wiki

=Wikis in the classroom!=

Wikis have great potential for learning. There is no simpler way of posting learning content to the web and the power of a wiki is in its simplicity to build the content collaboratively and discuss the content of individual pages!

Successful wikis are built on 5 main concepts:

1. Start small ... think big! It takes a while to build, be patient! 2. Explore - take the time to lok at other educators wikis and try some of the neat use ideas out there. 3. Encourage collaboration - content build by many helps to create a sense community that promotes group work. Planning may take a bit more but makes for less grading and projects as a whole are higher quality! 4. Establish ground rules - goals, expectations and an educational purpose only will curb students from being devious and posting inapprpriate content in your class wiki! 5. Student reminders - this is a new territory for the students as well ... remind them to go to the wiki ... create the culture of a classroom centered wiki or unit centered wiki and have the students use the discussion feature to keep them coming back to the wiki even beyond school hours! Also create assignments that encourage student to create content and respond to issues and relevant topics on the wiki.

New to wikis? Check out these sites.

Educational Wikis for the Classroom - what you can use a wiki for, examples [|Atomic Learning] - learn about wikis as a web 2.0 tool. Build skills (username and password required) [|Teaching Writing] - a large collection of writing ideas with wikis! [|New to wikis?]- video and highschool examples. [|Loads of wiki starters] - wetpaints examples. [|Another great wiki starter] - getting started and playwiki.

The Master Wiki Teacher - Vicki Davis is a master wiki teacher, she has conducted many workshops surrounding the use of wikis in education. [|Wiki Research] - a white paper on the use of wikis in education.


 * Recommended Wikis Tools

[|wikispaces.com] - my fav [|wetpaint.com]** wikiwiki.com wikidot.com

[|Kathy Cassidy]
 * Local yocal examples:**