The first time I heard of the “evils” of Wikipedia, I must admit, I didn’t get it. How could my beloved site that had all the answers cause harm to researchers? After all, teachers didn’t have to worry anymore about those inquisitive kids asking random questions about what would happen to all our electronics if sun spots became static. Wikipedia meant never having to say, “I don’t know!” again. But here I was with my media specialist and she was taking away my beloved site... “Unreliable!” she declared, “Inaccuracies, missing citations...anyone, anyone can write anything!”
So if anyone has the potential to vandalize your hard work, add erroneous information, or spam your site, why not just get a webpage where one person is in charge and the information is protected from change? Wikis focus on a group sharing, collecting, and collaborating rather than individual composition. Some tasks need just that. On a wiki, it is easy for educators to collaborate on lesson plans; students can collaborate on science fair projects, writing, or problem solving, while educators can work alongside students in literature circles. Since wikis are a webpage, sounds, movies, and pictures can also be added by contributors. Go to http://www.huffenglish.com/?p=112 and http://themzunguboy.wetpaint.com/ to view some wikis in action. Check out one of the best wikis I found at http://soar2newheights.wikispaces.com/ and see how this teacher is sharing her students’ work in action. Take note that this page is protected, demonstrating that a wiki can in fact be protected if you don’t want to leave it open to the world.
My school is currently going through its five year SACS review. Numerous documents must be developed cooperatively between teachers, administrators, parents, and staff. I can’t help but thinking of all the advantages a wiki has in this situation. Our weekly meetings sure would be more effective (not to mention shorter) if we could collaborate throughout the week, discussing our assigned questions, completing surveys, and adding documentation.
Principals want their media specialists to collaborate and this is a perfect resource to encourage just that. Wikis would allow media specialists to work alongside teachers in planning instruction, assessments, or online displays for student work. Media specialists frequently teach others about the newest technology through in-services and wikis are a convenient way for people to participate.
If you have visited some of the popular wikis, you might have noticed they haven’t been updated in months or even years. If you decide to create your own wiki, don’t let it turn into yet another storage site. Have a specific purpose and a specific audience. Know how long you expect to use the wiki. If you are using one in your media center, think about wiping the slate clean each year (or every other year). Keep what you like, but make sure information is fresh and relevant to ensure people will keep coming to share thoughts, problem solve, and collaborate on group projects.
Thankfully, I’ve learned a lot since those early wiki days. Wikis are great even if they aren’t perfect for every situatio... and I’ll never leave them behind entirely. After all, how else could I keep up with Lost without reading the world’s thoughts on Lostpedia?
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Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteThank you for your posting on wikis. What a good point you made about wikis being a good way to encourage and implement collaboration between the media specialist and the teachers of the school. Something I thought of, since our school is going through much the same events as yours is with SACS, is perhaps training the teachers to use wikis, as you suggested, and then certain sites could be set up to let teachers from different grades collaborate where the other grades could then see their thought processes and where the kids generally were at that point in the year/curriculum, etc. In this way, vertical alignment might be a tad easier; if the 4th grade team sees that the 3rd graders are struggling with subtraction with regrouping, they could offer suggestions to the 3rd grade team or remind the team that there are these expectations for other important numbers and operations concepts and to refrain from spending an inordinate amount of time on it. Similarly, teachers could note a seeming area of weakness for a grade level that they have just finished teaching so that the teachers for the upcoming year would know what to prepare for instead of having to spend a month or so figuring out exactly where the holes are.
Not to mention the fact that the media specialist can be included.....a point of contention with my previous mentors has been a disconnect with classroom teachers due to time constraints and the inability to take any professional time to do planning or even sit in on meetings (!) that are taking place in the media center, because the media center needs to be open all the time. Wikis aren't a magic wand that will allow for more time, but they are a remarkably simple way to connect a group of people who, otherwise, may not have time enough to say "Good morning" to one another in the hall.
Erin
Hey Tiffany,
ReplyDeleteReally great post on wikis!! I love that you refer to them as your "beloved wikis". Sounds like the media specialist at your school who characterizes them as "unreliable and filled with inaccuracies and missing citations" may just be missing the whole point?! Perhaps she is close to retirement and ready to be replaced by a forward- thinking future media specialist such as yourself? :)
You make the great comment that wikis are a webpage that incorporate sounds, movies, and pictures. I have been a little disappointed in our school's webpage. It would not allow me to upload the podcast we made as an introduction to this class. As a brand new media specialist, I thought it would be a good way for new parents and staff to find out a little bit about me (and see that I was technology oriented and could help them make a podcast!). I like that wikis have that capability.
You mention that your school is going through its five year SACS review and that a wiki could allow for more effective (translation:shorter) weekly meetings. Atlanta Public Schools is rolling out a new performance appraisal process called CLASS Keys. It is has been developed to "support teachers' work in standard-based classrooms using the GPS to improve student learning." We are in the middle of 6 two hour in-service training modules for this new program. Your comment got me thinking about how much more effective and productive these meeting could be if we had a wiki posted where teachers could share information, complete surveys and add documentation. The big piece of this new evaluation process is demonstrating and showing evidence of success on how you are implementing our targeted strategies in the classroom/media center. I am going to set up a wiki to document my proof and to use as an ePortfolio.
