Wikipedia? Is that the first word that came to your head? Because that is the first thing that comes to my head when I hear the prefix "wiki". Very commonly known, Wikipedia is the online encyclopedia that has information about EVERYTHING! It was a bummer when it wouldn't show up properly on the first smart phones, but that glitch was quickly fixed. Now, we have access to wikipedia on anything that can connect to the internet.
Are there wiki's outside of Wikipedia? Quickly I learned, yes.
Wiki's are very common. They are online tools that can be used for many people to collaborate, gather, and share information. What is cool about them is that you can give access to people to use it, so it is controlled. But, once the person has the ability to sign in, he or she can edit, correct, add, or change anything in the wiki at any time.
So the question is, why would I use this in my classroom? Isn't this too complicated for ten and eleven year olds to use? The answer is no, it is not too hard. With the proper support and scaffolding, the students would be able to be very successful with this online learning tool. Here are some ideas of how to implement wiki's into my classroom:
1. to review for SOL information - the students could create wiki pages on each of the topics that we studied in (for example) science. Then, they would be in charge of a page, creating, adding, and editing the page. It would give the students ownership over their work, and it would allow for collaborative building of information.
2. biography study - the students could use the wiki tool to do a biography project on a person. They could create different pages for the stages in life for the person, and isert information and pictures. It would be very fun for the students because again, they would have ownership over the project, and they would be able to share their work.
3. book reviews - the class could create genre wiki's and have separate pages for the books that they had read. They would have certain information that would have to be included about the book, but everything that they inserted would be theirs.
Why not use wiki's? They are helpful, and they use technology (the stuff that kids love).
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