Wikis can be a wonderful tool for education. But like any tool, how effective the use is depends on the one using the tool. A few ways that wikis can be used effectively in the media center are as a means of internal communication, research guides, and collaboration between educators and students.
Currently, my school uses a shared drive on the network for internal communication. This seems like a good idea but having to search for one document in the hundreds of folders on the shared drive is unnecessarily time consuming and frustrating. In addition to this, the shared drive is only available within schools/locations in the county. This could be solved by using a wiki to store information. Information on a wiki would be easily available anywhere, the content would be searchable by key word (with results easily sortable by relevance or in chronological order), and multiple users could add to the wiki and update information often which would make it a more useful and relevant resource than forgotten folders on the shared drive. Hosting this type of wiki could make the library the center of the school community in terms of information. The media specialist could also upload departmental meeting minutes, ideas for subject area collaborative unit plans, and feature new resources on this wiki.
Another effective way to use a wiki in the media center is as a subject centered research guide for students. Wikis are a great place to link a variety of research resources and can easily be divided up by subject area or even by specific research projects. Unlike a static list of links on a webpage, teachers and students could easily add to the wiki as they found more relevant resources during the research process which would benefit others. When using tracking software, librarians can determine which pages are being used most often and use this information to determine what type of content to add to the wiki or even to the physical media center collection in the future.
Truly, wikis are best used not only as a compilation of documents for internal communication or a repository of links for research, but rather for collaboration and as a means of encouraging students to become active participants in creating understanding. Wikis can be used by teachers to share resources (articles, videos, podcasts, lesson plans, etc.) so that they can work together to develop units that are richer, more engaging, and better meet student needs. Students can use wikis to share work, receive peer feedback, link to current events, work with students from their class, on different teams within the school, or even from different schools. Wikis provide an opportunity for students to see how information “works together and brings ideas into clarity” as Ruth Reynard says, in this excellent article on encouraging students to be active participants in creating understanding with wikis:
There are some downsides to using wikis. Depending on how the permissions are set up, users can modify the content of a wiki which means some information may be changed. This means wikis must be monitored frequently to check for things like consistently accurate information (some students, and even teachers may bring information to the table that is not correct), appropriate content and language, etc. Monitoring for these types of changes and restoring documents that have been incorrectly modified could be very time consuming. To address this, media specialists can set limits on who is able to modify the content but limiting those able to contribute also severely limits the collaborative value of the wiki.
Some best practices when using wikis include first questioning whether or not a wiki is needed at all (e.g. Will a wiki help communication within the school, to the community, etc? & Is there a need for collaborative space?). These types of questions will help you determine if a wiki is needed or not. If you determine a wiki is needed, you should decide what service to use. www.wikimatrix.org will help you make that decision. I went through the simple process and came up with 23 different wikis that would work for my individual purpose (although I definitely prefer wikispaces to the others recommended for me).
Next, you should look to other wikis for ideas on how to best organize your wiki and what content to include. I have linked some good and bad examples below.
An example of a media center wikis with good content and appealing graphics is:
An example of a media center wiki with a busy/overwhelming structure is:
An example of a media center wiki with no pages and just a collection of links:
As you can see, wikis that are set up to address a need, are effectively organized/structured, are monitored and updated frequently, and that provide space/opportunity for collaboration can be a wonderful tool in the media center!
What great information!! You have some really good, real life ideas for using wikis. And I like how you give the steps to take to get a wiki going. The links to the different types of wikis are really helpful to get some ideas of what you might want to do or not do. Your idea of teachers using a wiki to develop units is something that would come in really handy. The media specialist could even get involved with this to add resources that the teachers might not have thought of. My grade level plans together each week, but this could be a way to record the ideas so they could be accessed and shared later. Ideas could also be edited and added to whenever and built upon each year. Thanks for all the useful information.
ReplyDeleteMy school/team shares a drive as well at school, but because it can be accessed from students we had to move it to a “super secret” location on the computers. This is a risk that everyone will face if you open the technology up to students. The same could be said for wikis. However, if the proper permission is in place then students would not be able to delete other’s work.
ReplyDeleteI like how the media center could be the hub of information. This would place more value on the media specialist and help take some burdens off the teachers. I feel that the media specialist has such potential to help the students with research and often times may be overlooked because of various reasons (I know ours is).
I really enjoyed viewing the various wikis. The Oly Center was a little busy. The colors were nice, but at first glance I was overwhelmed. I had to take a step back and work my way through each link slowly. This site might not work well for an ADHD student.
Trinity’s site was much better. It seemed to have a better flow about it. I know schools have so much information they want to convey to the readers, but presentation is also a large part of it as well. If you are going to set up a wiki, I believe that simple may be the key at first and then slowly upgrade as time goes on.
Your post really made me think about how wikis can be very useful in education and the media center. This statement really stood out to me..."Truly, wikis are best used not only as a compilation of documents for internal communication or a repository of links for research, but rather for collaboration and as a means of encouraging students to become active participants in creating understanding." One main goal we have as educators is to encourage our students to be active particpants in their own learning and creating of understanding. Your post shows how wikis can help educators in meeting this goal. It seems to me that wikis could best serve educators in engaging learners through the use of technology.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed looking at the wiki examples you provided also. The examples were good comparisons and show how important the organization and maintance are when creating an using a wiki. Having a good structure and organized content can really make a difference in the effectiveness of the tool.
I must agree that using the Wiki as a subject centered research guide in the media center sounds like a very good use of a Wiki. I also enjoyed the TLS Media Center home with the use of Glogster. It looked really professional. Additionally, the OLY Media Center home not only looked good but was stuffed full of information. I went through 3 or 4 levels to follow a topic that I liked.
ReplyDeleteWhile I want to promote the library as the center of information, I would train people who want to use the wiki instead of making the Media Specialist the person to post the information. Maintaining the wiki would be a lot without any other responsibilities for it. I have been on the receiving end of maintaining a website and the hours can add up quickly to maintain it and be proud of the result.
I so totally agree with you on that the effectiveness of the tool depends on the person using the tool! A wiki can be a very valuable resource but only if the person using it understands how to use it. The examples you gave proved that point! Also, the changing role of the media center to being the hub for all forms of information requires that media specialists begin to think outside of the box in their use of technology. Great Job : )
ReplyDeleteI learned a lot from your post. I agree that there are so many useful ways that we could use wiki's to communicate. I believe that with planning time consumed with meetings, there isn't a lot of time for teachers to collaborate. A wiki would give them the means of collaborating without requiring them to be together to do it.
ReplyDeleteI found the links in your post to be extremly informative and eye opening. I especially liked the three examples of media center wikis and found myself thinking of ways I could incorporate a wiki into my media center. I think that the possibilities are endles and all of them would be beneficial to the commuincation between the students, parents, teachers, administration and the media center.