I love, love, love this post. I can totally relate to just about everything you said. You've actually endeared me to wikis a bit more. Honestly, after reading about the horrors of mass editors and accidental deletions I didn't really see why they were so great. I thought like you said, "why not just get a webpage where one person is in charge and the information is protected from change?" I really had to explore several wikis to see the benefits of collaboration. I mean reading the articles and seeing some sights I thought that they sounded like a good idea but still didn't really have a feel for their true potential. I think one reason is that I've had problems seeing the benefits of their use is that so many cater to older students. It was only after viewing your suggest site from the fourth grade teacher I was sold. I loved it and saw things that I could do too. Teachers in different subject areas could post homework students could share writings. That was a great an inspiring wiki for me.
ReplyDeleteI really appreciated all of the practical suggestions you gave for using wikis. Your blog has really given me food for thought about how wikis can be used at all levels. I also appreciate that you addressed the issue of many wikis being used as storage spaces which I found to be the case more often than not. Your advice about having a "specific audience" and "specific purpose" are something that I will keep in mind if I do decide to use wikis in the future so that they won't become a storage space. I really think that you hit the nail on the head with talking about having a "specific purpose" for a wiki because it is in the definition of that purpose that will determine whether or not a wiki is a closet or open door of collaboration. Thanks for a great blog!
I really like your ideas about using wikis to collaborate with other teachers. Being in the middle school environment, it is difficult to vertically align curriculum when you do not see teachers in other grade levels due to different planning periods. I can see the wiki as being a great place to collaborate and share what the students are doing in the different grade levels.
ReplyDeleteAnother idea that I thought about as I was reading your post is to have a system wide place to collaborate among teachers. In our school system,we have collaborative planning with other teachers from other schools once year among grade level and subject area. We usually meet in the spring. By spring, everyone is so tired and exhausted and so looking to the end. It is hard to think about units and great ideas that we had during the year. If we had a wiki, we could share ideas as we come across them. I think I will bring this up in our collaborative planning meeting this spring.
I really enjoyed checking out the wiki links that you posted. I am so inspired to now set up my own wiki for my students to utilize. The link, soar2newheights was a wonderful example of how wikis can be utilized. Thanks for a great post!
I, like you, feel that wikis can be implemented and used in an orderly fashion in the classroom. My favorite part of your blog was when you gave us links to go to and see some great wikis being used and working. I loved the classroom wiki and the way the teacher used it with her students. I can't help but think of how exciting it is to the students to be able to post their hard work for all the world to see, especially their parents! I know that students would work harder if they knew that when they were finished they would have their work posted. As a parent, I would love to see my child's work posted. This is a great communication tool. Tiffany, you are totally correct when you say that this is exactly the kind of things that SACS is looking for when they come for a visit. Great Blog!
ReplyDeleteI am thankful I have been introduced to Wikis. Although I disagree with your media specialist’s logic for denying access to Wikipedia, I see tremendous potential for student and educator collaboration through the use of this tool. How great would it be to design a Wiki for a classroom or a lesson that allows students, instructors, and parents to comment, contribute to, and share thoughts on the same topic? If use became more common and widespread, this tool could revolutionize education.
ReplyDeleteI especially enjoyed the points you made regarding team meetings and collaboration. If communication occurs through a Wiki, educators can share ideas and respond to concerns in an organized, time-saving manner that provides flexibility to all involved. The flexibility allows for greater participation and efficiency. For example, the media specialist could easily contribute to team meetings at all grade levels served if the meetings were held entirely or partially with the use of a Wiki. This is possible because the media specialist’s thoughts and ideas could be contributed at any time. He is not required to be physically present at every meeting to make an impact. Although it is good to contribute to meetings in-person, this may not be possible when serving a large school (schedule conflicts, etc.).
I cannot adequately communicate how thankful I am for distance education and online tools. Without it, there would be no possible way I could earn my master’s degree in school library media. My schedule wouldn’t allow it, and I would have limited access to the campus due to its distance from my home and operating hours. Wikis allow parents, teachers, and students the same flexibility concerning collaboration and communication that I enjoy. The flexibility and access Wikis provide, enables a user to contribute when he is ready and has sufficient time. This will result in higher quality work and greater participation.
When it comes to Wikipedia, my media specialist and the Language Arts teachers at my school have determined that when conducting research, students are not allowed to use it as a source. However, after reminding students about how wikis work, we have told them that it is an excellent place to look up topics since many of the entries are short and to the point.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the other posts that mention using wikis for collaboration between media specialists and classroom teachers. I believe that is the best use of wikis for media specialists.
As a new teacher, I am a big fan of collaboration because I feel like there is still so much I am learning. Wikis seem to be the perfect opportunity for this. Most days I feel like I spend so much time surfing the net looking for lesson ideas, wouldn't it be great to have a site dedicated to those that teach the same things as me. A place where we could go and hear from older teachers that have taught the subjects and know what works. If I had all the time in the day then I could collaborate face-to-face with these teachers, but unfortunately none of have that. A wiki could solve this problem for all of us. I agree with your post that wikis could be great for collaboration for teachers and allow us to discuss things we normally don't have time during the day to stop and talk about. I agree that this could be very beneficial to all. It would provide a chance for "specials" teachers to see what's going on in each grade level and collaborate with grade-level teachers to create correlating lessons. Great post!
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