Wikis Galore

Throughout the past semester, my "Teaching with Technology" course has been using a classroom website and a wiki to upload our projects. I have never used a wiki before this class, and it has been a real treat getting used to them! Wikis differ from websites and blogs in the sense that anyone can edit them! Although blogs allow other users to post comments, wikis allow you to control who can edit, view, write, etc, to your wiki! Websites can only be edited by the creator. I have really enjoyed creating and updating my own personal weebly website and posting my ideas and thoughts on my blog, but I have found wikis to be extremely helpful... especially as a future teacher!

Wikis allow teachers to organize their students' work and allow students to view each other's work and edit the page when needed. In our course, we upload a link each week to show our teacher and our class mates the technology we have been exploring. I want to use a wiki as a teacher in order for my students to view the work of others and self-evaluate their learning processes! I could use different wikis for different assignments, such as a wiki on the writing process, a wiki for a research paper, a wiki on photo shop and video editing. There are many possibilities when it comes to wikis!

Here is my newly created Wiki! With this particular wiki, my students would be doing a research paper on an animal of their choice. They would be required to upload their brainstorming ideas, a few resources used in their paper, their rough draft, a review of a class mate's paper, and their final draft. Using the wiki will allow students to see their progress of their paper and see what other students are doing if they need an example or feel lost. As a teacher, I can access my student's drafts all from my computer. I can also keep track and assess their progress, and take note if any students are dragging behind or need extra help.