Although I have heard of Wiki's for sometime, and have even participated in a workshop about preparing them, I have never realized the full power of the Wiki until now. In order to prepare this blog, along with reading and checking out the recommended wiki's, I created one with my fiance' for his class. I discovered that they are extremely easy to put together which is fantastic, especially in the busy world of library media specialists.
The wiki should be able to facilitate meeting the needs of many potential school users. I would like to see a media center with a wiki that provides information everyone can access in addition to providing a forum where people can meet and discuss important and exciting topics. The wiki can be a catalyst for collaboration if used to solicit input and ideas from people. A simple way to encourage collaboration is a bi-weekly or monthly book chat. Using a wiki rather than a face-to-face meeting allows many more students to participate, especially if there are a lot of students who participate in several after- or before-school activities.
Another way to encourage collaboration within the media center wiki is to have a discussion page to solicit ideas for materials to include in the collection. This discussion page could have links to several online selection tools. Members of the school community could review the tools and make suggestions through the wiki. This provides an enormous benefit to the media specialist and the media committee. If there are enough suggestions, they can be reviewed for need against the selection criteria and the selection committee has one step eliminated. They may not have to go searching for materials themselves. Additionally, the collection represents the true pulse of the learning community.
After I spent time getting to know and understand wiki's I found so many positive uses that it was hard to consider the possibility of any drawbacks. However, after I returned to reality, I realized that a couple of important drawbacks do exist. For instance, students without internet access at home would not be able to use this tool as an integral part of their education. (Although, in my observation, these same students seem to have no trouble maintaining the most accurate play list on their mp3 players.) Another drawback that I noticed only with my limited exposure to wiki's is that some sites require payment in order to limit who may edit the wiki. I am not sure how confident I can be that students will not add information that they think is funny or inappropriate just for the fun of it.
Overall, I have been impressed with the opportunity to create a place online that provides wide access to a variety of information that does not require a huge time investment. A wiki space offers teachers and media specialists to provide information and develop a collaborative environment across a number of topics. Creating a collaborative environment requires disseminating information and then asking for feedback from the wiki community. A media specialist can use this technology to avoid re-inventing the wheel or continually disseminating the same popular information repeatedly.
The wiki should be able to facilitate meeting the needs of many potential school users. I would like to see a media center with a wiki that provides information everyone can access in addition to providing a forum where people can meet and discuss important and exciting topics. The wiki can be a catalyst for collaboration if used to solicit input and ideas from people. A simple way to encourage collaboration is a bi-weekly or monthly book chat. Using a wiki rather than a face-to-face meeting allows many more students to participate, especially if there are a lot of students who participate in several after- or before-school activities.
Another way to encourage collaboration within the media center wiki is to have a discussion page to solicit ideas for materials to include in the collection. This discussion page could have links to several online selection tools. Members of the school community could review the tools and make suggestions through the wiki. This provides an enormous benefit to the media specialist and the media committee. If there are enough suggestions, they can be reviewed for need against the selection criteria and the selection committee has one step eliminated. They may not have to go searching for materials themselves. Additionally, the collection represents the true pulse of the learning community.
After I spent time getting to know and understand wiki's I found so many positive uses that it was hard to consider the possibility of any drawbacks. However, after I returned to reality, I realized that a couple of important drawbacks do exist. For instance, students without internet access at home would not be able to use this tool as an integral part of their education. (Although, in my observation, these same students seem to have no trouble maintaining the most accurate play list on their mp3 players.) Another drawback that I noticed only with my limited exposure to wiki's is that some sites require payment in order to limit who may edit the wiki. I am not sure how confident I can be that students will not add information that they think is funny or inappropriate just for the fun of it.
Overall, I have been impressed with the opportunity to create a place online that provides wide access to a variety of information that does not require a huge time investment. A wiki space offers teachers and media specialists to provide information and develop a collaborative environment across a number of topics. Creating a collaborative environment requires disseminating information and then asking for feedback from the wiki community. A media specialist can use this technology to avoid re-inventing the wheel or continually disseminating the same popular information repeatedly.
I agree that I would have a difficult time trusting students when it comes to adding/editing material on a Wiki. Since we have been discussing Internet filters recently, I wonder if there is software that could prevent students from adding inappropriate content?
ReplyDeleteOne of the strengths of the Wiki is that it allows contributions from the community, and students are a part of the community.
I agree that the ease of use is SO important, especially when you are trying to get contributors to join in. Not only are wiki discussions a good way to get students involved with their busy schedules, but teachers too. Inservice modules and information, announcements, etc could be posted for the teacher to view when they have a second instead of after school, where they will be looking at their watches every five minutes.
ReplyDelete