The Five Ws of Wikis!

What & Who: Wikis Defined

Even in this day of technological advances, there are probably individuals out there still wondering what is a wiki? In 1994, Ward Cunningham introduced the first wiki-based website, derived from the term “Wiki”, a Hawaiian word meaning fast or quick. According to Boeninger (2006), wikis, in the simplest term, is defined as websites with content that can be created and edited by a community of users. Accordingly, wikis are touted as tools of collaboration among a community of individuals. Therefore, in educational settings, essentially, a wiki is a database for creating, searching and browsing through information for the purposes of teaching and learning. Please visit or share the link below for an introductory to wikis.
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/what_is_a_wiki.htm

Where & Why: Use in School Media Centers

According to Information Power (1998), the central concern of a student centered library media program is to help students flourish in the learning community. Accordingly, this is achievable through assisting students become active, creative seekers, evaluators and users of various information sources. Therefore, the use of various sources, including educational wikis, serves as a valuable tool for school media centers. Media specialists can collaborate with teachers throughout the school to create wikis for targeted grade level needs. For instance, where the primary grades may need skill-building resources on a primary grades targeted wiki, the upper elementary grades may need targeted task that incorporate the Georgia Performance Standards of text limited information for a CRCT targeted areas, such as fifth graders and the Civil War. A middle school media specialist may assist with setting up a scavenger hunt wiki teaching the research process, while a high school media specialist may assist in developing a wiki for an Astronomy project. Therefore, wikis are appropriate for use across many settings for educational benefit and it helps with communication and increasing collaboration among educators for common teaching and learning goals. For a list of ideas on how to use wikis across the curriculum, check out the link below, which also provides suggestions for use with younger students.
http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/wikiideas1.cfm

When: To Use Caution with Wikis

Although wikis are beneficial in many ways, from communication, collaboration, research and more, caution must be taken with the use of wikis. According to Courtney (2007), the first thing to decide is whether a wiki is really needed. There are several “best practices” for wikis outlined in Library 2.0, which are:

1.) Determine the need or vision for the wiki (i.e. communication, solve a problem, collaboration, research)
2.) Once the need is established, review other wikis for ideas on how to incorporate content ideas and organizational structures
3.) Next, the media specialist should investigate the available wiki software options
4.) After selecting the software/format and creating the wiki, the real work begins by adding content, structure and documentation advising what it is and how to use

Additionally, care must be taken to determine the validity, reliability and authoritative scope of the information provided as wikis, as with many internet-based websites, are not created equal.

Please visit the websites below for more information regarding wikis’ instructional possibilities in educational setting and use the five Ws as it relates to creating your own wiki!

♦A Comprehensive Guide to Wikis: http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/guide_to_wikis.htm

This website serves as a comprehensive introductory to wikis.

♦Social Media Tools 101: http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/socialmediabeginnersguide/social-media-tools-101/#Wikis

♦The Moving Forward Wikis: http://movingforward.wikispaces.com/Education+Blogs+by+Discipline

The website houses a host of resources to help change agents move schools forward into the 21st century.

References:

American Librarian Association. (1998). Information Power: Building Partnerships for Learning. ALA: Chicago

Courtney, N. (2007). Library 2.0 and Beyond: Innovative technologies and tomorrow’s user. Libraries Unlimited: Westport, Connecticut

Nations, D. (2011). What is a Wiki? Retrieved from http://webtrends.about.com/

TeachersFirst (2011). A Wiki Walk-Through. Retrieved from http://www.teachersfirst.com/content/wiki/