Thing 16

I am so happy to learn more about wikis. I really enjoyed the Plain English Video . WIKI is a term I have heard so much and I certainly knew what they, but am excited to explore them more. I love the idea of using a wiki to coordinate a group instead of exchanging multiple emails. How many times have we all logged into our email to see 20 new emails...all responses to same first email!

This would be a great way to coordinate input from teachers or staff about ways to do things around school. I was reading in Vicki's blog about using a wiki to make announcements and then solicit comments from people. Wouldn't be nice to "attend" a meeting like this in the comfort of pajamas on your couch after you have had time to decompress from the day?! Though, one downside would be the human (adult) interaction that I enjoy after not seeing fellow teachers all day.

Another reason I am excited about this tool is that it seems simple enough for my first graders to use right away. With two key functions "edit" and "save," I think my kids could update a wiki about what is going on in Room 23 or different things they have learned about math or reading concepts. The hardest part would then be for them to be able to actually type the words (can be pretty tedious). I also love this tool for collaborative work for different groups to edit their ideas, but also be able to share easily with other groups. For example, from David Loertscher and Co.'s AASL Presentation (Oct. 2007), I really like the idea of each table having a different page for their ideas. It allows the tables to collaborate on what they are posting, and the other groups can easily see what the other tables have done without each table presenting. Furthermore, this allows there to be a record that all members can access long after the sessions are over.

I could also see using this to create a whole first grade WIKI for a unit of study. Each class could have a different page or link and share in learning from classroom to classroom. Because of different special areas schedules, each class doesn't often do the exact same thing at the same time, so a wiki could be an easy way for the classes to learn from each other. We study different genres of writing and we could create a wiki about personal narratives, for example, and each class could contribute to the learning. We could also share different links and opinions. Oh it will be great! Go WIKIs!!