Teaching in Wikiland

An Introduction to Using Wikis in the Classroom

By Aubri Keleman

Teaching in Wikiland

Objectives:Introduce wikis and present • Wikis as information sources• Wikis as professional tools for

teachers• Ideas for using wikis with students

What is a Wiki?

• A piece of software • Like a word document online • A page anyone can edit

Yes but can I learn to use it?

You can learn to use a wiki in 30-60 min.There are several free sources for wikis.

What’s important about a wiki?

• Collaboration• Hyperlinks

Seedwiki

Seedwiki

Seedwiki

Wikis as Information Sources

What do you know about Wikipedia?

Wikipedia:

Wikipedia is: • A free encyclopedia• Multilingual • Web-based • Written collaboratively by volunteers

Most articles can be changed by anyone Wikipedia has more than 3,210,000 articles

Wikis as Information Sources

Wikipedia or Whackypedia…

Wikis as Information Sources

Nature magazine carried out an expert-led investigation of Wikipedia comparing it to Britannica.

“The exercise revealed numerous errors in both encyclopedias, but among 42 entries tested, the difference in accuracy was not particularly great: the average science entry in Wikipedia contained around four inaccuracies; Britannica, about three.”

(Giles, 2005, 1)

Wikis as Information Sources

University of Buffalo professor Alex Havelis created 13 errors on various posts of Wikipedia. All were fixed within a couple of hours.

During the tsunami, Wikipedia was called “the most comprehensive source on the web.”

(Richardson, 2005,2)

Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikijunior

Wikijunior

Wikis as Professional Tools for Teachers

Wikis support collaborative projects by:• Teachers• School board members • Schools

.

Wikis in Elementary and Middle Schools

Wikis in upper elementary school have beenused for collaborative writing:• Class newspaper• Story telling• Poetry• Correcting teacher samples of writing• Classroom wikipedia

Other ideas for wikis:• Brainstorming• Group work

Buckman Arts Magnet Elementary School

Sample for First Grade

How might students use wikis?

• As information sources• As collaborative tools for group work• As an authentic reason to write and

read• As a way to publish and share work

Information Literacy Lessons Related to Wikis

Kindergarten:• How to type• How to use a mouse• How to paste a picture in a wiki ABC

bookGrade three:• How to edit a wiki• How to add to the class wikipedia

Information Literacy Lessons Related to Wikis

Grade 7:• Using wikis on a collaborative

project (A single lesson could be on respect in

wikiland)

• Evaluating wikipedia as a resource• Adding to wikijunior or wikipedia

On Your Handout…

Free WikisInformational WikisWhat can wikis do?Teaching wiki ethicsSandbox wikiReferences