When I first began to understand and explore the concept of a Wiki, I wondered how in the world media centers and schools can use a tool that allowed users to freely edit information. After investigating some media center Wikis, I noticed that the main page of the wiki is protected, and the discussion boards were password protected. So, there is a level of control on a school sponsored or media center Wiki. I would define the media center Wikis as media center websites where users are allowed to post or upload information in a discussion format. I am going to assume that media specialists are approving the posts generated by outside users.
One advantage of a Wiki is that they require little or no training related to posting information. Once you are familiar with how a Wiki work, it is easy to add or edit information. I disadvantage of a Wiki is that you have the potential for mischief. As I was reading in the information about wikis, I was asking myself "Could someone go in and delete all of our equipment operation assignment postings?" Well sure they could! Good thing we also submit our assignments to the assignment drop box! I believe that Wikis can be used most effectively when you have a community of individuals that need to communicate with each other in a variety of formats. Everyone needs to check the information available and update as needed frequently so the site doesn't become a "storage cabinet"
I see two practical uses of a Wikis that I could use as a high school media specialist. 1) I believe that I could create a Wiki space that contains information about the media center and allows discussion postings if the information is protected and all discussion postings are approved. 2) I believe that Wikis could be used in a high school classroom environment where students uploaded projects or information to the wiki. The wiki could serve as an online learning portfolio where you can find evidence of students' mastery of skills or concepts.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
You bring up a good point about the potential for mischief or just a big mistake when using wikis. I think they would work best in a situation where you have online maturity. No one is out to take credit from anyone else. Just like classroom discussion or group work, you have to set some ground rules when using wikis. Be respectful of others' work. No inappropriate comments. I think it would work best as a way for parents to communicate with their child's teacher or for use in 9-12 grades. I think it would be a great asset to any media center website. A way for people to discuss themes and happenings in the media center.
ReplyDeleteWikis do have the advantage of requiring very little training. No matter how simple they are to use, the media specialist and teacher should have a in-service training to help other teachers learn how to use one. There could also be a training that parents could attend as well. I know right now during conference week, my media specialist is holding technology training for parents. She is doing three days of training once school lets out at 1:15. This would be a great opportunity to train parents on how to use wikis. This way when the media specialist or teacher wanted to use one then some of the parents would already know how.
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of using the wiki as an online learning portfolio. This is an excellent idea. Right now my students are just learning how to conduct research on the Internet. So I will have to brainstorm some ideas of how to use the wiki. They each will be using movie maker to create a presentation on the nine famous people that we study about in Social Studies. Instead of creating cds for the presentations, we could upload them to a wiki.
I think that the idea you have about using a wiki as a portfolio is a great one. In this format it could easily be shared with anyone anywhere. Students could explore eachother's portfolios and give feedback on the work. I think that this idea would work best for high school like you said, but middle school could also use it if the teacher sets up the wikis for the students to work with since most middle schoolers don't have email accounts.
ReplyDelete