Helpful Hints for using Wiki’s from Mrs. Williams

I have used Wikis on a couple of different occasions and was pleasantly surprised with the final

product.

1. makes our job easier - I used one Wiki to discuss WWII. While I am not a history teacher, I

was aware that my students hadn't discussed that topic in their history classes. So, I divided up

the topics that were presented in the book we were reading and other topics that I thought were

necessary for comprehension, and the students researched and created pages over those topics. I

then allowed my classes time to review the pages that were created.

2. collaboration - I have made it were my classes (all 4 of them) collaborate together to create 1

wiki. This is time consuming, but students have to review the information that has been

uploaded before any more information is added. By doing this, I have created an "expert" in

each of my classes on one specific topic due to the tremendous amount of reading that has to be

done.

3. You are the manager of your wiki - As manager, you are able to edit any information that is

added to your wiki and you are able to view who has uploaded information and what they have

uploaded.

4. It is easy to share with others!

5. People have to be invited to participate in the creation of the wiki. People cannot just go and

edit information.

6. one big disadvantage. While anyone that has been invited can edit information, you (as the

teacher) have to watch the information added very closely. I have had one student add

information during one block and another student will delete it during the next. This is the only

downfall that I have seen.

7. You have to make sure that students edit their information for spelling/grammar errors

before uploading. For this, I recommend them typing their info into Word before putting it into

the Wiki.