Wikis are sites that visitors can contribute to by editing and creating content without special restricted access. It is a live site with collaboration from visitors sharing information and resources. Wikis can be used in the classroom by teachers with other teachers, students with other students, and teachers with their students/parents.
The first example of wikis being used in collaboration with teachers is in the planning and development stages of their units. A large amount of time is spent in meetings planning lessons and sharing resources. Using a wiki would allow this same process to happen when the time is best for the teacher without any information being lost. Teachers can set up wiki pages for the unit and other team teachers would add their outlines, resources, or lesson plans. With this collaboration, questions can be posed, links, resources, and pictures can be shared quickly and a chronological timeline of the conversation is kept to refer back to when needed.
The second example is wikis being used student-to-student for projects or other group activities. After the teacher has created the wiki page, students will be able to collaborate in the creation of their project outline, add their own submission to the whole project without having to meet separately to put it all together. Students would be able to work outside of school when it is best for them. This would also give the teacher access to monitor the progress of the group and give feedback while it is being created.
The last example of wikis being used in the classroom is the teacher-student/parent relationships. Wikis can be used as a tool to get information to the students and parents after school without having to rely on the students giving the flyer to their parents. Links to forms can be added so parents have immediate access. It can be a home page for reminders, notes about the day, upcoming events, and parent questions for the classroom.
The possibilities are up to the teacher's creative imagination.
