SOMETHING WIKI THIS WAY COMES!

I couldn't say "wiki-ed," really, because wikis are far from wicked even though they have been painted (and tainted) with the "wicked" brush. I must say, that prior to the research for this posting, I was pretty liberal with that brush myself!

My objection was not to wikis in general, but rather Wikipedia, in particular. My issue was with authenticity and students using Wikipedia as a source for research and perhaps finding information that was inaccurate. I couldn't embed this little cartoon because of copyright, but it made me laugh out loud and it sums up my previous concerns with Wikipedia.

A Biased Wikipedia Entry

Reflection on the Process of Learning the Tool

Hmm, how to begin without sounding like a total idiot? . . . Nope, not possible. Truth be told, I have used a wiki with students, but I did not connect wikis with Wikipedia! When you get up from falling over laughing....

It seems impossible, doesn't it. So, I guess that's where this wiki journey began for me. Connecting the dots. I began with Will Richardson's chapter "Wikis" from his book Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms. He opens with his discussion on Wikipedia. I learned a lot about Wikipedia, so I feel I must spend some time addressing it here before moving on to my thinking about wikis in general.

I was one of those people Richardson identifies who didn't "...really understand the first part, the 'wiki' "(2009, pp. 55). This critical blip on my journey to understanding really impacts my use of the tool in a professional way (more on that later). As I read Richardson's book, I stopped in at all of the links he mentioned. I must say, I was amazed when I read the discussion behind entries on global warming at Wikipedia (2009, pp.59). I really did not understand that there was any discussion behind how things were posted. In fact, there is very detailed debate about what goes up, how it is worded, how it might be perceived, and more. Right away, I have one of those "aha" moments. The collaborative and thoughtful piece of this puzzle falls into place for me, and I actually had to sit in awe and think about the impact, or perhaps as Richardson calls it, "transformative" effect this could have on our society and in our classrooms.

As Richardson notes, we are moving "...into a world where everyone has access to ideas and where collaboration is the expectation rather than the exception..." (2009, pp.59). I guess Wikipedia is the creme de la creme of examples! When it comes to worries about accuracy, a couple different points from my research made a difference in my thinking. First, Richardson notes a that "...thankfully, there are vastly more editors that want to make it right than those who wantt o make it wrong" (2009, pp.56). He goes on to cite a test by University of Buffalo Professor Alex Halavais who intentionally created "...thirteen errors on various posts on Wikipedia, all of which were fixed within a couple of hours" (2009, pp. 56). I've heard of other tests like this, and the fix time was even faster. Also, Davies, et al. discuss that Wikipedia is a more accurate reflection of our quickly (wiki wiki) and continuously changing world, and I would add also our demand for instant feedback and information about events (2009, pp. 90-91). Further, the idea that there are "...many authors and editors [who] will go back to, change and even delete..." (2009, pp.90) information is actually more comforting. I remember looking at a book that had been sent to me with my Scholastic book fair. It was a book about countries, but when it came to Canada the only province it really showed was Nunavut. A person who knew nothing about Canada and who read that book would think we all built Inukshuks and know little else about us. I sent the book back with a note about why I would not display it or sell it and a recommendation that it be deleted from their stock. So what happens to all the copies of that book? Oh, there around. But if it had been open source, additions and deletions would be made within hours to ensure the information was up-to-date. (Hmmm, can we call that a paradigm shift for me?) Yes, typically books are vetted and better edited than that one, and that's why we feel safer with information found within them (Davies et al., 2009, pp. 92). I know I feel this way too, but with my reading about wikis and Wikipedia, I understand that it is possible to search the background discussion and authorship to Wikipedia entries (Davies et al., 2009, pp.93). Davies et al. also note that Wikipedia attempts to keep entries "'neutral' ...and to try not to push a particular viewpoint or to persuade readers to take on a particular opinion" (2009, pp.94). I agree that this is difficult to do with many subjects (global warming, for instance), but I find value in that it will push authors to have facts to back up statements.

I spent a lot of time learning about Wikipedia, and I feel that I have some very different ideas about its value and use now. I think when we teach students about it and about how to use it, we need to show them how to look at the discussion and credentials of authors. I also think it's important to have the discussion about collaborative writing and its power.

In my continuing love affair with YouTube, I found a great video that discusses Wikipedia and how it works. It was created by the North Carolina State University Libraries.

Feeling fairly comfortable with my new and improved understanding of Wikipedia, I was ready to continue my exploration into wikis. As with anything, go to the experts, and so I decided to look for best practice. I began by checking out Joyce Valenza's blog and the School Library Journal site. They gave me some links to great wikis for libraries. One of the best, of course, is the Teacher Librarian Wiki by Joyce Valenza. Wow! What isn't here, you probably don't need to know! Check it out.

Another great wiki, for all kinds of librarians, is the Library Success Wiki. It has everything you need to know about libraries and programming for all different clientele.

I spent some time checking out the Educators Wiki. What I liked about this wiki were some of the pages that dealt with math. I am always wondering how I can work with my math teachers an what could I offer them. I also stumbled across this video which some of you may have seen, but I had never. In it are some interesting statistics about teachers and their use of technology, including wikis.

As I mentioned, I have made a wiki before. I made it with the help of a Learning Support Facilitator from our division. It was primarily an experiment, and I must admit, I had no clue what I was doing most of the time. After the initial page was created, I played a little and I created the Literature Circle page for a Grade 10 ELA teacher in my school to use with her kids. I used PB Wiki because it was what was recommended to me, but there are lots of other providers. You can check out my efforts at DCSBookaday Wiki.

