Tool #6

I feel like a Wiki is basically an online group project. It is the technological equivalent of a poster board on which students can collaborate and create together. Well, at least that's the pretty little box I'm stuffing it into in my mind.
I'm enjoying the challenge of stepping out of my little box of internet understanding which I only thought was sturdy and well built. (Silly, silly and so not true.) Apparently, if you've slept in the past... what?...15 years?.. since the internet/world wide web became a mainstay in the world, you're behind. Comme ci, comme ca.

I looked around at a few classroom Wikis... and they make me feel very behind. One in particular has obviously been putting together classroom Wikis for years now with her classes. They put up all sorts of projects and postings and links and videos, etc. It looks as if she uses her classroom Wiki in all aspects and all subjects of her classroom learning.

Here are my initial thoughts on how to build/use a classroom Wiki: ??   blink. blink.

I know there are lots of ways to use a Wiki in a classroom and that all sorts of things can be added by many different users, but how to properly organize it, or restrict postings of inappropriate things by students who have been allowed to add are still fuzzy thoughts for me. I can see making a classroom Wiki on which I can post works from students and link to their personal blogs and give information about upcoming events... but then my mind drifts over to, why would I not just put those things on a classroom blog???
[I went back and looked at the classroom wikis again.]
So, I can put up pages within my classroom Wiki on which students can collaborate and build a group project together. There the project will sit on the classroom Wiki for all to see. Students can add links under certain categories (only with my approval) so parents and other students can reference their resources. Links can still be posted to student blogs. Students can post their own individual work to the classroom Wiki and students can add to it as they learn further.

As for within the school, professionally... I'd like to see Wikis used in place of emails of minutes from meetings. The minutes taken from the Math team's minutes could all be nicely stored on a Wiki and added to by members (school staff) and viewed at anytime on the site by all.