Wikis

Until reading Richardson's chapter on wikis, I had never realized that wikipedia and wikis were associated. Perhaps this is because I always think that the second i in wikipedia is an e, but now that I know the connection, that spelling error will surely stop. Now, before I move onto my wiki-education I just want to discuss WIkipedia. I cannot believe that there are 3 million entries on that site! Just to check its vast reach I googled the school that I am currently working at an got this page:

Seemingly the information on the page is accurate, albeit minimal. I was tempted to go in and edit the page to say: the greatest teacher of all time Ms. Haigh taught here...but I resisted.

I think overall it would be naive of us as educators to pretend that Wikipedia isn't a website that our students use constantly in their day-to-day lives. Heck, I use Wikipedia all of the time when I need quick information on an unknown topic, or a refresher before teaching a lesson (types of irony anyone?). However, I think it is still key to discuss with students that while Wikipedia is a great source for information, I still don't believe it to be a reliable enough source to use it for formal research assignments. While it is great that as Richardson says, everyone is "editor in chief" of Wikipedia, this makes it an unsuitable source for quotable information given that the information you are reading could be incorrect at the time you are viewing it (though it may be corrected within the hour). I do find it interesting that major news outlets are using Wikipedia as a source, but perhaps I am still brainwashed by my own teachers years ago saying it wasn't a viable/quotable source for school work.

That being said wikis are clearly an amazing collaborative tool and show how the internet has completely changed how information is shared. The rapidity with which news can be written, edited and added to on a wiki is amazing and a feat that the creator Ward Cunningham should be proud of.

I checked out some of the wikis mentioned in the book and liked what I saw. Who knew that there were so many out there. I particularly enjoyed wikiquotes where I search "poetry" (as this is my next unit in English 11) and collected a vast number of quotes on the subject, some of which I plan to use as a "hook" in my next class.

I also ventured to wikitravel, a site I have frequented many a time, but often after my travels to remember names of places or restaurants for my own blog. Unfortunately for me, I often find out a lot of valuable information about a place I have travelled AFTER I have been there as a result of wikitravel, so in an attempt to turn over a new leaf, I searched Alghero on the site as it is one of the locations I am going to be visiting over spring break. http://wikitravel.org/en/Alghero

unfortunately for me, the page was rather underdeveloped, so perhaps I shall have to revisit it (and add some information) when I return from my vacation.

But now to wikis in the classroom. For me, I don't think I'd use one. I prefer my blog for classroom use, though I find the wiki interface easier for sharing documents. However, knowing my students, I just can't see them editing my classroom page in a constructive manner. Though I do appreciate that you can see exactly what changes were made and by whom, I just think that a classroom wiki used for anything aside from resource sharing, would be a policing nightmare. I could see myself checking my wiki for changes at all hours of the day or night...perhaps this is because my pedagogy is still to teacher centred, but I don't think I am yet ready to get rid of that entirely. That being said I know teachers who live by wikis and I have stolen *cough* borrowed, many a resource from other teacher's wikis, most recently this one on Of Mice and Men: http://mswaraofmiceandmen.wikispaces.com/Lesson+Plans
Clearly wikis are a good place for sharing teacher plans/worksheets.

I also spent some time perusing the Flat Classroom Project Wiki and was very interested with what I found, though I still don't think it's for me. Being able to work collectively with people from across the world is amazing and clearly educationally beneficial, but also a huge undertaking.

If I was to use a collaborative forum in my English classroom, I would much prefer Google Docs. Though I don't actually know that much about it, I have seen it used quite effectively in a few of the classes that I have TOCd and would like to learn more about it in the future.

Although my view above may seem quite pessimistic, that did not stop me from signing up for a wiki, watching a few how to videos and just generally playing around. So far I haven't found anything that is earth shattering (I still love my blog), but this is also due to the fact that the effectiveness of a wiki seems to rely heavily on having a group of people to work on it as a collective and as of yet, it is just me playing around without an audience, or any real purpose.

Image care of: cte-blog.uwaterloo.ca