Over the last little while, I have been working on establishing a Wiki for my Multiage classroom on the non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust. As you know well if you're familiar with this blog, I have had many adventures with wikis, some positive, some not so much. This shall be my final post regarding the topic of wikis.
I feel that wikis are extremely useful when it comes to creating an open and public framework for an informational topic. The wiki we have created is already a useful potential resource for classrooms and it has certainly given me the desire to use wikis for my classroom when I get a teaching job. They have several of the appealing features of social media, with greater security than is the case for some other forms of social media.
One advantage of the wiki format is that it is very easy and intuitive to make an attractive page that contains as much or as little media as is desired. One thing I enjoy about wikis is that absolutely no coding skills are done.
The issue about simultaneous editing is an issue, yes, but one simply has to ensure that students are not all attempting to work on it at the same time. I feel that many of the weaknesses of the wiki could be easily resolved through smart management.
Wiki link: http://victimsoftheholocaust.wikispaces.com/
Hi Kris
ReplyDeleteThe benefits in a classroom, especially a collective group project are ENORMOUS. An entire classroom can collaborate digitally to produce an attractive and useful learning experience. Each person can take responsibility over a specific section and add pertinent information, video, graphics, links, etc. I my self have used wikis in the class before and they work beautifully. Students feel, rightly so, as though they are creating and contributing something to the global commons. Awesome learning experience!
Regards, Jeremy
I haven't used Wikis in the classroom, but I am excited to try it out. I will have to check out your wiki on non-jewish victims of the holocaust when you are finished it.
ReplyDelete