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SIG Project __CEP 810 __ by Justine Koszela, Steve Lawatsch, and Christine Sherwood



SIG Focus Our group will be focusing on how Wiki’s can be used by teachers and students as a way of communicating inside and outside the classroom by students in various grade levels and across subject areas.

Members and Focus Christine focused on how students in upper elementary school can use Wiki’s to communicate in and outside the classroom. [|www.mssherwood.wikispaces.com]

Justine focused on how students in the lower elementary grades can use Wiki’s as a way to communicate in the classroom and demonstrate learning. Students will continue using the Wiki page as a way to present information about animals or other content. And, lastly to get additional help on core subjects by playing educational games. http://ua1a.wikispaces.com/

Steve focused on how teachers use Wiki’s to collaborate with other teachers and improve pedagogy and student learning outcomes.

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Purpose: This page is meant to be the beginning of a collaboration about the use of wiki’s as tools for educators at any grade level. Its initial purpose was to allow us to research a technology of our choice and discover its pros and cons and potential uses for K-12 teachers. As a group, we decided upon using a wiki in our classrooms as a way to collaborate with other educators, share resources and information, and as a communication tool amongst students.

Since wikis are a collaborative tool, we are asking that if you have any additional ideas of how wikis have been used in classrooms, please edit our wiki page and add your suggestions. In addition, if you have any questions or ideas you would like to discuss please post them on the discussion tab.

What are Wiki’s??: “A Wiki is a collection of Web pages designed to enable anyone with access to contribute or modify content, using a simplified markup language. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites. They encourage collaboration by allowing users to share and edit their Wiki pages and work together to produce the content. Not to be confused with Blogs, which display the most current information first, Wikis display static content.”

Crandley, Pat, Cunkelman, David, Duncan, Sean, Sahm, Camellia April 24, 2009 “Wikis in the Classroom.” <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Retrieved from <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">[]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The power of a Wiki as an educational tool is linked to several factors. It is important that they be kept in mind as their uses are examined. Wiki’s are:
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">A living document.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">editable by one to infinitely many people
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">public or private
 * 4) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; list-style-type: decimal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">local or global

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Living documents: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Wikis are subject to change over time. In the ever changing world we live in this fact becomes one of the biggest benefits of a wiki. Consider a school adopting a new textbook. In today’s economic conditions the adoption of a textbook is likely to be carefully considered and discussed. For a district having roughly 250 students/grade a new set of UCSMP Geometry books could easily cost the district $15,000, at a cost of approximately $63.00/book. At that price the books are likely to remain in service for ten years or longer. One of the main disadvantages to this is that the books remain constant even as the publisher updates what is currently being printed or releases newer editions. While the content and pedagogy are being updated students in that district are left working with outdated materials. In contrast information from a reliable wiki source is subject to constant updating and revision. The document is able to be responsive to changes in content and pedagogy. Additionally, a wiki may even be free to the district.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Editable by multiple people: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> Wikis are also able to take advantage of the experiences, views, and ideas of vast numbers of people and distill them down into one document. Compare this to the lone teacher trying to fight their way through an ever growing list of content and being singularly responsible for knowing, understanding and delivering each concept richly and meaningfully. The dangers associated with the fact that many people have the ability to edit a document, potentially adding misinformation whether deliberately or unintentionally, is easily mitigated by the security features offered on most wiki hosting sites. i.e. the removal of the editing privileges of the offender. It is further reduced when a document is thriving in a community of users who have an interest in maintaining its integrity.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Public or Private: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> A wiki’s contents may be shared with anyone having internet access or access to content may be restricted to a group of people possessing the appropriate login credentials. The ability to deliberately control not only who has access to view information but also who may modify information is of the utmost concern to teachers using wiki’s in their teaching. A teacher may want to motivate students to take an assignment seriously by having students publish it for the world to see. Or we may want input from other teachers around the world for a lesson on logarithms. On the other hand there may also be times when one only wants to share material with people in their own department or school. The fact that the choice exists makes a wiki more versatile.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Local or Global: <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> A wiki’s viewership or authorship may also be limited to a smaller group of people simply by the content it conveys. It is doubtful that a student in Des Moines, IA would be particularly interested in the homework assigned by Mrs. Smith in Portland, OR. While it is much more likely that a lesson plan on global warming could have a much broader appeal across the world. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">include component="comments" page="home" limit="10"