Wiki or Website: Clarifying for Teachers

Many years ago, when the World Wide Web was still a toddler, the wiki was invented. What set the wiki website apart from other websites, was the intended use of the site. It was meant to be collaborative. In this case a programmer named Ward Cunningham wanted to create a space where programmers of a certain language could share their ideas and work together. He coined the term 'wiki' and the rest is history. (source)

It wasn't until several years later that the world's most popular wiki, Wikipedia, would be born. Wikipedia put wikis on the map. However, while many people understand the general concept, there can still be confusion about what a wiki is and how it differs from just having a website. Why is there such confusion? Quite possibly it is that the end result of a true wiki will be the appearance of a website that just looks like content. Another leading reason may be that tools such as Wikispaces and Google Sites allow people to create and manage their website on their own or collaboratively and the name doesn't actually matter. In other words, the term is being used, but the definition, and purpose behind the wiki is not being fully realized. For teachers going through professional development, you may run into this dilemma yourself. 

How do you know if you are creating a wiki or a general website? First, ask yourself these questions. The answers will, in most cases, clarify what you are doing and then we can help you get to what you want to be doing.

1. Is the website content created, maintained, edited and managed strictly by the teacher?

If 'yes', then you have a general website. There is nothing wrong with this and it is the most popular form of website on the Internet, especially for classroom teachers. Even if you have used a tool called wiki-something, that alone doesn't make your website a wiki. Even if you had students create accounts to access your website, that does not make it a wiki. Keep going...

2. Is the website content created, maintained, and edited by the teacher, but allows students to click through to interactive websites?

This is still a general website. Providing easy access for students to interact with other websites' content is a good step forward in how you are taking advantage of the Internet, but your website does not yet have the features of a wiki.

3. Is the website content created, maintained, and edited by multiple teachers? There are two possibilities here.

A: The teachers are sharing responsibility for a classroom general website intended for student use. While this is demonstrating good collaboration between professionals, the full intent for a wiki may not be realized here. 

B: The teachers are creating a resource in which they share curriculum, best practices, project ideas, and more. The goal is for the teachers to collaborate and to become better at teaching. This is not a site intended for student use. It is an example of wiki! 

4. Is the website content created, maintained, and edited by teachers and students? Two possibilities:

 A: The teacher is providing a website with some interactive space in the website. This could be a blog, student discussion spaces, or other specifically purposed pages for students to edit. This is close to a wiki. In the true sense, it is not open to the extent of a wiki (for example, the teacher content pages may not be open for student editing), but it is providing a clear interactive platform for students and teachers. For those diving into wikis for the first time, this might be the perfect place to start.

B: The teacher is providing a website space in which students are equal partners in developing and editing content placed throughout the website. Perhaps it is a study guide for a semester of calculus, or perhaps it place to aggregate resources for reading 1984. Whatever the purpose of the collaboration, the end result is a true wiki. Certainly, some level of control can be maintained by the owner of the site, but giving as much openness as possible, encourages the full participation in site management by students and teachers alike.

So, what do you want? What will it take for you to get there? In today's age of content consumption and creation, it is important to look for ways to encourage students to be creators. Even if the purpose of a wiki for your classroom eludes you, bring the quest to your students, find out what they think. The next time you are on another educational website that appears to be managed by a teacher, ask yourself it is actually being managed by just one teacher, or perhaps by several, or even a classroom of students.

From Google:

wi·ki  

/ˈwikē/

Noun A Web site developed collaboratively by a community of users, allowing any user to add and edit content.

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Chad McGowan is a high school technology teacher and professional development specialist in educational technology. Over the past 16 years, Chad has taught a variety of math and computer courses for grades 7-12. Since 2000, Chad has been guiding other professionals, pre-k-12, in educational technology. Follow Chad on Twitter @ahstechteacher and through this blog.

iPads: Stop motion, Vernier Probes, and Google Maps

Any integration of new technology is bound to have its ups and downs, bumps, bruises and maybe even broken bones. Fortunately, in this story, these painstaking steps are experienced by a staff dedicated to progress and the belief that a little pain now, will result in long term gains for the students and an ever improving process for the staff. This is the summary of the experiences shared by a small pre-k to 8 school in central Massachusetts, during a typical faculty meeting in which they discussed not-so-typical practices.

