So this week in Technology, we have been introduced to the wonderful world of Wikis!!
To be honest, I had no idea what a wiki was until 3 weeks ago.. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am culturally relevant. I know what Wikipedia is and have heard of scandals happening on Wikis, but I had no knowledge of how they worked until recently. Wikis are pages that allow members to create and edit them and turn them into a website.
So this is why Wikipedia is said to be an unreliable source. Volunteers edit the encyclopedia style information and cite their sources on the bottom of the page. It is true that anyone could go in and edit the pages in Wikipedia, but it is highly monitored, so it rarely puts out incorrect information.
I have learned so much about the usefulness of Wikis in the classroom. This week we made Wiki pages that were "All About Me" and used them to introduce ourselves to the class. (You can view my page here.) I did however think, "in an elementary classroom, really?" So, since then I think they have more relevance than I was thinking they would. Especially for students in upper elementary, these sites could be useful tools for study guides, math problems, a calendar. One of my favorite new options is question and answer.. If students need help on a project, they could put it on the Wiki, then other students or I could answer. This could even be great for questions that parents have! Because chances are if one parent has a question, then others will want to know the same thing, and it would be great to have it all in one place!
All in all - check out Wikis. I loved reading the Wikipedia on Wikipedia.
To be honest, I had no idea what a wiki was until 3 weeks ago.. I mean, don't get me wrong, I am culturally relevant. I know what Wikipedia is and have heard of scandals happening on Wikis, but I had no knowledge of how they worked until recently. Wikis are pages that allow members to create and edit them and turn them into a website.
So this is why Wikipedia is said to be an unreliable source. Volunteers edit the encyclopedia style information and cite their sources on the bottom of the page. It is true that anyone could go in and edit the pages in Wikipedia, but it is highly monitored, so it rarely puts out incorrect information.
I have learned so much about the usefulness of Wikis in the classroom. This week we made Wiki pages that were "All About Me" and used them to introduce ourselves to the class. (You can view my page here.) I did however think, "in an elementary classroom, really?" So, since then I think they have more relevance than I was thinking they would. Especially for students in upper elementary, these sites could be useful tools for study guides, math problems, a calendar. One of my favorite new options is question and answer.. If students need help on a project, they could put it on the Wiki, then other students or I could answer. This could even be great for questions that parents have! Because chances are if one parent has a question, then others will want to know the same thing, and it would be great to have it all in one place!
All in all - check out Wikis. I loved reading the Wikipedia on Wikipedia.
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