Wiki Wackiness

Do you use wiki's in your classroom? If so, how? What do you find works best? Do you have any sage advice for someone hoping to get school-dependent, at-risk kids engaged in the process?

Finally, while you're at it, can you participate in my students' wiki by providing constructive comments, ideas, & suggestions? This can be done via the discussion tab atop pages. Encourage my students by starting here: North ALC Westward Expansion

Thanks a bunch for your input to the questions, and your involvement in my students' work.

Tags: US History, wiki

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Permalink Reply by Bushra Faisal on April 16, 2009 at 10:21am

Hi Chuck,

You might find it helpful to use self-learning resources or any one else who intends to teach the use of wikis by going through a series of video tutorials and Power Point presentations that I created as a part of my Masters project. i would appreciate it if you could fill out a short survey found in the feedback section of the Web site so that I know that the Web site is working.

The materials can be found at http://www.technologymadeeasyforteachers.com

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Permalink Reply by Mark Cruthers on April 16, 2009 at 11:16am

Here is a WiZiQ Public class given by Nellie Deutsch

Wikieducator as a Personal Learning Environment (PLE) by Nellie Deutsch

Get your own Virtual Classroom

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Walsh on April 17, 2009 at 6:58am

Chuck - This brief blog posting (http://www.emergingedtech.com/2009/02/the-growing-use-of-wikis-in-e...) contains links to a half dozen informative resources about using Wiki's in the classroom. The "State of Wiki's in the Classroom" article provides some 'real world use' insight, the "Best Practices" article is a must for anyone considering using Wikis in the classroom, the Wiki community link is a great resource. There are also links to Wetpaint and PBWiki's pages on wikis in the classroom and Wikipedia's page on the subject. I hope you'll find these resources helpful!

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Bosch on April 17, 2009 at 10:46am

We've done five wikis for five different reasons, you can see them here. (scroll down) The thing I don't like about wikis is that there is way too much writing on most and no creativity. The thing I do like about wikis is authentic collaboration and the linking. IMO, most wikis in the classroom don't forcus on either of those things, it's just an easy place to post stuff--the kids catch on fast that this is just another word processor.

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Walsh on April 25, 2009 at 5:22pm

I appreciate Nancy's observations. Many of us (such as myself) are pushing to raise awareness, and encourage experimenting with the use of internet technologies in the classroom. Nancy's comment goes to the all important and sought after next level - using these technologies well!