications, for example confidential documentation. However it is possible to regulate user access. Open to SPAM and Vandalism if not managed properly. There are easy ways to restore a page. It requires Internet connectivity to collaborate, but technologies to produce print versions of articles are improving the flexibility of a wiki's structure can mean that information becomes disorganised. As a wiki grows, the community plans and administers the structure collaboratively.

Frank Lopes EDTC 6070