In the book Using Web 2.0 Tools in the K-12 Classroom by Beverly Crane, she provides a handy wiki comparison chart. She notes that when choosing a wiki service consideration must be given to its ease of use, cost (many are free, but some have advertising which can be distracting for kids), appearance, security, and usage guidelines that are simple and positive (2009, pp.68-70). As I couldn't very well reprint the chart here, I found a site called WikiMatrix which provides a list of all the providers and you can check off the ones you are interested in and click compare and it will compare every facet imaginable!

Wikis and my Personal Learning

My life is pretty much consumed with my family and my work. I don't have a lot of time for hobbies or new interests, so the few things I do use my free time for are home decorating, reading, Scrabble

I found a wiki for home decorating through Home Wiki. This is a neat idea for me as I love to share ideas about decorating and I'm always looking for new ones.

I could spend hours playing Scrabble, and I found a Scrabble Wiki! I couldn't believe it! So, I think I will begin visiting this wiki and maybe even begin a thread for a post. I would love to come up with an easy list of words that consist only of vowels since that's usually what I end up having on my board.

There are lots of wikis about books and reading. A few I played around on and think I would like to return to are Book Lust Wiki. Another really great wiki is Library Thing's Group page which has wikis for all kinds of readers. I love to read, and I love to talk about books, but I don't get to do it a lot. I think hanging out on a wiki for books where I can add my comments and read other people's thoughts is a great idea. Because I am often housebound due to my husband's illness, this is a fun and exciting way to remain engaged with people who enjoy the same things I do.

Another way I think wikis could be helpful for me is when I plan shopping trips for the ladies in our division. For about five years I planned all ladies bus trips to Edmonton for shopping. This involved a lot of organization, and I was forever misplacing slips of paper with this or that. A couple of my friends helped with organizing games and different things for the trip. We could do all our organizing on a wiki. The really cool thing would be that whenever I forgot what we were doing or who was doing what, I could look it up instead of having to call someone and admit that I had no clue. Wikis would make me look way smarter!

Wikis, Teaching and Learning

As I was researching wikis, I came across a very simple definition in the appropriately titled Wikis for Dummies by Dan Woods and Peter Thoeny who define wikis as "...a collection of Web pages that anyone can edit" (2007, pp. 11). My first thought was "Oh." Yup! That's all I thought. It was such a simple explanation. Of course, I did have other questions. My biggest one was "How is a wiki different than a blog?" My very favourite answer came from Mike Sansone who is a Conversation Conductor and Social Mediatician (I'm no techie, so maybe he didn't create his own job title, but...). Anyway, Sansone makes numerous comparisons to make his point, but my favourite is his comparison that blogs are like Bill O'Reilly's show; people can call in and comment, but it's Bills' show. Wikis are like The View; everyone around the table has information and contributes.

As near as I can tell from what I've seen, wikis have two primary purposes. They are places where students can write collaboratively, and they are places where students can share their learning. I am about to begin working with our Grade 12 ELA teacher and literature circles with students. I suggested having students do their literature circles with wikis for a few reasons. One, students enjoy working collaboratively and discussing their ideas. Their wiki would provide them with a forum for doing this while still allowing the teacher, who cannot sit in on every discussion, to follow their thinking. Two, it would be easy to track who was contributing what. Three, we usually have a number of snow days in December and January. If students were working through a wiki, they could still work from home even if they couldn't get to school. After studying Wikis, I wanted to be sure it was legitimately the best forum for what we wanted to do. I discovered that we were right on track.

In Using Web 2.0 Tools in the K-12 Classroom Beverley Crane outlines ten reasons why wikis are important and worthwile for use in classrooms. "Wikis:

1. enable team members to work on an assignment at any time, from any location with an internet connection;

2. encourage student involvement

3. offer a powerful yet flexible collaborative communication tool for developing content- specific Web sites;

4. provide a central place for groups to form around specific topics;

5. provide students with direct (and immediate) access to a site's content, which is crucial in group editing or other collaborative project activities;

6. show the evolution of thought processes as students interact with the site and its content;

7. promote pride of authorship and ownership in a team's activities;

8. showcase student work;

9. encourage collaboration on notes; and

10. promote concept introduction and exploration" (2009, pp.64).

I am excited to begin this project, and have gone so far as to develop the opening page and the links only. These are some beginning thoughts only, and as the teacher and I work together we will add information, instruction, links, and more. You can take a look if you like at DCSVetter. I chose to use Wikispaces for this project. Initially I created a page on Wetpaint, but I didn't like it because of all the advertising that appeared on the page. The only way to get rid of it was to pay. So, I set up a page on Wikispaces, and there was no advertising, but after I added links and pages to the menu, Google Ads appeared. I don't like these ads, but again, it requires money to get rid of them. They are not, however, as distracting as those on Wetpaint, so I guess we'll deal with it. I should note though, ads are not a problem on my PBWiki page.

I learned a lot about wikis. I haven't used wikis much myself. I certainly haven't searched a lot of them out to see what other people are doing with them. Of course, surprise, there's a ton of great stuff out there! There are some great opportunities for student learning with wikis. I found a great wiki called Reading 2.0 which shows different ways to use technology to promote books. I plan on using some of the ideas here in my own library.

Something "wiki" this way comes? I say "Woo hoo! Bring it on!"