Welcome to Riding the Wiki Wave   Presenters: Susan Hennessey, Matt Henchen, Jon Potts & Ryan Torres

• Harwood Faculty/Staff:  Visit our Presentation Feedback page and either give us feedback or let us know if you are interested in after-school workshops or a summer course. 

   

What is a wiki?

Wiki, which means "quick" in Hawaiian, is a user-friendly technology that allows users to create a "free" webpage hosted by a company. What makes wikis different from most web page creators/composers is the ability to collaborate on the building of it. Wiki creators share the site with others (colleagues, family, students, committee members, etc. of their choosing) to build a colloaborative project by providing the url and a common password. If you know how to use Microsoft Word, then you will find adding content to a wiki to be simple and familiar.

We are using a wiki website called PBwiki to create this presentation.

Most of us in education are familiar with wiki technology due to the ubiquitous and somewhat controversial Wikipedia

• Quick Video on Wikis in Plain English

How are teachers and students using Wikis?

Basic Webpage: presenting or publishing information to a class or group: we are using a wiki called harwoodwiki to present this information to you today!

• Media-rich supplemental materials

• Homework support hotlist
• Publishing and sharing student work
• Hotlist of resources
• Course or Unit Website

   

Sample Link

Advanced Uses: 

• Committee Work

• • Harwood Technology Plan
  • 9th Grade Academy Steering Committee
  • Social Studies Web-based Resource

• Harwood Teachers and Students Riding the Wiki Wave:
  • Jon Potts' 7th grade Media Literacy Wiki project
  • Mike Coyle's 9th grade Solar System Wiki project
  • Matt Henchen's US History Class
  • Jean Berthiaume's First Encounters lesson and Our Times Elective
  • Ginny Defedecove's EarthScience project
  • Morse's and Dixon's Fahrenheit 451 Project
  • Steve Rand's Reader Response Page
  • Emma Wade's Human Rights Final Assessment

• Other Great Examples
  • The McGehee School
  • Montana History Wiki
  • Shanghai American School
  • Wetpaint
  • All the Wikis Compared
  • Wiki Educator

Lessons learned the hard way.

Issues/Concerns:

• simultaneous editing of single page not allowed
• students need e-mail addresses to add and edit content.  PBWiki 2.0 version allows teachers to create usernames and passwords for students who don't have e-mail addresses.

• students simply cutting and pasting information without reflection or synthesis of information if the project is not structured well.
• Browsers: Safari users need to download Firefox in order to access the new point-and-click (wysiwyg) editor.

How do you build a wiki?

Visit our tutorial to access resources to help you create your own.

[What do students have say about using wikis?]

Earn free upgrades by presenting PBWikis!