User:Markcognata/Way wicked wiki

Way Wicked Wiki

1. What is a wiki?
 * A wiki is a highly efficient structure of collaboratively adding and editing personal or professional work in a webpage based form. It is a simple way to add information and input to a particular topic.
 * It uses a structure that everyone is very familiar with as it uses the typical editing toolbar seen in many Microsoft Office programs.
 * Other than the toolbar buttons and adding your own text info, there are only two main buttons that a person would need to know and that is the “Edit” and “Save page”.
 * It can be accessed by any form of technology that as internet access, therefore, students can collaboratively work together while they are on the go, via their laptop, smart phone, ipad, etc.
 * The content of a wiki can be be changed by its readers. A reader can add to, modify and correct a wiki. A proper wiki has many authors and is the result of the combined knowledge of many.
 * A wiki is a website that can be accessed anywhere, anytime and by anyone. As long as you have an account, you can also edit this website. It is an open source learning tool that can be used as an online classroom and learning space.

2. Is it an effective means to engage students?

Yes, students can be authors and be part of their own learning process. They can take responsibility for their own education. It also for:

You can improve upon what has been said right away. This is much faster than, say, waiting for the revised version of a textbook.The process of collaborative editing can be an effective means to engage students, if they are interested in the task that requires use of the wiki in the first place. The wiki gives students a chance to take ownership of their learning.
 * Rapid editing.

Students using a wiki must take responsibility for the class as a whole. The work is a reflection of democratic practices, because one person’s contribution can serve to improve the contributions of the whole; alternately, the contributions of the whole serve to strengthen the contributions of the individuals.
 * Democratic.

Wikis allow participants to collaborate from home, school, or anywhere. There is no requirement for a group to meet face-to-face.
 * Collaboration without physical constraints.

Rather than holding a conversation in real time, participants on a wiki can take time to thoughtfully compose their responses. Wikis provide a lower-pressure environment for collaboration than, for instance, skype.
 * Time for thoughtful collaboration.

With a wiki, students can not only collaborate with their own group or class, but they can collaborate with groups and classes from across the state, country, and world.
 * Availability for Global Connections.


 * It can be highly effective for students because of its simplicity and universality. If the student is able to type a basic word document, they will be able to create and edit a wiki page with a few more steps.


 * Wikis are a great way for students to learn that writing a paper can be fun and collaborative and is something some people actually do for fun!

3. Does it add pedagogical value to traditional instruction?


 * We are obsessed with recalling factual information in our current educational system. When students collaboratively work together it can open up their analytical thinking.
 * Instead of a teacher centered environment, wikis allow students to make input and the teachers can respond accordingly.
 * Teachers can watch the progress of the group collaboration as it happens over a period of time and can specifically track individual progress.
 * Furthermore, students can access wikis at home so students can review daily lessons, progress, and reports.
 * Even if in Newark students don’t have access to the internet at home, this can be a portfolio building period in the classroom that can improve technology knowledge, literacy skills, reading and fluency skills, differentiated instruction. It releases responsibility to the students, which will likely help them to be interested in and remember what they learn.
 * Also, students feel like they are creating a “webpage” and adding something that the world can see, the students will feel that their creativity and ideas are being appreciated.

 4. What are some educational uses for wikis in the K-12 classroom?


 * Used for discussion, posting assignments, collaborative projects, like writing assignments or group presentations. Document style: work on websites, collaborative documents, or content that is created for a wiki project. Thread style: discussions with signed messages in a bottom posting style.
 * It can use to organize big events for the classroom. Collection of ideas and how to expand using web information with links to other relevant webpage. It also can be use with other teachers teaching the same grade and subject to plan for a collaborative lesson.
 * A possible way to use the Wiki in language arts is to create a spreadsheet where students can track and compare book they've read to inspire them as a group.

More specifically, how can we use wikis effectively in NMUTRP PreK-5 classroom?
 * Students have one place where they can seek classroom information about lessons to study effectively.
 * By logging on to the wiki page, students can share their work and classroom progress with their families and friends.
 * Great tool for parents to access their children’s work.
 * Students have ownership of the knowledge on the wiki as they actively seek it, and they create it.
 * Literacy skills are required as students check their facts for accuracy and correct errors discovered by their peers – therefore contributing to the scaffold learning.
 * This can allow for a classroom curriculum/portfolio that is accessible to anyone that is organized – parent/teacher conferences will never be the same!
 * Create collaborative stories and books where teachers can read their work. – Teachers have immediate access to students work anytime anywhere.

5. What are some pluses and minuses of using wikis with students?

Pluses:
 * Accessible to anyone with internet access
 * Can be made private
 * Brings quality to already great teaching in a classroom
 * Increasing interaction with each other, the internet and technological tools
 * Easy for peer review and editing
 * Students can serve a need by adding to the knowledge available on Wikipedia and beyond
 * Students are in charge of their own learning and encouraged to take responsibility
 * Students participate directly
 * Students can communicate with their teacher during off hours with homework
 * Parents have access to what is going on in the student's classroom, and parents can monitor or contribute as teacher deems
 * Students develop an understanding of how to think critically about the validity sources so they can learn to make informed decisions
 * There is less of a divide between teaching and learning and the students can interact in ways that can’t happen on traditional paper or web pages
 * User can "revert" to information previously posted in the history function.

Minuses:
 * Everyone can edit a wiki page if it is public, however, if accessible to anyone – a malicious author can edit the page and ruin someone’s work
 * Some students may abuse the wiki and add off topic information
 * Not every student in Newark will have access to reliable technology at home and school

6. How might wikis be used to aid teachers, administrators, and other school district personnel professionally?


 * Wiki as a mean to share ideas, to work collaboratively on a project with many new perspectives between students, teachers, grade level collaborative groups, and groups within schools and the district.

Question: Grading papers effectively and legible? Is it possible to have a student's portfolio via wikipages for each student?