As a participant in this meeting, I was able to share about my role in the classes, and I was able to hear the feedback, questions, and concerns of the faculty as they plan to continue their pilot. What I came away with were two key points:

• Integrating iPads with AppleTV units, various apps, scientific probes, and projectors was a frequently frustrating and time consuming task for the teachers
• The level of student engagement and success in reaching and perhaps exceeding classroom expectations was evident in every situation where the iPads were implemented

3 Case Studies

Stop Motion

An art teacher shared about her experience of putting together stop-motion videos. What she took away from the process was not only fun, artistic videos made by students, but also an opportunity to help students learn about and better understand sequencing. This is a critical skill that is frequently employed in math, writing, and science. Through the simple app, iMotionHD, she helped students experience sequencing in a non-threatening, highly engaging environment.

Vernier Probes

Source: vernier.com

An elementary teacher shared about how she took several weeks to figure out how to integrate Vernier Probes with the iPad. She was dedicated to this task, and by the end of the unit, found it all worth her time. Each probe, when connected to the portable Vernier device would send its data to any iPad accessing the data on the network. The results were that students could be on the go, around the school, outside, or in the classroom, and all reading the same data on multiple devices. Students could create multiple graphs, compare and contrast data, and draw scientifically based conclusions on what they were observing. 

Scientific Cataloguing

Another science teacher at the 7 and 8th grade level, utilized the iPads, Edmodo.com, and Google Maps to create a unit around having students identify different trees on the school campus. Using an app called LeafSnap, students took pictures of leaves, uploaded them to the app and then used a little deductive reasoning to determine which trees they were identifying. Students kept a scientific journal through Edmodo and posted photos of their findings here as well. Finally, the teacher was able to take all of the student data, including lattitude and longitude of the tree locations and enter it all into a personalized Google Maps. The end result was a Google Map, that not only located individual trees around campus, but also provided a description of and photo of the trees. 

Conclusion

These three teachers all experienced tech troubles. From files that wouldn't upload, to lost photos, to hours on tech support calls with various companies. The key was in their dedication to making a richer, more engaging experience for their students. Each teacher concluded their sharing by indicating just how engaged their students were in the entire process. They also spoke about being able to create a learning environment in which students could complete tasks that would not have been possible in a more traditional setting. The use of the iPad was in most cases something the students handled with ease. In many situations, the students gained more knowledge and were more comfortable with the technology than the teachers, and these teachers were happy to roll with this role reversal.
*This post will be updated soon with more links and media!

Teachable Moment: Being Inappropriate on Collaborative Documents

This blog entry was inspired by a class I run in which I recently introduced using a collaborative Google Doc. While the intention and ultimate success of the document has met my expectations, the trip could have easily gone down a different path. The views expressed in this blog are completely my own. I respect and appreciate those with similar views or different views who are able to express them in a respectful manner. 


Having students working online, I am constantly confronted by teachable moments. I feel it is my job to teach within the moment, instead of snapping to conclusions and handing out punishments for momentary lapses in judgement on the part of my students. Facing this choice recently, I was reminded of the importance of my job. While my students are of the cyber-generation, they do not yet have the years of experience that we, as teachers, have.

It all happened in an instant. One moment I was demonstrating to the students how we would be utilizing a shared Google Document for our classroom bibliography on the current project. The next moment I was restricting student access, shaking my head, and reassessing what we would be doing next. It was in my reassessment that I was able to see the teachable moment.

Just after I had introduced the Google Doc, three students decided to use the document inappropriately. Beside the names of their classmates, they were adding descriptors that were offensive and completely inappropriate for the classroom setting. They had a good laugh and quickly erased their transgressions. Almost immediately, I restricted their access and told them to knock it off. Had I left it at that, there would have been no teaching. Had I chosen to punish them by giving a detention or by sending them to the office, I would have missed the moment. Here is what I did.

After gathering my thoughts for a couple of minutes and sitting at my desk contemplating my next move, I chose what I felt was the only course of action that would really have an impact on student behavior. I shared with the class how the Internet works. "Everything you ever do online is recorded on multiple computers instantly. Facebook, email, Edmodo, Twitter, etc." I said. "When you decide to be silly or stupid or offensive and put something online that you may later regret, you have lost the opportunity to change your mind. It already exists, permanently." In their minds they were feeling skeptical about what I was saying, so I showed them the proof.

I asked all of the students to open our shared Google Document. I returned the user status to 'can edit' for my offenders. Then I had all students go to File > Revision History. They instantly got it. Even before finding their offensive edits that they thought had been erased, they knew I was telling the truth. It was in that moment that the teachable moment was captured, utilized and had its impact.

I concluded by telling the students "What Google has done here with your Google Document, every website is doing on the Internet whether you want it to or not. Your words, your postings, your actions are being recorded. What will you choose to do next time?"