The Whats and Whys of Wikis

Jennifer L. Wagner
Online Project Coordinator

What is a WIKI??

• A Wiki can be thought of as combining a Web site and a Word-processing

document.
• At its simplest, it can be read just a regular web site, with no editing
privileges possible, but the real power lies in the fact that teachers and
students can work collaboratively work on the content of the wiki simply
by using a standard web browser.

Why Use A Wiki?

• With the availability of a wiki 24/7/365 from pretty much anywhere, you
have the opportunity to connect with anyone you wish....from your
classroom to the world.
• A wiki is as easy to use as any word processing program.
• It is free (most of the time) with the availability of adding text, images,
video, links, feeds, and more.
• It is editable but also you can trace the edits (or revisions) to see who has
added/subtracted data.
• You can select who you wish to collaborate with by invitation (which
allows security) or you can open it to anyone.
• You can roll back to prior edits if necessary.
• A simple SAVE updates the page instantly on the internet.
• Some people challenge the validity of "wikispaces" as a legitimate source.
By creating your own wiki, you are able to verify your data for accuracy
and create an accurate portal of information for your audience.

Where to create WIKI?

ƒ PB Wiki: http://pbwiki.com/education.wiki
ƒ Wikispaces: http://www.wikispaces.com/site/for/teachers
ƒ Media Wiki: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki
ƒ WetPaint: http://www.wetpaint.com/wiki?zone=cyoGoEdu2
ƒ Zoho:
http://wiki.zoho.com/jsp/wikilogin.jsp?serviceurl=%2Fregister.do

(c) Jennifer Wagner 2009

jenuinetech@gmail.com
Educational Wikis

• http://educationalwikis.wikispaces.com/Examples+of+educational+wikis
• http://k12online07.wikispaces.com/
• http://davidwarlick.com/wiki/pmwiki.php
• http://www.budtheteacher.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
• http://salutetoseuss.wikispaces.com/
• http://chriscraft.pbwiki.com/
• http://globalexplorers.wikispaces.com/

Case Studies & Resources:

• http://www.wikiineducation.com/display/ikiw/Home
• http://www.techlearning.com/story/showArticle.php?articleID=191801354
• http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7004.pdf
• http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/erm0452.pdf
• http://homepage.mac.com/charlenechausis/wikis.html

Wiki Comparision

http://www.wikimatrix.org/

Wikipedia Concerns:

1. Wikipedia -- is inaccurate???

The British science journal Nature facilitated a study that examined the
comparative accuracy of scientific entries in Wikipedia and the Encyclopedia
Britannica in December of 2005. Nature found the two sources to contain a
similar amount of errors, with each having 4 serious errors relating to
misinterpretations of important concepts in the pairs of articles reviewed. A
considerable amount of minor errors were also found in Wikipedia and Britannica
according to Nature: "Reviewers also found many factual errors, omissions or
misleading statements: 162 and 123 in Wikipedia and Britannica, respectively.
(http://www.opsi.gov.uk/advice/poi/power-of-information-review.pdf pg 10)

(c) Jennifer Wagner 2009

jenuinetech@gmail.com
2. Wikipedia makes NO Guarantee of Validity

Wikipedia is an online open-content collaborative encyclopedia, that is, a

voluntary association of individuals and groups working to develop a common
resource of human knowledge. The structure of the project allows anyone with
an Internet connection to alter its content. Please be advised that nothing found
here has necessarily been reviewed by people with the expertise required to
provide you with complete, accurate or reliable information.

That is not to say that you will not find valuable and accurate information in
Wikipedia; much of the time you will. However, Wikipedia cannot guarantee
the validity of the information found here. The content of any given article
may recently have been changed, vandalized or altered by someone whose
opinion does not correspond with the state of knowledge in the relevant fields.

(http://ig.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:General_disclaimer)

This work is licensed under a

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/us United States License

(c) Jennifer Wagner 2009

jenuinetech@gmail.com