The Good, The Bad and The Wiki

Okay, I read the readings for the Wiki posts and was mildly impressed with the concept of sharing with others in real time. Someone across the state or across the world can see an update seconds after you click the save button. I'm not sure how useful that feature is for the media center, but wikis in general can definitely be useful tools if the media specialist has the time and desire to initially set it up.

In the media center, I could see a wiki being used to share feedback about books, movies, magazines or websites. Reports could even be assigned by teachers and submitted on the wiki. A book report could include a picture of the cover, a brief summary of the story and the reaction of the reader. This kind of wiki would allow other students to read the summary and review to determine if they might like the book themselves. 

For elementary schools, wikis are most likely to be utilized by teachers. They are a great way to store information for classes in a way that the teacher can access it from any computer with internet access. Grade levels may also choose to have a shared wiki that allows all teachers from that grade to edit content and add additional information.

Alternately, teachers may choose to have a wiki page just for his or her own class. Last year, my child's kindergarten teacher had a class wiki. She had a section for pictures and videos of the kids in class, what homework was assigned each night, a discussion section where parents could write comments or make requests for things about the class and a page where she posted what was covered in class for the week. She updated her wiki often and it was a great way to keep parents informed about the progress of the class as a whole.

In middle school, students are a bit more proficient with a computer and may be ready to have access to manipulate a webpage such as a wiki. Links to subject-specific wikis containing research sources can be placed on the desktops of computers in the classroom or in folders on the desktop of the computers in the media center. If each grade had a folder, students would be able to quickly find the wiki they need, use it and complete their assignment quicker that if they had to search for research sources on their own. I still believe, however, that students need to develop research skills as well with print sources and online sources alike. I don't want wiki pages making research too easy for students. The sources on a wiki need to be limited and students required to seek out other sources for the assignments as well.

For high schools students, wikis can be very useful. They can help students share ideas and information.I would like to see each grade level having a wiki to use to share educational information. My mind immediately jumps to all the negative uses that students could find for a wiki. Gossiping, bullying, profanity, lewdness and misrepresentation  have no use in a school sponsored webpage, therefore, student wikis would have to be closely monitored by a faculty sponsor.