Using Wiki's in the Classroom

WIKI'S WIKI'S, WIKI'S!!! This is what is on my mind and I'm sure it is on the minds of my peers. This week I have done a lot of things in terms of wiki's. I read about wiki's, I created my own wiki space and then finally I created my own wiki. My first wiki was only a small one with a few pictures as I wanted to start with something simple. And to anyone saying that creating a wiki space and wiki is easy, I think your wrong. I found this task extremely hard, and had to re-read my technical manual a few times to find what I wanted. However, once it was created I found it easier to navigate and I am glad that I stuck to it and completed the task.

This got me to thinking about how I could use this learning tool in the classroom and in the end I had plenty of thoughts to sift through. In the end I came to the conclusion that once I was confident enough with the whole  'wiki' subject and confident enough in helping my students create their own wiki, that I would deffinatly use it as a learning tool in my future classroom.

Back in week one of this term I participated in a wiki about mobile phones and I thought it was a great learning experience. The way that it was set out made me think that even the younger students in prep would be able to do a task with it. Everything had its place and it was visually appealing which made it easier for me to complete.

Using a wiki in a classroom can be both informative and fun for students as these children are children of technology and this is the way they want to learn. I think doing something fun like a survey/vote to ask students if they want to participate in a wiki for a classroom lesson is a great way as you can see both their reaction to the topic of wiki's and also it means the students are getting the opportunity to decide in how they will learn.

As with all other learning tools, wiki's have to be thought through before being used. The PMI's need to be discussed and then a decision needs to be made if learning though a wiki is what is best for the students. Personally I think it is. Students need a variety of learning tools to gain their information and adding wiki's and blogs to the classroom is a great thing for not only the students but the teacher also. 

Until next time... : )