What's A Wiki?

This year a handful of Edgewood teachers are using class wikis. What's a wiki? A wiki is an online web space that can be edited by multiple users. It owes its name to the Hawaiian word wiki-wiki (rhymes with freaky), which means quick.

Wikis promote a sharing of ideas from a team of contributors. For example, we recently began a new wiki called 2waymichi, which compiles useful phrases for the new Japanese student. We're also working on wikis for other languages.

In other instances, wikis can be used to pool together research resources, or compile a list of problem solving strategies, or explain how they decoded a particular math problem. But because this shared information lives online, students can access these notes and resources when needed, provided they have Internet access.

Here's another use. A class can begin a writing assignment on its wiki. Instead of using a notebook, students can write on their designated wiki space. Classmates can be assigned as peer editors, who can lend a critical ear/eye, posting suggestions to the student's wiki space on how the writing might be improved. In this manner, writing can be developed seamlessly between home and school.

In this case, the wiki becomes a substitute for the notebook. It's important to remember that writing done in the notebook is considered draft work, not yet ready to be published. Misspellings and grammatical mistakes are temporarily forgiven. The same can be said for the wiki. Even though writing done here is visible to classmates, students are most often sharing experimental ideas, not necessarily finished products.

Wikis typically have some form of protection or privacy. Many are visible to the public, but only invited participants can edit text. And some wikis can only be seen by its members. In our district, many class wikis are only visible to its members. Some of these class wikis are produced by students as young as first graders. But for all K-12 students, we promote the importance of netiquette, which means respecting one's online community. This means we give our classmates a pat on the back in the name of creating a safe, productive, and fun learning environment.

Collaboration skills are essential in this global market and must be fostered and developed at an early school age. We can build these skills using a wiki, which does not require its collaborators to be in the same room, same school, or even the same country. If you'd like to learn a little more about wikis, click the video below.