Thing #14 Exploring Wikis

I enjoyed reading Vicki Davis' blog on Wiki Wiki Teaching. I think it is really cool when kids get excited about a project and take over ownership like that. I checked out some of the study guides that the students put together. The real value in something like that is for the students creating it and the ones reading and adding or editing it. However, it wasn't easy to figure out the dates for what I was looking at. I had to go back to look at the history to figure out that it was from 2005. It made me think about all that data out there. I wonder if students from the next year figured the wheel had already been created so they could just use the existing page? Would they learn as much? Should the old ones be taken down? It made me also think about the geology class that I'm taking this summer. The preparation for the field portion is being done through a website, blogs and a Facebook group. Last year's website is still out there too and a teacher that was just added to the class found it and ended up confused about what we will be doing this year. She thought she was looking at the page for this year. Just something to think about when leaving everything out there.

I also checked out 1001 Flat World Tales. I loved the idea of have students from around the world collaborate on writing. I found the site confusing though and it looks like it has been abandoned. It would be nice if the creator posted something about that so you weren't left hanging.

I found the SalutetoSeuss site very satisfying. The purpose of the site was very clearly stated and it had a beginning and ending date posted. Students were to create wiki, blog or other product about a Dr. Seuss book. It was easy to find the student work also.

Code Blue was a creative way to combine having students learn about different medical careers while also having to show that they understand how a body system works.

Most of the wiki pages I looked at seemed to be organized by having links to the different pages on the left sidebar.

I'll be creating and using a couple of wikis. I'll create one wiki for the Science Resource Center. It will have delivery schedules, inventory sheets, FAQ's, and other resources dealing with science materials and equipment. It will be a restricted wiki though because not everyone will be able to make changes on it. Another wiki I will be creating is for my virtual field trip team for the geology class I'm taking this summer. That wiki will serve as a place for us to continue to collaborate after the field portion of the class. We'll be needing to produce a product and we live all over the state. I might also create a wiki for the Regional Science Fair committee members so we can make sure we all have the same information.