A brief lesson in Wikis Researched and presented by Tessa Huftalin and Sabrina Glaza

Some points to be covered: What is a wiki? Does anyone know? Derivation of the term “wiki” Brief history of wikis How can we effectively use wikis as educators?

What is a Wiki?! A wiki is a tool for collaboration, information sharing and knowledge/content management More technically, A “wiki” is a type of software to run a website that anyone can edit

Add example page of our class wiki to this slide

The term “wiki” means The actual term wiki is a Hawaiian word which means quick. This is fitting because a wiki page allows users to quickly edit, add, or remove content and simply click save, publishing it.

How wikis came to be Wikis were developed by American computer programmer Ward Cunningham in 1995 He created the software known as Wikiwikiweb, the first user-editable website Cunningham created the software because he sought a way to make the exchange of ideas between programmers easier.

The growth of the wiki community Though wikis were initially created for computer programmers and the exchange of their ideas, they were soon discovered by others to be a way to easily share content and ideas. Because of this, other wiki engines were created and then smaller wiki communities began to populate and grow.

Wikipedia: an electronic encyclopedia Wikipedia is perhaps the best known wiki engine. The development of wikis resulted in the use wiki technology as a basis for an electronic encyclopedia: Wikipedia was launched in January 2001 However, because anyone can edit its content, Wikipedia is not considered a veritable source.

Creating a new wiki For this example, we used ASU’s wikispace.

Short Youtube video describing wikis Pog Pog

Reasons to use a wiki as an educational tool Fast Easy Findable, easily accessible, and searchable online Can easily collaborate with all users, including other teachers, past students, and parents of students Encourages users to contribute their own input and information Eliminates need for paperwork

How can we use this innovation in the classroom to benefit our students? Class Resources - Publish class notes, PowerPoint lectures, schedules and policies; show off examples of great student work. Group Projects - Build collaborative pages, start discussions and encourage comments. Parent Outreach - Keep parents involved. Post assignments, key dates and volunteer lists. All available at home, from work, or anywhere. Student Portfolios - Give students their own page to post content, upload homework, and share their work. Expand Horizons - Share and interact with other classrooms or groups, across town or around the world.

Ex. Of a student-centered wiki or class wiki What it is: A teacher’s classroom wiki where she can communicate and share information to help her students in their classrooms as well as the parents of these students How you use it: The wiki is used as an educational tool for this teacher to share classroom events, homework, and schedules with her students and the parents.

How can we use wikis to aid in our success as educators? Networking: Teachers around the world can share experiences, resources, and presentation materials Easy: collaboration in seconds Trial and Error: bounce ideas off of people in the same career field or who teach the same subject

Even more benefits for teachers: Keep posted on announcements from school Staff giving praises to other staff members Surveys and forms for the teachers Teachers can upload documents, assignments, and additional information Enhance professional development Teachers can share lesson plans Discuss the lesson plans using discussion If students submit papers teachers can check for plagiarism

Ex. Of a peer-centered wiki for teachers What it is: A teacher-based peer wiki where teachers, grades K-5, can communicate, and share information to help them in their classrooms How you use it: The wiki is used as a social network for teachers to share classroom relevant information. The wiki allows teachers to share and learn from one another.

Applying this innovation in the future In your career as an educator, you might decide that it would be a helpful resource to create a wiki for students, parents, fellow teachers, and even yourself to organize and collaborate information. To prepare for this, it might be helpful to join a wiki community focused on education right now, just to get a feel of what your wiki should look like. A helpful link: which is an educational community where 3000 educators are working together to learn and share ideas about using wikis in the classroom.

Request access to the class wiki All students need access to the class wiki to add their own educational innovation projects Our workspace, securely hosted on PBworks, is called nboykininnovationsf09 Blackboard>TEL 311>Class wiki> request access to this workspace Professor Boykin will approve students

Creating a new wiki: Instructions and Hands-on Demo Please allow for a brief demonstration on creating a wiki and editing/saving/publishing

In review: Wikis are a great resource for teachers and it is very easy to learn to navigate a wikispace and make it your own. Wikis allow for collaboration and brainstorming and contributing ideas or information, all of which make this innovation a valuable in the realm of education.

Thoughts, questions, comments from the class? Random tidbit of information to close with: If this classroom was a wiki, we could conduct a class discussion on the actual wiki page, through a chat application. Many wiki community members do this to instantly communicate their ideas. In review:

The end Thank you for your time and hopefully you all will implement wikis into your own educational careers and use them to aid in your success as a teacher!