Wikis On-line Collaboration Using Wikispaces

What is a Wiki? A wiki is a type of website that allows users easily to add, remove, or otherwise edit and change most available content.

How is a Wiki Constructed? A single page in a wiki is referred to as a "wiki page", while the entire body of pages, which are usually highly interconnected via hyperlinks, is "the wiki“ in effect, a wiki is actually a very simple, easy-to-use user-maintained database for searching and creating information.

Are Wikis Safe? Wikis are generally designed with the philosophy of making it easy to correct mistakes, rather than making it difficult to make them.

Are Wikis Safe? Thus while wikis are very open, they provide a means to verify the validity of recent additions to the body of pages. The most prominent, on almost every wiki, is the "Recent Changes" page—a specific list numbering recent edits, or a list of all the edits made within a given timeframe.

Tracking Changes

Using Wikis as a Source Wikipedia is as reliable as other external sources we rely on. Properly written articles cite the sources, and a reader should rely on the Wikipedia article as much, but no more, than the sources the article relies on. If an article doesn't cite a source, it may or may not be reliable. Students should never use information in a wiki until they have checked those external sources.

What the Experts are Saying Wikis are helping young people develop “writing skills and social skills by learning about group consensus and compromise—all the virtues you need to be a reasonable and productive member of society.” Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia

What the Experts are Saying “The media is controlled by people who have the resources to control it,” he says. “Wikis show that all of us have an equal opportunity to contribute to knowledge.” Andy Garvin, head of the Digital Divide Network

Ways to Use Wikis Use wikis as formats for subject guides. Invite students and teachers to annotate your catalog on a wiki. Make wikis meeting places for communities inside the school. Link librarians and teachers in your district in a collaborative enterprise.

Class Wikis

Class Wikis – Online Content

Class Wikis - Webquests

Class Wikis – Student Collaboration

Professional Learning Communities

PLC – Professional Research

PLC – Virtual Training

PLC – Curricular Collaboration

PLC – Supporting Teachers

Links to Getting Started Wiki Walk-Through What’s a wiki? Who uses wikis? Wikis or blogs? How to use wikis with students. Ideas for activities, projects, collaborations, etc. Using wikis in Education (blog) Classroom use of wikis s s

Wikispaces Wikispaces is offering K-12 organizations their premium membership for free No advertisements Greater storage capacity Enhanced privacy settings