#18 Wikis

Many wikis share common characteristics of adding new content, editing errors and inserting information. But the collaborative aspect is probably its strength and I suppose its weakness too

Over the past few years I have wiki-ed myself up for class room or professional needs. What I find interesting about wikis is that they are open source. Being able to edit people’s contributions is such a fabulous way to collaborate. The history of changes made is a great way to see what kind of changes have been made by the reader.

Wikis are a great place to store resource links and assignments for students. They are easily accessible for both parents and students for homework and newsletters too. It is easy to manage and edit inappropriate comments and you can see which students are not using the tool properly. Although some of the writing is poor, students really want to improve their presentation by seeking advice for their real audiences

Recently, I saw a great wiki used in a class for special needs students to access different activities tailored for their needs and interests. It certainly is a great way to motivate students who by the way seem to prefer the keyboard to the old pen and paper! They just love logging on and adding knowledge, comments and responses to class wikis.