Wikis

Wikis

OTF Training Wiki

Welcome to the world of wikis. This website is a good example of a wiki made with Wikispaces. Several other excellent companies offer free space for wikis including [|PBworks], [|Wetpaint] and of course [|Google Sites]. We chose wikispaces because there are free upgrade accounts for teachers without advertising, the interface still functions with IE6 and students under 13 are allowed to make sites.
 * //Description://**

In essence, a wiki is a very simple, easy-to-use website where knowledge of html or relative and absolute links is not necessary. It exemplifies the participatory [|Web 2.0], allowing millions of people to build their own site(s), as well as add, remove, edit and change content in others. Generally speaking, the result is not as spectacular as full blown web pages, but as these pages attest to, they do a good job of communicating and offering a medium for collaboration.

The video below shows how Web 2.0 is changing communication.

media type="custom" key="4511294" So how are teachers using wikis? 1. Communication with parents, no need for letters home! 2. Learning Management Systems for homework, assignments, communication with students (example here) 3. Encouraging students to write, almost like a blog (lots of hyridization in blogs and wikis) 4. Group projects from students 5. Posting student work and exemplars ([|click here for example]) (thanks to Chris Kesner at Earl of March)

__The Pros__ -many free sites or free upgrades for teachers -very easy to master the technology -great communication and collaboration tools -easy access for students, easy to create meaningful URL's __The Cons__ -formatting can be a little touchy at times -formatting can have several changes from one browser to another (for example, in may not look the same in Internet Explorer as in Firefox) -some wikis have a chat function that cannot be blocked -in certain cases, without paying for an upgraded version, files are alphabetical in order. This is not always desirable when a teacher wants to use the wiki as a Learning Management System and wants to organize files by units or themes. -there is a limit to maximum file size. In the case of Wikispaces, it is 10 MB... sounds like a lot until you want to load a video directly
 * //The Pros and Cons of using Wikis in the classroom//**

__Using a wiki in an elementary school classroom__ -an explanation how to start with Wikispaces: [|Help.Wikispaces.K-12%2BGetting%2BStarted%2BHandout%2B2-Page.pdf] __Using a wiki in a secondary school classroom__ -can be used as an LMS: [|Yes you can!.ppt] -
 * //Pedagogy//**

-visit [|Denis Cousineau's website] on Pbwiki. -our wiki presentation to teachers in the OCDSB: [|Wikispaces OCDSB Nov 6.ppt] -there is a very good wiki website ([|The Media Strand]) for English teachers, thanks to Melanie White at Bell HS
 * //Other wiki resources for teachers//**

-Wikatrivia:
 * 1) "wiki" coined by Ward Cunningham, programmer who wanted colleagues to communicate- called his site wikiwikiweb
 * 2) wiki means “quick-quick” in Hawaian
 * 3) over 100 000 teachers have applied for Teacher accounts with Wikispaces
 * 4) Wikispaces is offering 250 000 more to teachers
 * 5) more than 2.6 million articles in English on Wikipedia
 * 6) 684 million visitors in 2008
 * 7) Wikipedia in more than 250 languages, 10 million articles
 * 8) []  updates in real time
 * 9) wiki can also mean to stand for "**W**hat **I K**now **I**s
 * 10) a site that offers wiki sites for non experienced users is called a "wiki farm".

Wikipedia: some teachers love it, and other teachers hate it. What role would you like it to play in your classroom?

**workshop for Wikis**: led by Bruce Objectives: -understand how the wiki phenomenon has developed very quickly in a very short period of time -develop a list of uses for wikis, across grades and curricula -understand some of the fundamentals of wiki creation -learn about wikis via development -share wiki results with colleagues -brainstorm on further uses of this medium Steps: 1. PPT on wikis, to understand the basics 2. each teacher develops her/his own wiki 3. make a list of different uses of wikis Resources: [|Learn Wikis via questions.ppt]


 * Examples of wikis from students and teachers, other resources**

http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis http://allaboutmath.wikispaces.com/Grade+2+Math http://wikiswork.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+Elementary+Classroom+Wikis http://blog.wikispaces.com/2010/01/best-educational-wikis-of-2009.html