Things 32: Wikis

I am torn between labeling this blog entry "Wikis" or "Collaboration " since it is both--but since I am using a Wiki, I have named this thing--Thing 32: Wikis. I have used wikis in some of my library school graduate courses, but had never heard of them before. They were used as a way for the teacher and students to have one place to share information and post questions. One professor used a wiki as her syllabus. All the assignments for the class had to be uploaded into her wiki. She then gave us her comments and the grades for the assignments via email. Talk about using technology in education! It was frustrating sometimes though when the wiki was down and then we all scrambled on what to do to get our assignments turned in on time--resorting to emailing her individually, which was not an ideal situation for her.

As I shared this experience with other teachers, I realized that many didn't know what I was talking about when I said wiki. I thought, "Is this library jargon?" and worried if I was being rude talking about these things called wikis. It isn't library jargon though; it is technology jargon, which made me think that I should create a wiki for teachers to use so they could become familiar with them and then they could possibly use it with their students. I am going to create one for one of my English classes as well, but I cannot decide which one I will choose. I am slightly worried that once I create one, I'll become obsessed and create one for every class. In theory, this would be great; in reality, many things would get neglected in my life if I sat around all day creating wikis--but I digress.

I decided to create a wiki for the Ninth Grade Academy at Central, one of the committees I co-coordinate. I have never created one before and it took me a while to figure out what I wanted it to do. I ended up spending a lot of time setting this up, but now I know how to do it and I feel really proud of that.

One of the co-coordinators for Ninth Grade Academy is also familiar with wikis, but not enough to create one for us. The other three co-coordinators are not familiar at all with wikis. I plan to show them what I created at our next meeting (this Tuesday) so they can get familiar with it and then launch the wiki at our next Ninth Grade Academy meeting, which isn't until October 23rd. This will give me a chance to add all the lesson plans onto the wiki and add any other features I can think of before then too. I am excited to introduce the wiki as a collaborative tool; I have high hopes for it, but only time will tell if others will find it useful.