Uses+of+Wiki's+in+Education

**Teaching and Learning with Wiki's:**
 * Wiki’s are considered a Web 2.0 tool that are used to enhance learning and collaboration. Wiki’s also allow for a reflective and constructive learning environment which is focused on a community of learners rather than on an individual.
 * Wiki’s are used in a variety of ways in the classroom by teachers. Some ways students can collaborate are as follows: summaries and reflections of readings, collaborative annotated bibliography, presentation tool, group authoring, peer reviews, project based learning, online/distant education, and discussions on certain topics. There is such a wide variety of things one can do on a class wiki page!
 * Teachers can post the following on their class wiki page: explanation of tips and the reason behind using a wiki, a weekly schedule, online games, videos, and images, content expectations, weekly journal prompts, a link to their class blog, handouts and syllabi, a Google Calendar of when book talks would be held, and assignments and resources for certain concepts taught in class.
 * In the article, “Models for Activities, Collaboration and Assessment in Wiki in Academic Courses” many valuable tips are given as to how to design an assignment that ensures participation by each group member of the project. For instance, one could require completion of mandatory activities and participation so one student does not do all of the work, require a mutual editing activity, and assign students individual and group grades.

=**Wikis in Lower Elementary** =
 * =Wikis can also be integrated into lower elementary grades using a bit of creativity and lots of patience. Since students in the primary years are still learning to read and write, the use of wikis must be guided and taught step by step by the teacher. A teacher in a primary grade may use wikis more as a way to inform and celebrate learning with others, instead of using it to communicate between students such as in literature chat circles. =
 * Many wiki pages used by kindergarten and first grade teachers are used as a whole group project since it is difficult to monitor the students, their needs and the various levels at the same time. Many wiki pages are also used to celebrate classroom projects, special days, such as 100th day, field trips, or to share the tales of the classroom pet. Here is a great example of a kindergarten teacher that uses her wiki page to demonstrate the student’s progress in counting, which is an important part of the kindergarten curriculum, __[]__ . One teacher that does an excellent job of showcasing student growth and learning is Mrs. Cassidy, a first grade teacher from Moose Jaw Canada. On her classroom blog and wiki __[]__ , students researched animals, their habitats and characteristics. Instead of just writing about their animals, Mrs. Cassidy had her students publish their work on the class wiki page. This type of technology integration allows students to take ownership for their learning and to showcase their research project proudly! This is an extremely important job of a primary teacher, to instill a passion for school and love of learning.
 * Many teachers also choose to use their wiki pages as a way to keep parents informed of upcoming events, snack schedules and field trips. They also use it as a way to have students connect and play educational games that will allow them to practice their skills at home in an interactive and fun manner. One such website was __[]__ <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;">. Having a classroom wiki page, allows all information to be found in an organized way and in one central location.

<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;">Creating my wiki page, <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__http://ua1a.wikispaces.com/__ <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;"> has been quite an adventure and learning process. I have not had any prior experience using wikis before this one, let alone creating my own wiki page. After I set up my wiki page, I really had to sit down and plan how I was going to introduce this new technology to my first grade students. My class had recently studied and learned about penguins and different habitats. I thought that this would be a great opportunity to incorporate my wiki page. Instead of writing a basic report, I gave my students the option of using a creative program such as <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000099; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">__[|www.glogster.com]__ <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;">. This allowed all of my students, whether they were higher leveled or lower leveled the chance to use their creativity in a way they expressed their learning. I have showcased two of my student’s work, on this wiki page. This process was fun, but also quite challenging for my students and myself. I had to guide them and really work one on one with my students along the way.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Teacher Collaboration with Wiki:** <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;">Background: I choose this area to focus on because of my personal experience as a teacher. In my district we do not have textbooks in our high school mathematics courses. Instead we rely on a shared set of documents created by teachers in the math department over the last ten or so years. The set of documents grows each year as we make new assignments to meet the needs of our students. It is also important to note that we center our units around a few assignments that are designed to allow students to access the mathematics in their own way but also such that a generally anticipated direction can be expected. We often run into difficulty when new teachers first try to use these documents. The intention of the assignment and the way it is used is not always completely clear to someone who reads it for the first time. Additionally, an assignment morphs frequently as a teacher finds a way to use it more effectively, often this new approach is not shared with the whole group in a useful manner. I was interested in the wiki idea because I saw wiki’s as a way to preserve all of the knowledge about these assignments as well as allow for the possibility of their evolution and betterment.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; font-style: normal; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">**Lesson Plans:** <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;">Did you come up with a great lesson? Help your fellow teachers do the same thing with their students. Then, let other people help make your lesson even better. Consider how much your lesson might still benefit from other people experiencing it and working to make it better. This can be done on multiple levels as collaboration between two teachers, at the department level or even for the whole world.