Wacky Wiki Fun

This week we focused our class on learning all about wikis. Wikis are pages where multiple users can create and edit information on one or multiple webpages. Probably the most known wiki is Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia where anyone can edit or update information on just about everything imaginable.

In class we created a wiki for our entire class (found here) as well as an All About Me wiki (found here). Having never worked with a wiki before I found them to be very cool. I think it's neat how so many people can be connected to the same website, all collaborating together to create one webpage. Overall I found the interface to be easy to use and simple to follow. There were a few times I found it confusing on how to get from one page to another but after a few needless clicks and a couple backtracking moves, I found my way. Aside from that, after using the wiki for a few minutes I was pretty comfortable with the overall layout and had no other issues.

The one thing I would change about wikis would be that multiple people could edit at the same time. I know it's not possible to let users edit the same page, but if there was a link to another page it would be nice to let users edit different pages at the same time. There were a few times when I wanted to get on my wiki page that was linked to the main account but couldn't because then I would have to steal the lock from another person. While I know it may not be possible to allow multiple users to edit pages at one time, it would be nice to have that option.

Wikis can be a great tool in the classroom in multiple ways. You can have groups of students create a study guide of a chapter and post the information on a page so that by the end of the year everyone has a final exam study guide. It could also be nice for students to post information about a project they're doing or problems they would like to be discussed. Finally, it can even be a good tool even if not used directly for academics. It could be nice to have each student create a personal profile where they can write about themselves, compile information and share links to other sites they've found helpful or used. Typically a blog would be ideal but a wiki would be best if you wanted to have all the information compiled (for example, there could be a home page, each student could link to a page of their own which had personal information, a link to their blog and other websites they found helpful. Then on the blog students could write a reflection of each week. On the wiki there could also be a place for student to write problems they need help with and other students could respond with the answer.) I plan on using wikis in my classroom in the ways listed above (or maybe even a different way, depending on what fits with the curriculum). Regardless, wikis are very useful tools which should be utilized in the classroom to enhance learning.