Personally... I think “nikiswiki” has a nice ring to it!

This week our exploration involves wikis. I have been hearing a lot of debate regarding wikis and blogs, and the benefits of each. The biggest thing I have been hearing about wikis is the benefit of collaboration. One of my other courses we were to join a wiki, but we haven’t done much with it. I have my own wiki for a course, but it has been acting similar to my blogs, so I am not seeing much of a difference right now, other than the layout.

I decided to go looking closer at my wiki, and I noticed that it has the feature of looking at recent changes. This is of benefit if the organizer of the wiki would like to see if any other member has gone into the wiki and made any changes.

As Richardson states about wikis: “…wikis can be pretty amazing and versatile. And if you believe as I do that doing real collaboration is something that every student needs to learn, keep reading” (Richardson, 57). So I guess I will keep reading!

I know the “free” wiki that I have is limited to 5 members, so I am curious how some of these other wikis have so many contributors? It seems as though Richardson is saying that when a wiki starts, people can contribute, and it grows from there – especially in his description of the Indian Ocean earthquake of 2004 (p.57). I am thinking there must be some additional fees if someone wants to create a wiki that can have endless amount of contributors?

I agree how Richardson comments that we need to teach Wikipedia to our students – “because they are already using it in their research, whether we like it or not” (p.58). If students are going to be using Wikipedia, then we should be training them on how to use it properly. Also, it appears that the bad rap that Wikipedia may have had in the past is diminishing, as it is “becoming a trusted and cited source by many major news outlets (the New York Times among them) and scholars” (58).

It was interesting to look at some statistical data for the global warming wiki that Richardson provided the url for (p.59). The “number of watchers” and “contributors” is quite an impressive list!

Wikipedia in schools:

Personally, I like Richardson’s idea of students doing research on a topic, and then contributing to Wikipedia (p.60). Being able to watch what happens to the added information, and if/how it gets modified would be an interesting project, and a great way to learn about collaborating in a “real life” situation. I didn’t realize that there was a “Simple English Wikipedia” for younger students. I had a look at it and decided to compare Wayne Gretzky in both. The Simple English was simpler to read, and had much less information. I had to smile how a Wikipedia tab says “Article” but on the Simple English Wikipedia the same tab says “Page”…yup, simpler.

I spent some time looking at some wikis that Richardson suggested for “K-12”, but I really can’t see younger students performing some of the skills that he mentions (p.63). Some of the suggested uses for older students are quite amazing, and would certainly develop useful skills.

Richardson sums up wikis well: “Regardless of how educators fell about the potential of wikis, and I can understand the hesitancy many teachers feel, one thing remains certain: The collaborative environment that wikis facilitate can teach students much about how to work with others, how to create community, and how to operate in a world where the creation of knowledge and information is more and more becoming a group effort” (Richardson, 2010, 69). I agree, there are many teachers, such as myself, that are a little hesitant about getting students involved in these online, public tools, as there are risks. We don’t like to put students into risky situations, and have the backlash of being held responsible. But I do agree that the wikis have great potential in what they can teach students about working collaboratively, and sharing knowledge. As I think about wikis, and my personal use of them as a TL, I think more of how I can incorporate the use of them with the other staff in the school. Being able to create a “central location,” like a wiki, that teachers and the TL can share their ideas and continue to add/modify is appealing to me. 

So for an addition to my post, I decided to combine wiki with screenr. I have been wanting to try screenr for awhile and keep forgetting! I decided to make a short "fictional" tutorial on how to create a new page in wiki - something basic for older elementary school students. Sorry about the low volume - my kids were sleeping and I didn't want to wake them! Making the screenr was super duper easy! I just watched the 1 minute tutorial (I am really liking this way of learning things!) and then gave it a try! The hardest part was trying to figure out what to record. Well, hopefully it works!