Wiki+Use+in+Education

=Ideas for Wiki use in Education Year 0 - 13= ==Most of the initial research was centred around applications of wiki use in tertiary institutions, however, teachers at all levels are renowned for their ability to assess any strange tools and find a way to make them effective classroom resources – just look at what we can do with egg cartons. The wiki is no exception and is now used in various innovative ways from kindergarten to year 13.== ==The secret of the wiki in education is it’s usefulness as a collaborative tool- it's a great vehicle for posting groupwork and sharing digital creations. Individuals can access the site from anywhere – their classrooms, computer suites, homes, holiday destinations etc and can gather as a group to share information, take part in discussions and collaboratively work on the content of the site… or just lurk and consider others contributions .==

**A News Desk** - This seems to be the first application we think of (we’re so used to web sites as two dimensional creations). People initially post links to;
This type of wiki use is easy to set up from kindergarten classes on, as it’s usually teacher managed. It’s aimed at parents mainly, because that’s what our school websites have traditionally been for. Interaction is not initially encouraged - its a 'come and look' vehicle.
 * classroom newsletters,
 * information
 * homework pages,
 * reading and spelling lists,
 * assignment requirements
 * student’s published work.

= **A Resource Library -** This seems to be the natural progression from news desks- we recognise that the people most likely to visit our class sites are our students, especially if they’ve had a hand in setting up the sites. This opens up a range of possibilities .= =The first thing we tend to do is to use it as a teacher managed ‘Collection of Links’ and resources.= = A Chat Room - This appears to be the most popular application for year 6 – 9 students. A safe place to see their words appear and communicate with other people- those they have already formed relationships with (and see every day). The content of these discussions initially ressembles the depth found in txt messages, (about as deep as a tennis court puddle). Once they’ve played with this application for a bit (there's a discussion tab on EACH page) it’s relatively simple for the teacher to support the development of discussion rules and space expectations. The students soon begin to focus on group tasks and the discussion can become a place to develop and share ideas. The expectations of use change with the developing social mores of the group and teacher direction.=
 * A place to embed videos ('safer' environment for students/parents to view specific content)
 * A place to list links to other websites ie. specific curriculum areas and class projects.
 * It’s easy to list curriculum areas in the navigation bar and build pages of relevant links around each heading, using pictures to help younger students recognise the links they need.

= A Common Room - It won’t surprise you that this is a mixture of all of the above ; a newsdesk, resource library, chat room AND a central hub for Projects etc. These seem to work well, particularly in year 2 –10 classrooms. The interesting thing is that they are frequently attached to BLOGS .=
 * The class wiki is developed as the common room and the teacher and students all develop their own learning blogs which link from it.

=** Collaborative Learning Sites **= = A wiki can be an engaging workspace for students to participate in personalised learning ( //very// //PC term//) at their level. A wiki has a lot going for it – just needing a screen and a keyboard to access it is a big plus for our [|students]. They are already attracted by the use of any information and communication technologies so really it’s up to us as educators to provide the contexts for use and necessary support, formative comments, redirection and effective feedback along the way.= Wiki’s make it easy for students to write, revise and add links to research, and as said previously, since they enjoy the venue they appear keener to participate. They can use their own pages (or individual wikis, linked back to the main one) to gather links and summarise what they’ve learnt or they can apply their understandings to a group project, answer essential questions, create something new from their understandings and evaluate their own development.

The whole process can be tracked in a wiki. We can follow the background research they’ve done, their thoughts and developing understandings. We (both teachers and other students – ooh and parents) can offer help when they stumble off the track, or need direction to more helpful resources, because, as part of this paradigm shift we’re experiencing and the change to [|School Version 2.0] …we’re going to need to be spending a LOT more time online.

There’s also the wonderful opportunity for sharing throughout the process and ‘creative swiping’. The opportunity for other students to view another students learning process and build on it to support their own. Oh, no, no – that’s not //cheating//. Not if you develop your own understanding through it and //build// on another’s ideas (acknowledging the original authors contributions where needed). After all, don’t we believe as educators that developing deep understanding isn’t a competition, and that we all need to help each other over the finish line etc. (Yes,I know that sounds like a group-hugging edutopia, but still …).

=Links [|Ideas for Wiki use in education]= "Teacher's First" site ideas for some wiki applications.