Journal 7: Wiki

I decided that I was going to research Wiki's because I have heard it talked about in this class alot and also I want to become more familiar with with them since i use one. A wiki is defined as a page or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content and they are often used to create collaborative websites.

After reading what other educators wrote on Classroom 2.0, I learned alot more about the benefits of them. Some educators are saying wiki is the way of the future for students. Teachers have already implemented the use of them from middle school through college. I am sure some elementary school classes use them, but I did not notice any postings from teachers in that age range. Alot of educators use them for writing purposes and they agree that it is nice to have a place where students can go to put up their work and comment on their peers work.

From the couple of days I have used a wiki I noticed the benefits of being able to look at other people's comments on certain subjects and how nice it is to be able to ask advice from other people from around the country instead of the small circle of people we used to be able to ask. It could improve education everywhere for the better by sharing what works and what does not. Some other teachers also use it for extra credit projects for students to create their own couple minute lesson on how to do a math problem or something like it and then make a video and post it for other students to utilize. A class of gifted students uses it to make pen pals from other places and learn how to interact with other people about issues that are pertinent to our society today.

After looking at some of these kids work I am amazed at how advanced they are in technology and how this is the future. I do not give them enough credit for what they can produce with technology. This is so useful for teachers because I could create as a teacher a wiki for each of my classes to post questions they have about assignments or things they don't understand of about things they think are interesting and learn more about them and have them interact with others through technology. This would help build their technology skills. I like the idea of having a student create a video on a lesson. As a teacher it would also reduce the costs of paper supplies if writing assignments were turned in on the wiki. I also like the idea of making it a social network to learn about other areas on the country or the world through pen pals. That would definitely be something I would like to implement in a class is becoming informed about other cultures.

I think that Wiki's are a must have now and in the future for students and teachers.