Wikis

I just finished reading a chapter on wikis, websites “where anyone can edit anything anytime they want”. Richardson provides a background on wikis by explaining that wiki is short for quick, and the first wiki was created in 1995.

Richardson also writes about Wikipedia. He explains that some people worry about the collaborative nature of Wikipedia. They believe that it contains errors and misrepresentations because anyone can create or edit a Wikipedia entry. However, there are many more people dedicated to correcting errors than there are who make errors, Richardson claims.

He goes on to argue that teachers should help their students learn how to use Wikipedia. He claims “they are already using it in their research, whether we like it or not.” He also argues that Wikipedia teaches student a great deal about collaboration and negotiation.

I agree with Richardson’s statement that Wikipedia is a good starting point for research. He says Wikipedia was developed to present a neutral perspective on every possible topic. This means that Wikipedia may help students see an overview of a subject before looking at something from a specific perspective.

Richardson included many other wiki sources:

1. Recipes Wiki
2. Wikitravel
3. Wiktionary
4. Wikinews
5. Wikiquotes
6. Lyrics Wiki
7. Star Trek Wiki (Memory-alpha.org)
8. Simple Wikipedia, which use simple words to help adults and children who are learning English
9. Wiki Junior (“The aim of this project is to produce age-appropriate non-fiction books for children from birth to age 12.”)
10. Wiki Books (“the open-content textbooks collection that anyone can edit”)
11. Wikispaces.com or PBwiki
12. Webnote
13. Google Docs

Here are some of Richardson’s suggestions on how to use wikis in school:

1. Create an online text for your classroom that every student can contribute to
2. Develop an online wiki to collaborate between classes – your class could share research, resources, videos, or images with other classes at the school
3. Have students create or edit entries for books on Wiki Books or Wiki Junior
4. Use a wiki to allow your students to share projects with each other, with other classrooms at the school, or with a global network through collaboration with students in other states or countries
5. Use a wiki to ask students to share concepts and examples to review for a test
6. Develop a wiki for a book study project – ask students to share content about a book (interviews, reference pages, fan fiction, images, etc.)

Overall, I found some of this information helpful, but some of it was very basic. I think I may have learned more about wikis through YouTube videos rather than through Richardson’s book.

I have a class wiki, which I use to keep a class schedule and make handouts available to my students. This term is the first time I have used one for a class I am teaching. Next term I plan to make it more collaborative by asking my students to contribute to it. I’m still thinking about ways that I would like them to contribute. If you would like to check on the wiki, you can visit this page: english0950spring2013.pbworks.com.

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