I really found Wikis to be an interesting tool to use in the classroom because I like the idea of everyone having an opportunity to become a participant. I can appreciate how a Wiki is under constant revision and that no idea or comment is set in stone and thoughts, comments, ideas, resources can be improved, added upon, and even removed. In Wikis, there is no one author, yet it is a collaboration of all participants.
Wikis are a way to bring educators, schools, and classmates together by being able to collaborate on projects or by sharing things online that would benefit a wide audience including parents. This could include classroom information and photos, data, analysis and results from a research project, recommended books, school activities, among many others. Wikis would be another opportunity for educators and schools to communicate with parents about upcoming workshops, classes, and important dates at their child's school.
I think the best part about Wikis is that it is less personal than a blog created by the teacher for her class. Wikis are an open ended medium to be edited and revised, however, my only concern is if posts can immediately be modified, what ideas have been described but have never been viewed if they have immediately been edited over?
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An excellent summary of the benefits and uses of wikis. Many wikis provide ways for the site owner and user to view changes made to the wiki. This feature varies from site to site, but evaluating this feature is an important part of determining if a specific wiki site (such as PBWorks or Wikispaces) is appropriate to use.
ReplyDeleteI'd have to agree witht the difference between wikis and blogs. There's definitely a more personal aspect to a blog that isn't apparent with a wiki. However, I'm still on the fence in my complete embrace of this tool. Of course, if there was a consent form that parents had the opportunity to sign before their children's faces and school were to be exposed to this open forum, then I could certainly be okay with it. Overall, wikis are my favorite topic we have discussed and discovered thus far.
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